How to Find MP3 Files in iTunes or Apple Music

[Nathan Parker]

These instructions should work both in the iTunes app (macOS Mojave and earlier and Windows) and the Apple Music app (macOS Catalina or later). These instructions aren’t for iOS/iPadOS.

Most of my audio files in my iCloud Music Library in iTunes/Apple Music is stored in AAC/M4A format. However, occasionally I’ve come across an MP3 file that was imported into my music library, and I wanted a quick way to view all of my MP3 files in my music library.

There is a quick and simple way to find all MP3 files in one’s music library using the super-beneficial feature smart playlists. Smart playlists allow the user to create a playlist of songs, but instead of creating a playlist of manually-added songs, the playlist automatically adds songs based on particular search criteria.

Here’s how to create a smart playlist of all MP3 files in iTunes/Apple Music libraries:

1. Go to File>New>Smart Playlist
2. Give the smart playlist a name (such as: MP3 Files)
3. Make sure the rule is set to: “Kind” contains “MPEG Audio” to find all MP3 files. “Live Updating” can also be enabled to ensure it refreshes anytime new MP3 files are added to the music library.

That’s it! Users can now view all of their Mp3 files within the music library.

Users can also convert Mp3 files to AAC by selecting all of the files and selecting File>Convert>Create AAC Version, although two pointers to keep in mind are that the music library will only create an AAC copy of the file (it will not automatically delete the MP3 versions), and there will be some form of additional quality loss during the conversion.

Additional details and tweaks to the smart playlist can be found here.

Nathan Parker

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