The full ID3v1 genre code list (0 to 191) and what to do when your genre isn't on it

The Genre dropdown in the editor is a fixed list because ID3v1, the old 128-byte tag at the end of an MP3, stores the genre as a single byte, and a byte can only be a number. Here is what each number means, which ones are safe, and what to do about genres the list never imagined.

Where the list came from

Codes 0 to 79 are the original list from the 1996 ID3v1 specification, which is why it reads like a record shop from that year: Acid Jazz, Euro-Techno, Jungle, Trip-Hop. Every player that reads ID3v1 knows these 80. Everything from 80 upwards was added over the following years by Winamp, one of the first popular MP3 players, and support for those depends on whether a given player copied Winamp's list, and which version of it. Anything 80 or above might show up as "Unknown" on an old device. Code 255 means no genre set.

In an ID3v2 tag the genre is text, so it can be anything, and the editor writes the name ("Rock") rather than the number so that every player, including the macOS Finder which shows the number literally, displays it. The dropdown still uses this list so the ID3v1 copy can carry a matching code.

When your genre isn't here

There's no Bollywood, no Devotional, no Carnatic, no K-Pop, no Lo-fi, no Afrobeats. The list stopped growing in the late 2000s and it shows. You have three options.

Pick the nearest code. Bollywood as Soundtrack (24), devotional as Gospel (38) or Chant (150), K-Pop as Pop (13), lo-fi as Chillout (154) or Downtempo. It's imprecise, but it sorts sensibly and works on every device.

Use free text in ID3v2 with a desktop tagger. Mp3tag or Kid3 will happily write "Bollywood" into the genre frame, and any modern player will show and sort by it. The ID3v1 copy, if you keep one, gets 255 or the nearest code. The editor here doesn't offer free text, precisely because it can't put "Bollywood" in a byte; the comparison covers which desktop tool to use.

Or leave it blank. Genre is the field players use least. Sorting by artist and album works without it, and a wrong genre is more annoying than none.

The list

Codes 0 to 79 are the original set; 80 and above are Winamp's extensions.