MBID

MBID stands for MusicBrainz Identifier, a globally unique identifier used by the MusicBrainz project to reference individual entities within its database. MBIDs are assigned to core entity types such as artists, releases, recordings, works, labels, and places, and are used to unambiguously identify them across the web and in API responses.

Each MBID is a 128-bit UUID presented as a 36-character string in the familiar 8-4-4-4-12 format, typically written in lowercase with hyphens. An example is 5b11f4ce-a62d-471e-81fc-a69a8278c7da, which is the MBID for the artist Radiohead.

MBIDs are intended to be stable references. They remain associated with the entity even if the human-readable name, metadata, or relationships change. They are used by the MusicBrainz web interface and public API to fetch data, link records, and support data exchange with other services. They appear in API endpoints and in data exports in formats such as JSON and XML.

In cases of data maintenance, MBIDs may be superseded if an entity is merged, deprecated, or otherwise renamed, with the canonical MBID representing the current, active record. The MBID system makes it possible to track and merge data while preserving historical references.

See also: MusicBrainz, UUID, web APIs for music metadata.