picard

Manipulate and analyze high-throughput sequencing (HTS) data

TLDR

Start Picard

$ picard

Open a set of files

$ picard [path/to/file1.mp3 path/to/file2.mp3 ...]

Display version

$ picard [[-V|--long-version]]

-h, --help
    Show help message and exit

-V, --version
    Display program version and exit

-d, --debug
    Enable debug logging

--debug-exceptions
    Print Python exceptions

-p PATH, --profile=PATH
    Load specific user profile directory

-r, --raise
    Raise main window on startup

--no-safequit
    Disable safe quit dialog

--no-single
    Allow multiple instances

-n, --no-native-window-decorations
    Disable native window decorations

DESCRIPTION

MusicBrainz Picard is a powerful, open-source application for automatically tagging and organizing large music collections. It uses the MusicBrainz open music encyclopedia and AcoustID fingerprinting to identify tracks by audio content rather than relying solely on existing metadata.

Key features include:
• Loading files or directories for tagging.
• Clustering similar files into albums.
• Lookup and matching against MusicBrainz database.
• Applying tags, album art, and ratings.
• Support for formats like MP3, FLAC, OGG, Opus, AAC, WMA.
• Custom scripting with Python for advanced tagging.
• Plugin ecosystem for extra functionality.

Picard excels at correcting messy libraries from ripped CDs or downloads, saving hours of manual work. It runs on Linux, Windows, macOS, with a Qt-based GUI. Tagging requires internet access, but files can be loaded offline for preview.

CAVEATS

GUI-only; requires internet for lookups. No built-in CLI batch tagging. Heavy on CPU during fingerprinting large collections.
Depends on Qt5/PyQt5 and libraries like chromaprint, mutagen.

SUPPORTED FORMATS

MP3/ID3, FLAC/VorbisComments, Ogg Vorbis/Opus, AAC/MP4, WMA/ASF, Monkey's Audio (APE), True Audio (TTA), WavPack, Musepack (MPC).

FINGERPRINTING

Uses Chromaprint library and AcoustID webservice for track identification.

CONFIGURATION

Profiles stored in ~/.config/MusicBrainz/Picard. Edit options.ini for settings like server URLs, tag preferences.

HISTORY

Originated in 2005 as 'picardqt', a Qt frontend for MusicBrainz tagging tools. Renamed MusicBrainz Picard in 2006, actively developed by MusicBrainz community. Major versions: v1.x (2014-2019), v2.0 (2019) with Python 3/Qt5 rewrite. Now at v2.11+ (2024).