How to remove album art from a file in Windows Media Player 12

Use MP3tag (freeware) to remove the album art.

Instructions (thanks @BornToCode):

  1. Select relevant files from MP3tag explorer.
  2. Move the mouse cursor to the bottom of the left pane.
  3. Right-click on the cover image.
  4. Choose Remove cover from menu.
  5. Click ctrl-s to save.

In version 11 (11.0.5721.5268) follow the following procedure from the library view:

Right click on the track and select "Advanced Track Editor".

Select the "Pictures" tab.

Select the image you want to remove and click on "Delete".

However, according to Wikipedia:

The Advanced Tag Editor (ID3 tag editor), which allowed users to edit metadata for media files file, is removed. Editing metadata in Windows Media Player library and in Details pane of Windows Explorer is still supported. Source


I ran into this problem this weekend and was really disappointed to find I couldn't delete the album art. Most of the resources on the web talk about how to hide the album art, and not how to delete it.

Ultimately, I was able to delete it by showing hidden files and folders and deleting all of the metadata files.

The challenge is if Windows 7 is adding the wrong album art, it will probably automatically replace it with the wrong art again (unless it was a selection you inadvertently made).