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Does AVRCP 1.3 support album art? Based on list of media attributes, album art is not included in the list. If AVRCP 1.3 do support album art, how do the information pass?

Phrogz
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ok_woei
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    Got any clarity on this since you asked the question? – PEZ Oct 08 '13 at 11:13
  • [This page](http://www.edmunds.com/bmw/3-series-gran-turismo/2014/long-term-road-test/2014-bmw-328i-xdrive-gran-turismo-album-artwork-via-bluetooth.html) claims that the 2014 BMW 328i xDrive Gran Turismo supports album artwork over Bluetooth. No idea if the author is correct. :) – Phrogz Mar 03 '15 at 17:29
  • It seems like it is cddb behind the curtains there as well; http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-forums/x-m-forum/99078-latest-map-navigation-system-bluetooth-software-update-gracenote-database.html. – D. Josefsson Mar 03 '15 at 18:06

2 Answers2

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The short answer is no, it does not support album art. As you mentioned, AVRCP 1.3 does not support album art. As you mention, Appendix E: List of media attributes in AVRCP 1.3 is the source. Neiter does the latter versions.

In theory, you could use one of the reserved bytes to define your own album art metadata field. How well this would work practically would depend on a bunch of factors, e.g.

  • Both the sender and the receiver are able to interpret the new information,
  • The Bluetooth stacks on both sides allows the actual extention.

And of course, if you extend the protocol, you are not conforming with the standard anymore.

D. Josefsson
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  • Thank you for official reference. The Tesla Model S supports album artwork over Bluetooth, e.g. from an iPhone. Do you suspect that this is hacked AVRCP, or BIP, or something else? – Phrogz Mar 03 '15 at 17:14
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    It seems that Tesla fetches its information from CDDB according to this post: http://teslatap.com/questions/music-cover-art-control/. The Tesla is connected by 3g, so it is at least plausible. – D. Josefsson Mar 03 '15 at 17:21
  • Wow. That would be very interesting if that was their approach. Thanks! :) – Phrogz Mar 03 '15 at 17:24
  • [This discussion](http://priuschat.com/threads/bluetooth-ios-8-album-artwork-works.149583/#axzz3TLRjHlFR) claims that the Prius also supports displaying artwork, and also surmises that it must be coming from CDDB. – Phrogz Mar 03 '15 at 17:32
  • Just spoke with an expert from a company supplying Bluetooth products, who said that they supported album artwork via BIP. – Phrogz Mar 08 '15 at 03:57
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Album Art is supported in AVRCP 1.6 and up. A great many autos are actually getting the cover art via some form of onboard CDDB database like gracenote. This is NOT sent over Bluetooth.

Maxfli
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