ISRC validator and format guide
Paste one code or a whole column to check its structure, decode what each part means, and catch the duplicates that quietly split your royalties — or search MusicBrainz to find the ISRC behind a track.
Validation runs entirely in your browser — nothing you paste is uploaded or stored. The MusicBrainz check only runs when you ask for it.
What the 12 characters mean
An ISRC is always 12 characters, written as CC-XXX-YY-NNNNN. The hyphens are for readability only — the code itself is the 12 characters, and that is what belongs in a metadata field.
GB-A1B-24-00042
GBCharacters 1–2
Prefix code
Two letters allocated by the International ISRC Agency. Usually an ISO 3166-1 country code, but it identifies the pool a registrant was issued from — not where the recording was made.
A1BCharacters 3–5
Registrant code
Three letters or digits identifying whoever assigned the code — a label, a distributor, or an individual artist. Only unique in combination with the prefix.
24Characters 6–7
Year of reference
The last two digits of the year the code was assigned to the recording. Not the release year, and it never changes once assigned.
00042Characters 8–12
Designation code
Five digits the registrant assigns in sequence. Must be unique within that registrant's codes for that year, which is what makes the full 12 characters unique.
What a validator can and cannot tell you
Unlike an ISBN or a UPC, an ISRC carries no check digit. There is no arithmetic that proves a code is genuine, and no part of the code encodes the recording it belongs to. Anything that claims to validate an ISRC — this page included — is checking one thing: whether the 12 characters are shaped the way the standard requires.
That still catches most of what goes wrong in practice. Codes lose characters in spreadsheets, get a letter typed into the designation, arrive with an unassigned prefix, or get pasted twice across two different recordings. Those are the errors that cause a delivery to bounce or a play to be reported against the wrong master.
What structure alone cannot tell you is whether a well-formed code was ever actually assigned, or which recording it points at. The MusicBrainz check above adds evidence in one direction — a hit means the code is in use — but only the issuer can confirm a code authoritatively: your distributor, your label, or the ISRC agency for your territory.
Prefix codes
The first two characters identify the pool a registrant code was issued from. Most are ISO 3166-1 country codes, but when a national supply runs out the International ISRC Agency allocates from a special range instead — so the prefix is not a reliable statement about where a recording was made.
Special allocations — not countries
- QMAllocated to new US registrants from December 2010, once the US pool was exhausted. Not a country.
- QZAllocated to new US registrants from December 2010, once the US pool was exhausted. Not a country.
- QTAllocated to new US registrants from December 2010, once the US pool was exhausted. Not a country.
- CPReserved by the International ISRC Agency for future overflow allocations.
- DGReserved by the International ISRC Agency for future overflow allocations.
- ZZReserved for ISRCs assigned directly by the International ISRC Agency.
Country prefixes277
- ACAscension Island
- ADAndorra
- AEUnited Arab Emirates
- AFAfghanistan
- AGAntigua & Barbuda
- AIAnguilla
- ALAlbania
- AMArmenia
- ANCuraçao
- AOAngola
- AQAntarctica
- ARArgentina
- ASAmerican Samoa
- ATAustria
- AUAustralia
- AWAruba
- AXÅland Islands
- AZAzerbaijan
- BABosnia & Herzegovina
- BBBarbados
- BDBangladesh
- BEBelgium
- BFBurkina Faso
- BGBulgaria
- BHBahrain
- BIBurundi
- BJBenin
- BLSt. Barthélemy
- BMBermuda
- BNBrunei
- BOBolivia
- BQCaribbean Netherlands
- BRBrazil
- BSBahamas
- BTBhutan
- BUMyanmar (Burma)
- BVBouvet Island
- BWBotswana
- BYBelarus
- BZBelize
- CACanada
- CCCocos (Keeling) Islands
- CDCongo - Kinshasa
- CFCentral African Republic
- CGCongo - Brazzaville
- CHSwitzerland
- CICôte d’Ivoire
- CKCook Islands
- CLChile
- CMCameroon
- CNChina
- COColombia
- CQSark
- CRCosta Rica
- CSSerbia
- CUCuba
- CVCape Verde
- CWCuraçao
- CXChristmas Island
- CYCyprus
- CZCzechia
- DDGermany
- DEGermany
- DJDjibouti
- DKDenmark
- DMDominica
- DODominican Republic
- DYBenin
- DZAlgeria
- EACeuta & Melilla
- ECEcuador
- EEEstonia
- EGEgypt
- EHWestern Sahara
- EREritrea
- ESSpain
- ETEthiopia
- EUEuropean Union
- EZEurozone
- FIFinland
- FJFiji
- FKFalkland Islands
- FMMicronesia
- FOFaroe Islands
- FRFrance
- FXFrance
- GAGabon
- GBUnited Kingdom
- GDGrenada
- GEGeorgia
- GFFrench Guiana
- GGGuernsey
- GHGhana
- GIGibraltar
- GLGreenland
- GMGambia
- GNGuinea
- GPGuadeloupe
- GQEquatorial Guinea
- GRGreece
- GSSouth Georgia & South Sandwich Islands
- GTGuatemala
- GUGuam
- GWGuinea-Bissau
- GYGuyana
- HKHong Kong SAR China
- HMHeard & McDonald Islands
- HNHonduras
- HRCroatia
- HTHaiti
- HUHungary
- HVBurkina Faso
- ICCanary Islands
- IDIndonesia
- IEIreland
- ILIsrael
- IMIsle of Man
- INIndia
- IOBritish Indian Ocean Territory
- IQIraq
- IRIran
- ISIceland
- ITItaly
- JEJersey
- JMJamaica
- JOJordan
- JPJapan
- KEKenya
- KGKyrgyzstan
- KHCambodia
- KIKiribati
- KMComoros
- KNSt. Kitts & Nevis
- KPNorth Korea
- KRSouth Korea
- KWKuwait
- KYCayman Islands
- KZKazakhstan
- LALaos
- LBLebanon
- LCSt. Lucia
- LILiechtenstein
- LKSri Lanka
- LRLiberia
- LSLesotho
- LTLithuania
- LULuxembourg
- LVLatvia
- LYLibya
- MAMorocco
- MCMonaco
- MDMoldova
- MEMontenegro
- MFSt. Martin
- MGMadagascar
- MHMarshall Islands
- MKNorth Macedonia
- MLMali
- MMMyanmar (Burma)
- MNMongolia
- MOMacao SAR China
- MPNorthern Mariana Islands
- MQMartinique
- MRMauritania
- MSMontserrat
- MTMalta
- MUMauritius
- MVMaldives
- MWMalawi
- MXMexico
- MYMalaysia
- MZMozambique
- NANamibia
- NCNew Caledonia
- NENiger
- NFNorfolk Island
- NGNigeria
- NHVanuatu
- NINicaragua
- NLNetherlands
- NONorway
- NPNepal
- NRNauru
- NUNiue
- NZNew Zealand
- OMOman
- PAPanama
- PEPeru
- PFFrench Polynesia
- PGPapua New Guinea
- PHPhilippines
- PKPakistan
- PLPoland
- PMSt. Pierre & Miquelon
- PNPitcairn Islands
- PRPuerto Rico
- PSPalestinian Territories
- PTPortugal
- PWPalau
- PYParaguay
- QAQatar
- QOOutlying Oceania
- RERéunion
- RHZimbabwe
- RORomania
- RSSerbia
- RURussia
- RWRwanda
- SASaudi Arabia
- SBSolomon Islands
- SCSeychelles
- SDSudan
- SESweden
- SGSingapore
- SHSt. Helena
- SISlovenia
- SJSvalbard & Jan Mayen
- SKSlovakia
- SLSierra Leone
- SMSan Marino
- SNSenegal
- SOSomalia
- SRSuriname
- SSSouth Sudan
- STSão Tomé & Príncipe
- SURussia
- SVEl Salvador
- SXSint Maarten
- SYSyria
- SZEswatini
- TATristan da Cunha
- TCTurks & Caicos Islands
- TDChad
- TFFrench Southern Territories
- TGTogo
- THThailand
- TJTajikistan
- TKTokelau
- TLTimor-Leste
- TMTurkmenistan
- TNTunisia
- TOTonga
- TPTimor-Leste
- TRTürkiye
- TTTrinidad & Tobago
- TVTuvalu
- TWTaiwan
- TZTanzania
- UAUkraine
- UGUganda
- UKUnited Kingdom
- UMU.S. Outlying Islands
- UNUnited Nations
- USUnited States
- UYUruguay
- UZUzbekistan
- VAVatican City
- VCSt. Vincent & Grenadines
- VDVietnam
- VEVenezuela
- VGBritish Virgin Islands
- VIU.S. Virgin Islands
- VNVietnam
- VUVanuatu
- WFWallis & Futuna
- WSSamoa
- XAPseudo-Accents
- XBPseudo-Bidi
- XKKosovo
- YDYemen
- YEYemen
- YTMayotte
- YUSerbia
- ZASouth Africa
- ZMZambia
- ZRCongo - Kinshasa
- ZWZimbabwe
Frequently asked questions
An International Standard Recording Code is a 12-character identifier for one specific sound or video recording. It travels with the recording everywhere it is used — streaming services, radio logs, download stores, neighbouring-rights societies — and it is how plays get matched back to the right master. Two different recordings must never share one.
Not with certainty — no tool that works from the code alone can. An ISRC contains no check digit and no lookup key, so the only thing that can be verified offline is its structure. The MusicBrainz check on this page adds real-world evidence: if a code shows up there attached to a recording, it is in use. But a miss proves nothing, because MusicBrainz is crowd-sourced and far from complete. The only authoritative confirmation comes from whoever issued the code — your distributor, your label, or your national ISRC agency.
No. The code itself is 12 characters. Hyphens in the form CC-XXX-YY-NNNNN are presentational, added to make the four elements readable. Most delivery systems expect the bare 12 characters, so strip the hyphens when you paste a code into metadata fields — this tool shows you both forms.
Not reliably. The prefix identifies the registrant pool, not the studio. When a national supply of registrant codes runs out, the International ISRC Agency allocates from a special range instead — QM, QZ and QT were opened up for new US registrants at the end of 2010, and CP, DG and ZZ are reserved for further allocations. A code starting QM is not from a country called QM.
An ISRC identifies a recording. A UPC or EAN identifies a product — the single, EP or album that recording is released on, so one release carries one UPC and as many ISRCs as it has tracks. An ISWC identifies the underlying composition, so every cover, remix and live take of the same song shares an ISWC but each has its own ISRC.
Whenever the audio itself is a different recording: a radio edit, a remix, a re-record, a live version, an instrumental, or a remaster. Re-releasing the same master — a new single, a compilation, a different territory — keeps the original ISRC. Reusing a code for genuinely different audio is what causes royalties to be reported against the wrong master.
No. The year of reference records when the code was assigned, which is often before release and sometimes years earlier for archive material. It is fixed at assignment and is not updated when the recording comes out.
Either from your distributor or label, which assigns codes from its own registrant pool automatically, or by applying for your own registrant code through the ISRC agency for your territory via the International ISRC Agency. Your own registrant code is worth having if you want your codes to stay with you when you change distributor.
From MusicBrainz, the open, community-maintained music database. Your search goes straight from your browser to musicbrainz.org — Postal never sees or stores it. Coverage is broad for released commercial music and thin for everything else, so treat results as a starting point: verify a code you find there against the release itself, your distributor dashboard, or the credits shown on streaming services before you rely on it.
Because the code is the join key. If two recordings carry the same ISRC, every system downstream treats them as one recording — plays, downloads and neighbouring-rights income get pooled and paid against whichever master the system has on file. The bulk checker on this page flags repeats within a list, which is where duplicates usually get introduced: copy-pasted spreadsheet rows.
Validation runs entirely in your browser — nothing you paste into the single or bulk checker is uploaded, logged or stored, which is why it is safe to check an unreleased catalogue before delivery. The two lookup features are different by nature: the Find ISRC search and the optional MusicBrainz check send your query straight from your browser to musicbrainz.org. Postal is never in that loop.
Keep ISRCs with the audio, not in a spreadsheet
Postal stores ISRCs alongside every track, version and stem, so the code travels with the file you actually send out.
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