This article explains how to add album art to iTunes and Apple Music. Instructions apply to iTunes 11 and up on a Mac or Windows PC except as noted.
What to Know
- In Apple Music, iTunes 12, and iTunes 11: Select File > Library > Get Album Artwork.In older versions of iTunes: Go to the Advanced menu and select Get Album Artwork.Alternatively: Download the album cover image online, right-click the song, then select Get Info > Add Artwork or go to the Artwork tab.
How to Use iTunes to Get Album Cover Art
There are a few ways to get album art, but using the tool to add album art built into iTunes and Music is the easiest. The built-in album art tool scans your music library and Apple servers. When it finds art for songs that you have, no matter where you got the songs originally, it adds them to your library. Here’s how to use this tool to get album art in iTunes and Music.
- The process depends on the program you’re using:
- In Music, and iTunes 12 and iTunes 11: Click File > Library > Get Album Artwork.In older versions of iTunes: Go to the Advanced menu and click Get Album Artwork.
- In some versions of iTunes, a window lets you know that you have to send information about your library to Apple to get album artwork, but that Apple doesn’t store that information. There’s no way around this. Apple needs to know what music you have to send you the art for it. If you want to proceed, select Get Album Artwork.
- In the Music app, a status bar at the bottom left corner lets you know the program is Processing Album Artwork. Hover your mouse there and click the i icon to pop up a window to see your progress.
- In some versions, the status window at the top of iTunes shows a progress bar as it scans your library for albums and downloads the correct art from iTunes. In others, select the Window menu and choose Activity to follow the progress.
- How long the process takes depends on how much music needs to be scanned, but expect to spend at least a few minutes. The art is automatically downloaded, categorized, and added to the correct songs.
- When iTunes completes the scan for the album art and imports the available art, a message appears and lists the albums for which Music or iTunes couldn’t find or add any album artwork. Use another method to get album art for these songs or albums.
How to View Album Art in iTunes and Music
To see the album artwork you’ve added (or already have):
Album artwork can only be downloaded using the desktop version of iTunes.
The process depends on the program you’re using:
- In Music, and iTunes 12 and iTunes 11: Click File > Library > Get Album Artwork.In older versions of iTunes: Go to the Advanced menu and click Get Album Artwork.
In some versions of iTunes, a window lets you know that you have to send information about your library to Apple to get album artwork, but that Apple doesn’t store that information. There’s no way around this. Apple needs to know what music you have to send you the art for it. If you want to proceed, select Get Album Artwork.
In the Music app, a status bar at the bottom left corner lets you know the program is Processing Album Artwork. Hover your mouse there and click the i icon to pop up a window to see your progress.
In some versions, the status window at the top of iTunes shows a progress bar as it scans your library for albums and downloads the correct art from iTunes. In others, select the Window menu and choose Activity to follow the progress.
How long the process takes depends on how much music needs to be scanned, but expect to spend at least a few minutes. The art is automatically downloaded, categorized, and added to the correct songs.
When iTunes completes the scan for the album art and imports the available art, a message appears and lists the albums for which Music or iTunes couldn’t find or add any album artwork. Use another method to get album art for these songs or albums.
If you use iTunes Match or Apple Music, art is added automatically.
In Music and iTunes 11 and up, the album art appears in the Recently Added, Artists, and Albums views or in the bar at the top of the window when you play a song.
In iTunes 10 and earlier, the art displays in the album art window in the lower-left corner of the iTunes window. If it’s not present, click the button that looks like a box with an arrow in it at the bottom left.
In iTunes 10 and earlier, you can also use Cover Flow to see the artwork. To view your iTunes library using Cover Flow, click the fourth button in the upper-right corner next to the Search box. Navigate using the mouse or arrow keys through a presentation of your iTunes library by cover art. Some albums will have artwork, and others won’t.
How Add Album Cover Art From the Web to iTunes and Music
To add album cover art to albums that Music or iTunes didn’t download, follow these steps:
How to Add Art From the Web to All Songs on an Album
Adding album art to more than one song at a time follows the same process as adding it to a single song, but you must open the album and select all the songs on the album (press Command+A on a Mac or Control+A on a PC), right-click any song, then select Get Info to open the information screen.
When you find the image you want, download it to your computer. How you do this depends on the browser you use, but in most cases, right-click the image and select a download option.
Open Music or iTunes and find the song or album that goes with the downloaded artwork.
Right-click the song that lacks album art and select Get Info. Or, press Command+I on a Mac or Control+I on a PC to open the information screen.
Go to the Artwork tab and drag the art you downloaded to the window. In Music and iTunes 12, click Add Artwork and select the file on your hard drive.
Click OK, and Music or iTunes adds the new art to the song.
Select the Artwork tab and drag an image to the space for album art or click Add Artwork. When you click OK, Music or iTunes updates all the selected songs with the new art.
How to Add Album Art to Music on Older iPods
Getting album art on some older iPods requires an additional step that isn’t necessary on the more recent iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch devices.
If a lot of your songs need album art, try a third-party tool to automate the process. Check out the best free cover art downloaders for digital music.
Sync your iPod, go to the Music tab, and select the Display album artwork on your iPod checkbox. When you play songs on your iPod, the album artwork will show up.
If you don’t see this option when you sync your iPod, you don’t need it for your device. Album art is added automatically.
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