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Where “copyright” lives inside an MP3
There is no hidden copyright lock in an MP3. What people find is plain text in the ID3 tag, written by whoever exported or released the file:
| Field | What it holds | Removed here |
|---|---|---|
| TCOP | Copyright message — by convention a year and a holder, e.g. “2019 Example Records” | Yes |
| TPRO | Produced notice (ID3v2.4) — the ℗ line for the recording | Yes |
| WCOP | Link to a copyright or licence page | Yes |
| TOWN | File owner or licensee | Yes |
| TPUB | Publisher or label | Yes |
| COMM | Comments — often where licence text or a store name ends up | Yes |
This page opens in Technical data only mode: everything in the table goes, while the title, artist, album, track number, genre and year stay, so the file still looks right in a music library.
What removing it does not do
Deleting the text removes a label, not a right. Who owns a recording is settled by who made it and what was signed, and nothing written inside a file changes that in either direction.
It has no effect on automatic claims either. YouTube’s Content ID and similar systems identify music by the sound itself, matched against reference files that rights holders supply — they do not read tags. A commercial song with its tags stripped is matched exactly as before. If a platform claims your own work, the way out is that platform’s dispute process with proof of authorship, not a tag editor.
Good reasons to clear these fields
- Your own track carries someone else’s notice. A DAW template, an old label deal or a former collaborator left a copyright line that is no longer true.
- Re-releasing after the rights came back. The master is yours again, but hundreds of files still name the former label as publisher.
- Royalty-free or public-domain audio arrived with a stale notice from the site it came from, and you want a clean file before adding your own credits.
- Privacy. The owner and licensee fields can hold a personal name or an email address that should not travel with a file you share.
The audio is copied, not re-encoded
Tags sit in their own blocks at the start and end of the file. Only those blocks are rebuilt; the audio frames are copied across byte for byte, so bitrate, length and sound stay exactly as they were. Nothing is uploaded — the whole job runs in your browser.
How to remove the copyright tag from an MP3
The mode that keeps the title and artist is already selected.
Step 1: Drop the MP3 in
Drag it onto the box above. Several files are cleaned together and come back as a ZIP.
Step 2: Look for “Copyright notice” in the report
The panel lists the metadata it found. A copyright, owner or publisher field is named there, next to the labels that will be kept.
Step 3: Clean and download
Press the button. The copyright fields and the rest of the technical data are removed in your browser; the title and artist are written back unchanged.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it legal to remove the copyright tag from an MP3?
Editing the metadata of a file you are entitled to have is not unlawful in itself, and it is routine for your own releases. It cannot give you rights to a recording, though, and several jurisdictions treat knowingly removing rights-management information to hide an infringement as an offence of its own. Use it on files you own or are licensed to use.
Will this stop YouTube or Instagram from claiming the song?
No. Those systems match the audio, not the tags. Removing the notice changes nothing about how a recording is identified.
Will removing the copyright tag let me use a song in Canva?
Not by itself. Whether you may use a recording depends on its licence, not on the text inside the file, so deleting the notice changes nothing there. And once your design is published as a video, YouTube, Instagram and similar platforms recognise music by its sound, which no tag edit touches. If the audio is your own or licensed for your use, clearing a stale notice before you upload it is fine. For anything else, use a track whose licence covers the video, such as one from Canva’s own audio library.
Can I add my own copyright notice afterwards?
Not with this tool — it only removes. Any tag editor (Mp3tag, foobar2000, Apple Music) can write a new TCOP field into the cleaned file.
Do the title and artist survive?
Yes, in the mode this page opens with. Switch to “Every tag” only if you want a file with no labels at all.
Is the file uploaded?
No. It is read and rewritten in your browser and never leaves your device.
Related Tools
- Remove Producer Tags from an MP3Strip producer credits, software names and links a beat carries in its metadata — and see why a voice tag inside the audio is another matter entirely.
- MP3 Tag Remover: Strip Every Tag from an MP3Remove all ID3v2, ID3v1 and APE tags in one pass and get back nothing but the audio — byte for byte, with no re-encode and no upload.
- MP3 Metadata & ID3 Tag Remover (also M4A, FLAC, WAV)Strip studio, software, device and personal details from MP3, M4A, OGG, FLAC and WAV files, keeping title and artist.