ShadowTag

ShadowTag — Professional Audio Metadata Editor for macOS
Built for sound designers, sample library owners, and post-production teams who need complete, accurate metadata across large collections of audio files. Requires macOS 14 or later. Available in 11 languages.

ShadowTag is a first class modern macOS application. Designed for macOS 26, all tools are multi-threaded and run as fast as possible — scaling across every available core. Process a handful of files or an entire library; the work happens in parallel.

ShadowTag reads and writes every major metadata standard — ID3v2, Vorbis Comments, MP4 atoms, BEXT, iXML, XMP, and UCS — directly into your audio and video files, keeping your library portable and compatible with any DAW, asset management system, or licensing platform.

Metadata editing never touches your audio. Audio editing — fades, trims, normalize — is non-destructive and only writes to disk when you save.

Library Management
Organize files into playlists and playlist groups. ShadowTag stores references, not copies — your files stay where they are. Drag files or entire folders from Finder, or use Import Library Folder to map an entire folder hierarchy into playlists at once — flattened into a single playlist, or one playlist per subfolder — with a preview of the mapping before you commit. Smart Playlists (Edited, Rated, Colored) automatically surface matching files across your whole library with no setup required. Playlists persist automatically and are fully restored on next launch, and named Workspace and Column presets let you save and recall a layout instantly. The file table is fully customizable — show, hide, and reorder columns including channels, sample rate, bit depth, file path, BEXT fields, and any iXML field.

Finder Tags & Custom Colors
ShadowTag reads and writes macOS Finder Tags, so colored labels assigned in the app are immediately visible in Finder and Spotlight. Beyond the built-in palette, define custom tag colors for a broader visual vocabulary — file status, review state, or any workflow distinction your library needs.

Metadata Editing
A unified Editor panel exposes all metadata standards in one place, with iXML organized into a structured form editor grouped by section (Core, Project, Recorder, and more). Select multiple files to view and edit shared values across a whole selection at once. Unsaved changes are tracked per file and shown inline. Double-click any metadata cell in the file list to edit it in place. Paste Attributes (V) copies one file's metadata and lets you choose exactly which types and fields to apply to others — including across different metadata types — with a confirmation dialog showing the mapping before it's applied.

Supported standards:

• Tags (ID3v2, INFO, Vorbis Comments, MP4 atoms).
• BEXT — broadcast and post-production (WAV, FLAC).
• iXML — field recording, film and TV (WAV, FLAC).
• XMP — Adobe ecosystem and DAM systems.
• UCS — sound effects libraries and sync licensing.
• Markers — WAV cue points, AIFF marker chunks, ID3 chapters, MP4 chapter atoms, Xiph chapters.
• Star Ratings — 0–5 star ratings across all formats (POPM, RATING/FMPS_RATING, rate atom).

Automated Analysis
Let ShadowTag tag your files for you. All analysis runs entirely on-device — no internet connection required — and results are written directly into the file's metadata:

• Loudness — Full EBU R128 analysis: integrated loudness, range, true peak, max momentary and short-term. Written to ID3 and, for WAV files, the BEXT loudness fields.
• Tempo — BPM detection with adjustable fractional precision, also driving the built-in metronome.
• Musical Key — Pitch class and tonality, written to the ID3 Initial Key field.
• Detect Keywords — On-device sound classification generates descriptive keywords for quick searching and filtering.
• UCS Category — Automatic category and subcategory suggestions from filename, existing tags, and audio content.

UCS Support
First-class support for the Universal Category System — the open standard for categorizing sound effects used by professional sound libraries and sync licensing platforms worldwide. Edit Category, Subcategory, and Category ID directly. UCS data are stored as ID3 TXXX tags, visible in any other application. Auto-suggest categories and rename files to the UCS filename convention.

Playback & Auditioning
Audition files in context with a waveform view showing playback position, loop regions, auto-advance, and markers. A ruler shows real time for audio files and SMPTE timecode for video files with embedded timecode, with an optional bar-and-beat overlay driven by the file's BPM. Multichannel files with iXML track names display per-channel labels in a header column next to the waveform. Load Audio Unit plug-ins into the signal chain to audition through your processing — without modifying the file. ShadowTag also plays video files and displays embedded metadata.

Non-Destructive Audio Editing
Apply fades, trims, and loudness normalization without modifying the source file. Edits preview live during playback through the master fader and only write to disk when you explicitly save. The dirty column shows a waveform icon for files with pending audio edits, distinct from metadata-only changes:

• Fade In / Fade Out — Draw fades directly on the waveform with adjustable taper shapes, or use Fade Selection / Fade with Options in the Tools menu.
• Trim & Crop — Trim handles in the audio editor define playback in and out points. Crop Selection bounds playback to the current selection.
• Auto-Detect Trim Points — Scan for silence at the start and end of each file and propose trim boundaries automatically.
• Normalize — Measure Peak or LUFS loudness and apply the corresponding gain non-destructively. Configurable mode and target level.

Auditioning your edits is free. Writing audio edits back to the file requires ShadowTag Pro; Save Metadata Only writes only your tag edits and leaves the audio untouched.

Segment Detection & Stem Divider
Split multi-sound recordings into individual files. Detect Segments scans a file for non-silent regions and previews them as draggable markers so you can fine-tune the boundaries before committing. Render Detected Segments then splits the file into separate audio files at those boundaries. Both run in a multi-file mode across an entire playlist selection, with progress and cancel, and can be included as a step in the batch processor. Detection previews are free; rendering the split files requires ShadowTag Pro.

Audio Format Conversion
Convert files to WAV, AIFF, MP3, FLAC, OGG Opus, CAF, or M4A. Options include sample rate, bit depth, channel count, bit rate, metadata handling, and file conflict behavior. Converted files can be added to a new playlist automatically.

Export Soundpack packages a file selection into a self-contained folder using Copy, Move, or Convert modes, with up to two levels of tag-based subfolder grouping — a quick way to deliver a curated set of sounds to a client or another system.

Search
Full-text search across all playlists or within the current playlist. Search queries match against all indexed metadata fields. Results appear in a dedicated Search Results playlist and can be dragged into any other playlist to keep.

Your Data Is Yours
ShadowTag stores your library — playlists, references, and settings — as plain, human-readable JSON. No proprietary database, no encryption, no lock-in. Inspect, back up, version control, or move your data at any time. Metadata itself is written directly into your audio and video files using open standards, so it travels with the files wherever they go.

A Powerful Audio Player — Free, No Limits
Even without a Pro subscription, ShadowTag is a fully capable audio library player and manager:

• Playlist organization — drag in any folder and ShadowTag builds a playlist instantly.
• Complete metadata visibility — read every field in every file; no Pro needed.
• Precise playback control — scrub to any position, set loop regions, auto-advance.
• BPM-synced metronome — let the detected BPM drive the click to verify tempos.
• Audio Unit plug-in chain — audition files through reverb, EQ, or any AU effect.
• Non-destructive audio editing preview — fade, trim, crop, and normalize edits apply to playback in real time, so you can audition changes before deciding whether to commit them.
• Segment detection preview — scan a file for non-silent regions and preview the results as markers before deciding whether to render them.
• Smart Playlists and library import — Edited, Rated, and Colored playlists build themselves, and Import Library Folder maps a whole folder tree into playlists in one step.
• Video support — play video files and inspect their embedded metadata including XMP.
• On-device analysis — loudness, tempo, key, and keywords; no internet required.

ShadowTag Pro
All playback, import, tagging, analysis, and detection tools are free with no file count limit.

ShadowTag Pro unlocks export features:

• Writing metadata to individual files.
• Writing non-destructive audio edits (fades, trims, normalize) to files.
• Rendering detected segments and stems to individual files.
• Batch audio format conversion.
• Soundpack export (Copy, Move, Convert).
• CSV playlist export.
• Metadata image export.
• UCS filename batch rename.

Enterprise Deployment
ShadowTag can be deployed and licensed across an organization through MDM batch installation, for teams and facilities managing many machines at once.

Free download: https://spongefork.com/shadowtag/