# MPEG-4 Multi Value Write Method

Lots of tags support multiple values. The out of the box write format for these tags is to save the data as a single MPEG-4 text atom with the multi-value delimiter separating the values. While this is not ideal it does allow for the full metadata to appear in Apple applications. The Preferences-Audio-MPEG-4-Multi-value write method setting can be used to change how these values are stored.

Note that the setting is ignored if Use Roon encoding for Musician Credits and Involved People is set and is not Read only.

The following values are available:

Single Atom
  This is Yate's out of the box format.
Single Atom / Multiple Data
  This method encodes multiple values as multiple data atoms inside a single field atom. While this is perfectly correct according to Apple's specification it is virtually unsupported ... including by Apple. The only exception is MinimServer which supports the encoding. Applications which do not support this encoding will typically only display the first value.
Multiple Atoms
  This method represents each value as a separate field atom. As this means that field atoms can occur more than once, this method is technically invalid. However various taggers use this method to store multiple values. MinimServer also supports this encoding. Applications which do not support this encoding may only display the first or the last value.

Yate will always read all of the above encodings.

The Single Atom / Multiple Data and Multiple Atoms write methods also affect how the Musician Credits field is encoded. Yate's standard encoding for the field is described in MPEG-4 Involved People/Musician Credits Encoding. The alternate encoding is the same as the FLAC Performer encoding. This is described in FLAC/OGG Involved People/Musician Credits Encoding.