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Languages and translations

Choose the language used by OpenTag's controls, menus and standard labels. OpenTag includes English, Dutch and German. You can add a JSON catalog or override a bundled translation without changing your music metadata.

Choose a language

  1. Open File → Options… → Language.
  2. Select English, Nederlands, Deutsch, or an installed user catalog. System default follows the first available catalog matching a preferred system language. For example, nl-BE can use Dutch; English is the fallback.
  3. Choose OK. The interface changes immediately; no restart is needed.

Progress labels also translate when system number formatting uses another digit set.

The catalog name in System default is shown as its author supplied it. Field names such as ARTIST, format strings such as %artist%, and functions such as $upper(...) keep the same syntax. Filenames, tag values and names you assigned to columns, tools or action groups stay as entered. Error messages translate their explanations while preserving field identifiers, export configuration names, paths and server replies. An invalid field identifier keeps its entered spaces and characters in the translated diagnostic so you can identify what needs correcting.

Add a catalog in the desktop app

The folder-opening action is available only in native desktop builds. Language selection remains available in mobile builds and browser preview.

  1. In Language, choose Open languages folder. OpenTag creates the languages folder inside its active configuration folder and writes the current _template.json there.
  2. Copy _template.json to a locale-named file, such as fr.json or pt-BR.json. Keep the template as a reference.

  3. Edit the copy with a text editor. Set @meta.name to the display name and translate the text values. Leave the English keys unchanged.

  4. Save the file, return to Options and choose OK to reload the folder.

  5. Reopen Language if the new catalog was not yet listed, select its name and filename, then choose OK to apply it.

For example, these entries in the generated template can become:

{
 "@meta": {"name": "Français"},
 "Save tags": "Enregistrer les tags",
 "Select {filename}": "Sélectionner {filename}"
}

This is an excerpt, not a complete catalog. The generated template lists all current built-in interface strings and collected backend diagnostics. Keep its other entries. The new filename supplies the locale; the generated template has no English locale override. Keep brace placeholders such as {filename} and {field} unchanged so OpenTag can insert the original values.

For an existing catalog, edit its file and choose Options OK to reload it. OpenTag also reads the folder at startup. A file named nl.json or de.json replaces that bundled catalog; removing it restores the bundled version on the next reload. An en.json override also applies to native dialogs and tray labels.

At desktop startup, the interface waits for the saved language and available catalogs before it becomes visible and interactive. If settings cannot be read, OpenTag tries the last remembered language. Application error labels follow the interface language while filenames in the same error list keep their spelling. Missing or unreadable catalogs still use the fallback and warning behavior below.

Gotchas

  • Missing entries or entries with mismatched placeholders fall back to English. Check the warning on the Language page when a file is incomplete. Malformed JSON files are not loaded. Each file warning is shown separately; filenames keep their spelling even when they contain semicolons or warning-like text. Parser and operating-system details retain their original language.
  • If a selected added language disappears, OpenTag falls back to English. The Language list identifies the unavailable preference; keeping it selected retains it, while choosing English and OK replaces it. System default instead follows the available system-language matches.
  • A folder scan I/O failure warns and keeps catalogs already loaded in this session. A missing folder is an empty successful reload; an invalid individual catalog is reported and left out of that reload.
  • Catalogs use OpenTag's JSON format; Mp3tag .lng files are not supported.
  • Custom catalogs keep the interface's left-to-right layout. Selecting a right-to-left language, such as Arabic or Hebrew, does not switch the direction of controls, menus or navigation.
  • System-owned controls and some operating-system, library or newly added backend messages can remain in their original language or English.
  • Installed web sources keep their own names and authored settings prose; their own localization supplies that text.

Web-source script errors keep the source filename, command and debug-folder path unchanged while translating the diagnostic. An open source dialog updates that diagnostic when the interface language changes. Cut/Paste failure labels also follow the interface language; filenames in the same error list stay unchanged. Action, undo/redo, playlist-line and saved-cover errors follow the same rule: their application wording translates, while group names, history labels, paths and external error details keep their spelling. Open failure dialogs update from the original details when the interface language changes. Action-group import warnings translate each unresolved action separately. Column import warnings preserve the column names while translating each skipped reason; the status and an open failure dialog update when the language changes. Search statuses translate built-in local/cover labels while preserving the titles of installed web sources.

To contribute a translation, keep its keys and placeholders intact and submit it through the repository's pull-request workflow.