NOTES.md

This file contains notes about data types and structures present in the iTunes XML plist file.

plist XML sections

Tracks

Key	Type	Description	Table	Column	y/n
Track ID	integer	Track identifier	track	track_id	yes
Name	string	Title	track	name	yes
Artist	string	Artist	track	artist	yes
Album Artist	string	Album artist	track	albumartist	yes
Composer	string	Composer	track	composer	no
Album	string	Album	track	album	yes
Grouping	string	Grouping	track	grouping	yes
Genre	string	Genre	track	genre	yes
Kind	string	See 'Kind' section			no
Size	integer	File size in bytes	track	filesize	yes
Total Time	integer	Track length	track	length	yes
Disc Number	integer	Disc number	track	discnumber	no
Disc Count	integer	Disc total	track	totaldiscnumber	no
Track Number	integer	Track number	track	tracknumber	yes
Track Count	integer	Track total	track	totaltracknumber	no
Year	integer	Year	track	year	yes
BPM	integer	Beats per minute	track	bpm	yes
Date Modified	date	Last modification date, ie. 2014-06-12T05:34:51Z			no
Data Added	date	Date added to library, ie. 2008-05-09T19:41:13Z	track	dateadded	yes
Bit Rate	integer	Audio bit rate, ie. 192	track	bitrate	yes
Sample Rate	integer	Audio sample rate, ie. 44100	track	samplerate	yes
Volume Adjustment	integer	unknown			no
Comments	string	Track comments	track	comments	yes
Album Rating	integer	unknown			no
Album Rating Computed	boolean	unknown			no
Compilation	boolean	Part of compilation album	track	compilation	yes
Sort Album	string	unknown			no
Sort Album Artist	string	unknown			no
Sort Artist	string	unknown			no
Play Count	integer	Play count	track	playcount	yes
Play Date	integer	Play date encoded as number of seconds elapsed since 1/1/1904, ie. 3269511323	track	lastplayed	yes
Play Date UTC	date	Play date, ie. 2007-08-09T20:35:23Z	track	lastplayed	yes
Skip Count	integer	unknown			no
Skip Date	date	unknown			no
Artwork Count	integer	unknown			no
Persistent ID	string	16-digit unique hex track identifier, ie. 3B84165CAAA56C98			yes
Track Type	string	unknown
Location	string	Percent-encoded file path URL	track	filename	yes
File Folder Count	integer	unknown			no
Library Folder Count	integer	unknown			no

'Kind'

The following table of supported audio file types ("Kind" in the track plist dict) was determined using the output from the following command:

strings /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/Localizable.strings matches | grep -i "audio file"

The table also shows the file extension mappings the conversion tool uses to populate the Kind key/value pair.

Kind	Extension
AAC audio file
AIFF audio file
Apple Lossless audio file	m4a
Apple Music AAC audio file
Internet audio file
MPEG audio file
MPEG-4 audio file
Matched AAC audio file
Protected AAC audio file
Protected MPEG-4 audio file
Purchased AAC audio file
Purchased MPEG-4 audio file
Sound Designer II audio file
WAV audio file