If you have a collection of FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) files, make sure you don't edit the metadata using Windows 10's File Explorer. A new support document published by Microsoft prohibits this.
In Windows 10 version 2004 and later, there is an error that corrupts FLAC music files if you modify their metadata using File Explorer.
This error affects Windows 10 Pro, Home, Enterprise, Workstation, and other versions of the operating system.
According to a support document released by the company, the Windows 10 File Explorer error will corrupt some FLAC files that contain an ID3 frame before the FLAC header. ID3 is a frame that is responsible for storing information such as song title, artist, album, track number, etc.
In Windows 10, the FLAC application ignores the ID3 box because it assumes that FLAC files use 4-byte fLaC in the beginning. So if the file is edited by users, the ID3 box leaves. The result of course is not pleasant, since the players can not read the modified file.
Microsoft has reportedly identified the root cause and released a fix through Windows Update.
In the KB5003214 update changelog, Microsoft confirms that the error has been corrected and that the Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) files can be played even if you change the title, artist, or other metadata.
For those who have corrupted music files, Microsoft has released a new PowerShell script that you can run to fix your corrupted files. However, it will not restore lost metadata stored in the ID3 frame.
To avoid problems with FLAC files, Microsoft recommends installing this month's optional cumulative update.
However, because you never know, it might be a good idea to wait for others to do it first. Reports have shown that KB5003214 is causing issues with taskbar icons, especially when the News & Interests feature is enabled.
George is still wondering what he is doing here….
Chief, you took a year or so to tell us.
Last year I actually went to change some Flac filenames (deleting the serial number in front of each song and then… papala the collection.
In fact, then, thinking that there is a bad sector on the WD Green, after checking for errors on the disk, defragmentation, I ended up in format after spending hours transferring my flacs....
Eventually, the record, although it did not seem to have a problem, was judged "unstable" and became a watch (each of its records) that was shared with friends.
Needless to say, all the files went unnoticed and it never occurred to me that the record was not to blame.