Add Explicit or Clean Tags in Apple Music & iTunes with MP3tag

Download Article

Easy steps to see the Explicit tag on local audio files

Co-authored by Gonzalo Martinez and Nicole Levine, MFA

Last Updated: March 16, 2026 Fact Checked

Download Article

Adding Explicit or Clean Tags in MP3Tag

|

FAQ

|

Video

|

Tips

|

Warnings

If you have songs that you bought from iTunes, you may see little boxes next to the song names that say "EXPLICIT" or "CLEAN." These tags are one of the few tags Apple won't let you edit in their apps. However, if your iTunes purchases are being miscategorized as clean or explicit, or your explicit local music files aren't labeled as such in Apple Music or iTunes, you can add the "ITUNESADVISORY" tag in a tag editor like MP3tag to fix the problem. However, if your files aren't already in the M4a format, you'll need to convert them first. This wikiHow guide will teach you how to use MP3Tag to add explicit or clean tags to songs for Apple Music and iTunes.

How to See "Explicit" or "Clean" in iTunes/Apple Music

To see "Explicit" or "Clean" on your audio files in iTunes and Apple Music, convert the files to M4A, then use MP3tag to add the ITUNESADVISORY tag to the files. Edit the value of the tag to assign a "1" to explicit songs, "2" to clean versions of explicit songs, or "0" to songs that were clean to begin with.

Section 1 of 2:

Adding Explicit or Clean Tags in MP3Tag

Download Article

1
Convert your audio files to M4A if you haven't already. If you want the explicit tags to show up in iTunes or Apple Music, you'll need to make sure your audio files are in the M4A format–this won't work for MP3s, FLAC files, etc.
- In iTunes for Windows and earlier Mac versions, go to Edit > Preferences > Import Settings, select the AAC Encoder, then click OK > OK. Then, you can convert files to M4A by selecting them, then going to File > Convert > Create AAC version.^{[1]
  X
  Research source}
- In Apple Music on a Mac, select the files you want to convert, then go to File > Convert > Create AAC version.^{[2]
  X
  Research source}
- Once you convert the files, you'll see the converted versions as duplicates in iTunes or Apple Music. The converted files are also in your iTunes Media folder.
- To make things easier, move the converted M4a files to a separate folder so you can bulk convert them in MP3tag, or add them to a playlist in iTunes or Apple Music.
2
Install Mp3tag for Windows or Mac. If you want your local music files to be labeled as explicit in iTunes, Apple Music, and other audio apps, you can use MP3tag to add a special tag.
- On Windows, you can download MP3tag from mp3tag.de/download.html.
- On a Mac, install MP3tag from the App Store.
Advertisement
To select the songs, click the File menu, select Add Directory, and choose the folder containing your converted music files. Alternatively, if you added the songs to a playlist, you can select File > Load Playlist/Cuesheet and select the playlist.
4
Select all the songs you want to tag. If you want to tag everything, click in the right panel, then press Ctrl+A (Windows) or ⌘ Cmd+A (Mac) to select all. You can also select them all with your mouse.
This opens the Tags window.
6
Click the rectangle with the star on it in the Metadata box. This tells Mp3tag to create a new tag.
To do this, type ITUNESADVISORY into the "Field" box, then type a 0 in the "Value" box.
9
Add a new column called "ITUNESADVISORY" in MP3tag. Here's how:
- Right-click any of the column headers (e.g., Filename, Path) and select Customize Columns…
- Click the New button.
- Type ITUNESADVISORY into the "Name" field.
- Type 0 into the "Value" field.
- Click OK.
- You'll now have a new column (all the way to the right) called "ITUNESADVISORY" with all values set to "0".
10
Edit the ITUNESADVISORY tag for explicit songs. For explicit songs, change the "0" in the ITUNESADVISORY column to a "1". Any clean versions of songs should have a "2" in the column. Songs that didn't have profanity to begin with should remain 0. An easy way to change multiple songs at once:
- Select the songs you want to tag as explicit.
- Right-click the selection and choose Extended Tags…
- Select ITUNESADVISORY and click the icon of a sheet of paper and pencil.
- Change the value to 1 for explicit.
- Click OK twice.
- Now select the songs you want to label as clean versions of explicit songs.
- Right-click the selection and choose Extended Tags…
- Select ITUNESADVISORY and click the icon of a sheet of paper and pencil.
- Change the value to 2 for clean.
- Click OK twice.
Now that you've edited the ITUNESADVISORY tag in MP3tag, any songs you've labeled as explicit will now have the Explicit tag, and clean versions of songs will have the Clean tag.

Section 2 of 2:

Frequently Asked Questions

Download Article

1
How do you put a profanity filter on Apple Music? To filter out explicit songs, on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you'll need to use Screen Time to manage content restrictions.^{[3]
X
Research source} For other platforms, you can sign in to Apple Music on the web, click the My Account button, then select Settings. From there, turn on Content Restrictions, create and verify a passcode, enter a recovery email address, then choose your rating preferences.^{[4]
X
Research source}
2
How do you edit MP3 tags in Windows? You can use a free program like MP3tag, which also supports the creation of custom tags. Alternatively, you can edit MP3 tags in File Explorer–just right-click a song, select Properties, click the Details tab, and double-click a tag to edit it.
3
How do you enable explicit content in Apple Music for Windows? Click the ••• menu, select Settings, then click Restrictions. From here, you can select Allow Explicit Music to allow profanity in music. If the setting was previously changed by someone else, you may be prompted ot enter a password to remove the restrictions.^{[5]
X
Research source}

Expert Q&A

Search

Add New Question

Ask a Question

200 characters left

Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.

Submit

Video

Tips

Using the ITUNESADVISORY tag may work to label songs as explicit or clean in some other non-Apple music players as well, including MediaMonkey.^{[6]
X
Research source} It won't work in Spotify.

Thanks
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

Submit a Tip

All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published

Name

Please provide your name and last initial

Submit

Thanks for submitting a tip for review!

Warnings

When converting a file to another file type, you may lose some sound quality.

Thanks
Helpful 8 Not Helpful 1
You may lose some previously entered metadata, such as album art, when converting files to M4a. You can add it again after the process.

Thanks
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0