In this post, we will show you how to add album artwork on iTunes and what to do if you can’t add artwork to songs.
How to change album artwork in iTunes on Windows?
To add or change the artwork of a song in iTunes on Windows, you can follow the below methods:
- Use the Add Artwork option.
- Download the artwork from the internet.
- Add artwork to a custom playlist.
A] Use the Add Artwork option
iTunes provides a dedicated Add Artwork feature suing which you can add an artwork to tracks or change the existing artwork. Here are the main steps to do that:
- Open iTunes.
- Right-click on the song.
- Select the Album Info option.
- Go to the Artwork tab.
- Click on the Add Artwork button.
- Browse and select the artwork image.
- Press the OK button.
First, open the iTunes app, go to your Library, and then right-click on the track whose album artwork you want to edit.
Now, click on the Album Info option from the context menu.
In the newly opened dialog window, move to the Artwork tab.
Next, press the Add Artwork button and then browse and choose the source artwork image.
Once the new artwork is added, click on the OK button to save the change.
Read: How to edit Music Metadata on Windows?
B] Download the artwork from the internet
Another method to add artwork to songs in iTunes is to download the artwork for the song from the internet and embed it into the song. iTunes offers a handy feature to fetch the song artwork from online sources and then add it to the file. However, this feature requires you to sign into the iTunes Store with your Apple ID. Else, you won’t be able to use this feature.
To use this feature, you can right-click on the target song from the iTunes Library. After that, choose the Get Album Artwork option from the context menu to let iTunes retrieve and add artwork to the song.
C] Add artwork to a custom playlist
You can also add the artwork to a custom playlist in iTunes. Here’s how:
- First, select the playlist from the left-side pane under the Music Playlists section.
- Now, click on the artwork area from the right-side pane.
- Next, browse and select the desired artwork image and press the Open button.
If you are unable to add artwork to songs in iTunes on your computer using the above methods, the next section will show you how to fix the issue.
See: How to import iTunes Music and Playlist to Media Player app?
Can’t add artwork in iTunes on Windows
Some PC users have reported that they are unable to add artwork to their songs on iTunes. Before we show you fixes, let us try and understand why iTunes is not letting you change the artwork of songs on Windows,
Why won’t iTunes let me add album artwork Windows?
If the artwork image is in an unsupported format or resolution, you won’t be able to add album artwork in iTunes. So, make sure your image meets the artwork requirements to embed it into the songs. Other than that, it might be the case that you don’t have the right permission to change the song information including its artwork. The problem is also likely to occur with WAV audio formats. A corrupted iTunes Album Artwork cache can be another reason for the same issue.
Now, if you are unable to add artwork to your songs in iTunes on Windows 11/10, here are the solutions to fix the problem:
- Make sure your album art meets the requirements.
- Check if the song is available locally or just on iCloud.
- Ensure you have permission to change the artwork in iTunes.
- Convert WAV to AIF, if applicable.
- Clear Album Artwork cache in iTunes.
1] Make sure your album art meets the requirements
If you are unable to add the artwork to a song or album in iTunes, it is likely that the image doesn’t meet the requirements including image format, resolution, etc. to add album artwork. So, check the requirements as mentioned below and make sure your artwork fulfills them.
- You can embed artwork into audio files in JPG, BMP, GIF, and PNG formats only.
- The maximum resolution can be 1024 x 1024.
- On iPhone/iPad/iPod touch, up to 320kb size with no resolution limit of artwork is supported.
If your artwork fulfills the above requirement but you can’t add it to songs, move on to the next solution.
Read: Fix iTunes Error Code 5105, Your request cannot be processed.
2] Check if the song is available locally or just on iCloud
The next thing you can do is check whether the song is downloaded locally to your computer or if it is available on iCloud only. If you see a “cloud” button next to the song, it means you need to download the song. Hence, if the scenario is applicable, right-click on such a song and then choose the Download option from the context menu. Once the song is downloaded, you can try changing or adding artwork and see if the issue is fixed.
3] Ensure you have permission to change the artwork in iTunes
Another potential cause of this issue is that you don’t have the necessary permissions to change the artwork of songs/albums in iTunes. So, in that case, you can assign the right permissions to your media folder and then see if you can add artwork or not. Here are the steps to do that:
First, open iTunes and right-click on the song or album with which you are experiencing this issue.
Now, from the context menu, click on the Show in Windows Explorer option.
Next, right-click on the song in File Explorer and choose the Properties option from the context menu.
After that, in the General tab, check if the Read-only attribute is checked or not. If it is checked, you won’t be able to add artwork to the song. So, uncheck this option and then press the Apply > OK button to save changes.
Finally, check if you are able to add artwork to the song or not.
See: How to reset iTunes Library on Windows?
4] Convert WAV to AIF, if applicable
You are likely to face trouble in changing the artwork of a song in WAV audio format, especially on an older version of iTunes. Hence, if the scenario is applicable, you can try converting WAV audio files to AIF audio format and then check if you can add artwork or not. AIF is a lossless audio format by Apple, so you shouldn’t be having an issue while changing the artwork of AIF music files.
To convert WAV to AIF, you can use online tools like CloudConvert, Convertio, FreeConvert, and FreeFileConvert. After conversion, you can import songs to your iTunes Library and add artwork to them. See if it helps!
Read: Fix Error Code 1671 for iTunes on Windows.
5] Clear Album Artwork cache in iTunes
If none of the above fixes work for you, a corrupted Album Artwork cache is likely causing the issue. So, in that case, you can clear the Album Artwork cache and then try adding artwork to your songs to check whether the problem is resolved. Here are the steps to do that:
- First, open File Explorer using Win+E and then move to your Music folder.
- Now, open the iTunes folder and navigate to the Album Artwork folder.
- Next, select the Cache folder and press the Delete button to clear it.
- Once done, relaunch the iTunes app and check if the issue is resolved.
How do I add artwork to Windows?
There are multiple methods to add album or song artwork on Windows 11/10. You can use this free software called Album Art Downloader to fetch and download artwork for songs. After that, you can use the Groove Music app to add the artwork to the song on Windows PC.
