In iTunes or Music, select the track, open Get Info → Artwork, then Add Artwork to attach a square JPEG or PNG album cover.
You want a tidy library where every track shows the right cover. Clean artwork helps you spot albums at a glance, avoid duplicates, and enjoy a polished view on every screen. This guide gives clear steps for Mac and Windows, plus habits that keep covers consistent across iTunes, the Music app, and mobile devices.
Add Album Covers In ITunes And Music — Step-By-Step
The core flow is the same on both platforms. Pick the song or album, open the info panel, switch to the Artwork tab, then add an image. The notes below keep the process quick and accurate.
| Method | Where You Click | Ideal Use |
|---|---|---|
| Manual image file | Get Info → Artwork → Add Artwork | Perfect art you already saved |
| Drag and drop | Drop image onto the Artwork box | Fast add for single items |
| Automatic fetch | File → Library → Get Album Artwork | Fill gaps from the store |
On Mac (Music App)
Open Music. In the sidebar, choose Songs or Albums. Select one item or a group. Press Command-I, or choose Song → Get Info. Move to the Artwork tab. Click Add Artwork, choose a square JPEG or PNG, then Open. You can also drag an image straight into the Artwork area. To try a bulk match from Apple, use File → Library → Get Album Artwork. If tags match the catalog, many gaps fill in one pass.
Apple documents these steps here: add artwork in Music on Mac. Use manual files when you need an exact edition or a higher-res image than the store provides.
On Windows (ITunes For PC)
Open iTunes. Select Songs or Albums. Pick one or many items. Press Ctrl-I, or right-click and choose Get Info. Open the Artwork tab. Click Add Artwork, pick your image, then OK. Drag and drop into the Artwork box works here too. To scan your library for covers from Apple, use File → Library → Get Album Artwork. When a release title or year differs from the catalog, manual images give the most reliable result.
Apple lists the same flow for Windows here: add artwork in iTunes on PC. If the match misses, switch to saved JPEG or PNG files and embed them.
Batch Artwork For Many Tracks
You can apply one cover to several songs at once. Select the tracks from the same release. Open Get Info. Confirm you want to edit items together. On the Artwork tab, add the image. This sets one embedded cover across the group, which keeps multi-disc sets and compilations neat.
Quick Prep Before You Add Art
Small tag fixes prevent odd results. Align the album title across tracks. Use a single album artist for compilations. Fill track numbers and disc numbers. Remove stray “feat.” strings from album fields. With clean tags in place, one cover attaches across the set without stray duplicates.
Pick The Right Image So It Looks Crisp
Use a square image. Avoid stretched or cropped art. A good size for local libraries is 1400–3000 pixels on each side. That scale looks sharp on phones, laptops, and car screens without being heavy. Save as JPEG for smaller file sizes or PNG when text edges need to stay razor-clean. Keep originals in a “Covers” folder so you can reuse them during rebuilds.
Reliable Sources For Covers
Good places include label press pages, artist Bandcamp pages, and store listings you own. If you scan a CD, set a true square crop and remove borders. When art is rare, fan databases can help, but check resolution and compression before you commit. Avoid images with store badges, watermarks, or altered titles.
When Automatic Fetch Helps
Automatic matching saves time when tags are clean. If title, artist, and album fields line up with the catalog, the match can fill many gaps in one pass. When names or years differ, the match can fail or pull the wrong edition. Manual files give full control in those cases and preserve exact box art or regional variants.
Image Format Tips
JPEG handles photos well and keeps sizes low. PNG keeps line art and typography crisp. Stick to RGB color. Make sure the file is truly square. Avoid huge thumbnails grabbed from random pages; many look soft on a TV or a high-density screen. Keep a master at full size, then export smaller copies if a device needs it.
Embed Covers So They Travel Between Apps
Embedded artwork lives inside the audio file. That makes the image portable when you copy tracks to a phone, a DJ app, or a car stick. iTunes and Music embed covers for MP3 and AAC. FLAC and ALAC also carry artwork, though some older tools ignore it. If a device shows a blank square, retag the files with embedded art and resync.
How To Check If Art Is Embedded
Open Get Info and look for the image on the Artwork tab. If you see a tiny note that points to a folder image, it may be a link, not an embedded file. Re-add the same picture through Add Artwork. That writes the cover into each track instead of just the album folder. After you save, copy one file to a different player to confirm the image travels with it.
Keep Naming And Tags Consistent
Clean tags make cover work easier. Align album titles, track numbers, and disc numbers. Use the same artist spelling. Set a single album artist for compilations. That way one image attaches cleanly to the whole set. Fix small tag mistakes first, then add art to lock the look across apps.
Singles, EPs, And Live Sets
Short releases often reuse album art. If a single was issued with its own sleeve, use that specific image. For live sets, pick the official poster or the release sleeve, not a random tour graphic. Keep years accurate so auto matching pulls the right edition when you use the store fetch.
Fix Missing Or Wrong Artwork
Most art issues come down to messy tags, cached images, or sync conflicts. Work through these checks. In many cases you can clear a cache, re-embed the image, then watch the correct cover appear across devices.
| Symptom | Likely Cause | Fast Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Blank art on phone | No embedded image in files | Embed art on desktop, then resync |
| Wrong edition art | Title or year mismatch | Correct tags, then re-add image |
| Only some tracks show art | Mixed tags within one album | Standardize album artist and disc numbers |
| Cover shows on Mac, not on PC | Cached image on one device | Remove image, add again, then restart app |
| Get Album Artwork fails | Store catalog mismatch | Use a saved JPEG/PNG and embed it |
| Art turns low-res | Tiny web thumbnail used | Replace with 1400 px or larger square |
Clear And Rebuild Artwork Caches
If an image refuses to change, quit the app, reopen, then play the album again. That refresh often picks up the new file. If not, remove the old cover on the Artwork tab, confirm, then add the new one. On Windows, covers can stick in a cache; removing and re-adding the image after a restart usually resets the view. If a stubborn album still shows the wrong art, delete the artwork, sync once without it, then add it again and sync a second time.
Force A Fresh Sync To Phone
If you use Sync Library with Apple Music, let the desktop update finish, then open the album on mobile. If you sync by cable, delete the album on the device, sync again, then re-add it. Fresh transfers pull the embedded image instead of a stale copy. Give the phone a moment with Wi-Fi on so the cloud version and the local version line up.
Handle Compilations And Box Sets
Multi-disc sets can split into separate albums when tags differ. Align the album title across discs. Use the set title, not each disc title, and fill the Disc Number fields. Add the image once to the full selection. This keeps one cover across the set and prevents Disc 2 from drifting into a separate tile.
Fix Mixed Editions
Deluxe, remaster, and regional editions often share art with small changes. If tracks from two editions blend into one album, split them by year or edition tag, then add the right image to each set. This avoids a tile that shows one cover while tracks inside display another.
Smart Habits For A Tidy Library
Keep a single folder for cover sources. Save originals at high resolution, then export smaller copies for devices that need them. Back up your Library and the Covers folder. When you rip new discs, tag tracks before you add art. This keeps the auto match feature accurate and trims rework later.
Recommended Image Specs
Square aspect, RGB color, and no borders. Avoid watermarks. A clean 1:1 image around 3000 by 3000 pixels works well across screens. If file size matters, save a copy near 1500 px for portable players. Keep the master at full size so you can reuse it during future rebuilds.
Tools That Help With Tags
Batch editors can shave hours off big projects. Popular options include Mp3tag on Windows and MusicBrainz Picard on both platforms. These tools read online databases and can write embedded images to many files at once. Always review matches before saving so you catch wrong editions and low-res covers.
Folder Images Versus Embedded Art
Some apps show a cover.jpg placed in the album folder. That can look fine on one computer but disappear on another. Embedded images travel with each track and survive copy, move, and sync steps. If you inherit a library that uses folder images, re-embed the art into the files to lock in the look.
Ethics, Rights, And Attribution
Use covers you own or that you are licensed to use. Store pages you purchased from, label press kits, or scans from discs you own are fair sources for personal libraries. Avoid random thumbnails that include logos, store badges, or altered titles. Keep a small text file in your Covers folder with the source for each image, so you can replace a low-res file later with a better copy from the same release.
One Clean Workflow You Can Reuse
Pick the album. Fix title and artist tags. Add or embed a square image. Check a phone or a second app to confirm the result. Repeat for the next album. This simple loop keeps the library tidy and avoids chase-and-fix loops down the line. After a few sessions, you’ll have a library where every tile looks right and every track carries its cover wherever it goes.