The original standard for tagging digital files was developed in 1996 by Eric Kemp and he coined the term ID3. At that time ID3 simply meant "IDentify an MP3".

 

An ID3 tag is a type of meta data container used to store information about an MP3 file within the audio file itself. An ID3 tag allows the creator of a file to embed relevant information like the name of the artist, track title, album, track number and genre in the file, allowing that information to travel with the file. This capacity is especially useful for media files, like podcasts, that have been syndicated, downloaded or exchanged over the Internet independently from the Web pages that they were originally hosted upon.

The most recent versions of the ID3 standard include support for chapters and enhanced podcasts with embedded hyperlinks and images. Content producers may use ID3 tag editors to add and edit metadata for media files. In Windows XP, for example, ID3 tags can be edited by requesting the properties of a file and selecting the summary tab and accessing basic file parameter s, such as track title, number, artist and year. Both the Mac and Windows versions of iTunes, as well as other media player software, also support editing of more advanced parameters, such as album art.