Metadata Language Rules: Language Codes, Translations and Transliteration

Updated 2026-10-21 · 3 sources

Short answer

There are two language settings: the metadata language (the language your titles are written in) and the audio language (what's sung or spoken; instrumentals use zxx on Apple). A mismatch is a common rejection reason. Write each field in one language, with no "Title / Translation" side by side, and put translations and transliterations in the store's localization or phonetic fields.

The rules

Apple: the album-level language code must match the language of the metadata, not the audio [1].
Apple: the track-level audio language must match what's sung or spoken; non-linguistic content is flagged zxx [1].
Apple: no side-by-side translations; one language per entry or localization [1].
Apple: Cyrillic titles use Cyrillic in the native field, English in the English localization and transliteration in the phonetic field [1].
Spotify: multi-language metadata needs language codes for both the original and the translated metadata [2].
Novecore lists metadata and audio language mismatches as rejection reasons [3].

Accents and characters

Apple requires all accents for supported languages and all German characters (Ä, Ö, Ü, ß), with no digraphs [1]. See capitalization rules for per-language casing.

Examples

Instead of	Use	Why
حبيبي ارجعلي / Habeebi Ergaali	Native: حبيبي ارجعلي · Localization: Habeebi Ergaali	No side-by-side translations.
Instrumental with audio language "en"	Audio language zxx	Non-linguistic content (Apple).

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FAQ

My song mixes English and Spanish. Which language do I pick?

Apple allows more than one audio language code at track level for what's sung. Set the metadata language to the language the title is written in.

Does this affect lyrics?

Yes. Lyrics should be in the language that's sung. Apple's lyric rules also ask for standard capitalization.

Related guides

Sources

Platform rules change. Each rule above is attributed to the company or standard that published it, as checked on 2026-10-21. This guide is not legal advice.