Force itunes to re-scan your library

This will show you how to force iTunes to re-scan your library to fix missing metadata by re-scanning all your music files. You can re-fresh individual files by playing them in iTunes. If you have used an external program to change data and you don’t want to have to play each song to get it to update then this post will show you how.

Updated October 2026: added a quick-steps list, the equivalent steps in the Music app on a modern Mac, and a short FAQ. The original iTunes steps are unchanged.

The quick answer

To make iTunes pick up tag changes made outside it, add your music folder to the library again. iTunes won’t create duplicates; it re-reads each file and updates the existing entry.

1. Open iTunes.
2. Choose File > Add to Library.
3. Pick the folder that holds your music (for example the ‘iTunes’ folder).
4. Wait for the import to finish – on a big library this can take a long time.

How to force iTunes to re-scan your library to fix missing metadata and id3 tags

• open iTunes
• file > add to library
• pick the location of your iTunes library
• (eg the ‘iTunes’ folder)

iTunes will then re-add all the files you already have to you library. iTunes wont create duplicates. Rather, it will re-scan each file and will alter the metadata for the existing entries in your library. This process can take a very long time – when I last did it I had to re-start the process multiple times for it to eventually complete. When you re-start the importing, the import starts from the very beginning again :(

Using the Music app on a modern Mac

On recent versions of macOS, iTunes has been replaced by the Music app. Apple’s Music app guide describes the same idea: you add a file or folder to the library, and a folder brings in everything inside it. You can also drag a file or folder from the Finder into the Music window.

1. Open the Music app.
2. Choose File > Add to Library to add the songs without copying them into your Media folder. This option is only available if “Copy files to Music Media folder when adding to library” is switched off in the Files settings.
3. Or choose File > Import, which adds the songs and copies them into your Media folder.
4. Select your music folder and let the import finish.

Files added without copying are stored as a pointer to the original, so moving or renaming them afterwards can stop them playing. Apple’s own page is Import songs from a folder in Music on Mac.

If the re-scan doesn’t work

If the above doesn’t work, then some people have suggested deleting your library file, and creating a new one; this can be very time consuming if you have a lot of music – the basic steps are

• quit itunes
• navigate to your library folder (usually Music > iTunes folder)
• delete the .itdb files (don’t delete the music files themselves)
• open itunes
• scan for new music
• iTunes will then scan your machine and re-add all the music it finds

Sources: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2132434?tstart=0

Frequently asked questions

Will re-adding my folder create duplicate tracks?

In my experience no. iTunes re-scans each file and updates the metadata of the existing entry rather than adding a second copy.

Does deleting the library file delete my music?

No. The steps above only remove the library database; the music files themselves are left alone. You then scan for new music so iTunes rebuilds the library from those files.

Why does the import keep stopping part way through?

With very large collections the import may not finish in one go, and restarting it begins again from the start. The 2019 update below suggests splitting the import into smaller folders to get around this.

Will this also fix missing album art?

The re-scan re-reads the tags in your files. I haven’t tested it for artwork that is stored only inside the iTunes library rather than in the files, so don’t rely on it for that case.

Update: Feb 2019 (Thanks Vladimir)

This may help those with LARGE libraries of music and no better alternative than iTunes to get their music onto iPhones.
My collection is large enough that I’ve split /Music/mp3/ into 27 subfolders, 0-9, A, B, C, D … thru Z. Each new rip goes in the appropriate AlphaNum folder and that way Bruno Mars gets filed with the M artists even though I’ve tagged all the tracks Bruno Mars–keeping Picard, MusicBrainz, and CDDB happy.
The grief I found with iTunes is that the collection simply didn’t import all the way if I selected Music/mp3 as the folder to import. I’d get the A, B, and some of the C artists, if that. The fix seems to be SELECT ALL 27 subfolders (inside the Music/mp3/ location). This seemed to help iTunes by breaking up the task into 27 smaller chunks.
(I tried to just locate the music in Music/iTunes/iTunesMedia/AutomaticallyAddedToiTunes, but iTunes did some strange things to this folder even though I’ve told it NOT to manage my music for me. This folder seems to have some strange permissions at play, preventing me from even copying some files into that folder. Too bad, that would’ve been the most elegant solution…)