diff --git a/lib/screens/track_metadata_actions.dart b/lib/screens/track_metadata_actions.dart
index 420401d1..f0519b73 100644
--- a/lib/screens/track_metadata_actions.dart
+++ b/lib/screens/track_metadata_actions.dart
@@ -184,6 +184,11 @@ extension _TrackMetadataFileActions on _TrackMetadataScreenState {
       return;
     }
     try {
+      final playbackCover =
+          normalizeOptionalString(_localCoverPath) ??
+          normalizeOptionalString(_embeddedCoverPreviewPath) ??
+          normalizeOptionalString(_coverUrl) ??
+          '';
       await ref
           .read(playbackProvider.notifier)
           .playLocalPath(
@@ -191,7 +196,7 @@ extension _TrackMetadataFileActions on _TrackMetadataScreenState {
             title: trackName,
             artist: artistName,
             album: albumName,
-            coverUrl: _coverUrl ?? '',
+            coverUrl: playbackCover,
           );
     } catch (e) {
       if (context.mounted) {
diff --git a/lib/screens/track_metadata_screen.dart b/lib/screens/track_metadata_screen.dart
index 7d505dd1..4b1c1a1e 100644
--- a/lib/screens/track_metadata_screen.dart
+++ b/lib/screens/track_metadata_screen.dart
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import 'package:spotiflac_android/services/ffmpeg_service.dart';
 import 'package:spotiflac_android/services/replaygain_service.dart';
 import 'package:spotiflac_android/l10n/l10n.dart';
 import 'package:spotiflac_android/utils/audio_conversion_utils.dart';
+import 'package:spotiflac_android/utils/audio_format_utils.dart';
 import 'package:spotiflac_android/utils/cover_art_utils.dart';
 import 'package:spotiflac_android/utils/logger.dart';
 import 'package:spotiflac_android/utils/lyrics_metadata_helper.dart';
@@ -124,6 +125,7 @@ class _TrackMetadataScreenState extends ConsumerState<TrackMetadataScreen>
   late LocalLibraryItem? _currentLocalLibraryItem;
   late int? _currentNavigationIndex;
   Map<String, dynamic>? _editedMetadata;
+  String? _resolvedAudioFormat;
   String? _embeddedCoverPreviewPath;
   static final RegExp _lrcTimestampPattern = RegExp(
     r'^\[\d{2}:\d{2}\.\d{2,3}\]',
@@ -324,6 +326,19 @@ class _TrackMetadataScreenState extends ConsumerState<TrackMetadataScreen>
           filePath == cleanFilePath &&
           _hasPath(cachedPath)) {
         setState(() => _embeddedCoverPreviewPath = cachedPath);
+      } else if (mounted &&
+          generation == _metadataLoadGeneration &&
+          filePath == cleanFilePath) {
+        final localCoverExists =
+            _hasPath(_localCoverPath) && await fileExists(_localCoverPath!);
+        if (!mounted ||
+            generation != _metadataLoadGeneration ||
+            filePath != cleanFilePath) {
+          return;
+        }
+        if (!localCoverExists && !_hasPath(_coverUrl)) {
+          unawaited(_refreshEmbeddedCoverPreview());
+        }
       }
     }
   }
@@ -376,9 +391,13 @@ class _TrackMetadataScreenState extends ConsumerState<TrackMetadataScreen>
 
       final resolvedBitDepth = readPositiveInt(metadata['bit_depth']);
       final resolvedSampleRate = readPositiveInt(metadata['sample_rate']);
-      final resolvedFormat = _normalizeAudioFormatValue(
-        metadata['audio_codec']?.toString() ?? metadata['format']?.toString(),
-      );
+      final resolvedFormat = detectedAudioFormatFromMetadata(metadata);
+      final storedFormat = _isLocalItem
+          ? _localLibraryItem?.format
+          : _downloadItem?.format;
+      final formatChanged =
+          resolvedFormat != null &&
+          resolvedFormat != normalizeAudioFormatValue(storedFormat);
       final resolvedBitrate = _isBitrateFormatValue(resolvedFormat)
           ? _readPlausibleBitrateKbps(
               metadata['bitrate'] ?? metadata['bit_rate'],
@@ -475,6 +494,7 @@ class _TrackMetadataScreenState extends ConsumerState<TrackMetadataScreen>
 
       if ((resolvedBitDepth != null ||
               resolvedSampleRate != null ||
+              resolvedFormat != null ||
               fileHasTitle ||
               fileHasArtist ||
               fileHasAlbumArtist ||
@@ -493,6 +513,7 @@ class _TrackMetadataScreenState extends ConsumerState<TrackMetadataScreen>
               isPlaceholderQualityLabel(_quality)) &&
           mounted) {
         setState(() {
+          _resolvedAudioFormat = resolvedFormat;
           _editedMetadata = {
             ...?_editedMetadata,
             // ignore: use_null_aware_elements
@@ -552,10 +573,11 @@ class _TrackMetadataScreenState extends ConsumerState<TrackMetadataScreen>
             );
           });
         }
-      } else if (_isLocalItem && needsDuration) {
+      } else if (_isLocalItem && (needsDuration || formatChanged)) {
         await LibraryDatabase.instance.updateAudioMetadata(
           _localLibraryItem!.id,
           duration: resolvedDuration,
+          format: formatChanged ? resolvedFormat : null,
         );
         await ref.read(localLibraryProvider.notifier).reloadFromStorage();
       }
@@ -753,7 +775,8 @@ class _TrackMetadataScreenState extends ConsumerState<TrackMetadataScreen>
   int? get _audioBitrate =>
       _isLocalItem ? _localLibraryItem!.bitrate : _downloadItem?.bitrate;
   String? get _storedAudioFormat =>
-      _isLocalItem ? _localLibraryItem?.format : _downloadItem?.format;
+      _resolvedAudioFormat ??
+      (_isLocalItem ? _localLibraryItem?.format : _downloadItem?.format);
 
   String get _filePath =>
       _isLocalItem ? _localLibraryItem!.filePath : _downloadItem!.filePath;
@@ -782,24 +805,6 @@ class _TrackMetadataScreenState extends ConsumerState<TrackMetadataScreen>
 
   String? get _quality => _isLocalItem ? null : _downloadItem!.quality;
 
-  String? _normalizeAudioFormatValue(String? value) {
-    final normalized = normalizeOptionalString(
-      value,
-    )?.toLowerCase().replaceAll('-', '_');
-    return switch (normalized) {
-      'flac' => 'flac',
-      'alac' => 'alac',
-      'aac' || 'mp4a' => 'aac',
-      'eac3' || 'ec_3' => 'eac3',
-      'ac3' || 'ac_3' => 'ac3',
-      'ac4' || 'ac_4' => 'ac4',
-      'mp3' => 'mp3',
-      'opus' || 'ogg' => 'opus',
-      'm4a' || 'mp4' => 'm4a',
-      _ => null,
-    };
-  }
-
   int? _readPlausibleBitrateKbps(dynamic value) {
     final parsed = readPositiveInt(value);
     if (parsed == null) return null;
@@ -816,7 +821,7 @@ class _TrackMetadataScreenState extends ConsumerState<TrackMetadataScreen>
       'mp3',
       'opus',
       'm4a',
-    }.contains(_normalizeAudioFormatValue(value));
+    }.contains(normalizeAudioFormatValue(value));
   }
 
   String? _usableStoredQuality(String? quality) {
@@ -842,7 +847,7 @@ class _TrackMetadataScreenState extends ConsumerState<TrackMetadataScreen>
     int? bitrateKbps,
     String? storedQuality,
   }) {
-    final normalizedFormat = _normalizeAudioFormatValue(format);
+    final normalizedFormat = normalizeAudioFormatValue(format);
     final formatLabel = normalizedFormat == null
         ? normalizeOptionalString(format)?.toUpperCase()
         : _formatLabelForRaw(normalizedFormat);
@@ -1082,6 +1087,7 @@ class _TrackMetadataScreenState extends ConsumerState<TrackMetadataScreen>
         _embeddedLyricsChecked = false;
         _hasLoadedResolvedAudioMetadata = false;
         _editedMetadata = null;
+        _resolvedAudioFormat = null;
         _embeddedCoverPreviewPath = null;
       });
 
diff --git a/lib/services/library_database.dart b/lib/services/library_database.dart
index 834be0d2..a0c02357 100644
--- a/lib/services/library_database.dart
+++ b/lib/services/library_database.dart
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import 'package:sqflite/sqflite.dart';
 import 'package:path/path.dart';
 import 'package:path_provider/path_provider.dart';
 import 'package:spotiflac_android/utils/logger.dart';
+import 'package:spotiflac_android/utils/audio_format_utils.dart';
 import 'package:spotiflac_android/utils/file_access.dart';
 import 'package:spotiflac_android/services/history_database.dart';
 import 'package:spotiflac_android/services/sqlite_helpers.dart' as sqlite;
@@ -1844,6 +1845,7 @@ class LibraryDatabase {
     int? bitDepth,
     int? sampleRate,
     int? bitrate,
+    String? format,
   }) async {
     final values = <String, dynamic>{};
     if (duration != null && duration > 0) {
@@ -1858,6 +1860,10 @@ class LibraryDatabase {
     if (bitrate != null && bitrate > 0) {
       values['bitrate'] = bitrate;
     }
+    final normalizedFormat = normalizeAudioFormatValue(format);
+    if (normalizedFormat != null) {
+      values['format'] = normalizedFormat;
+    }
     if (values.isEmpty) return;
 
     final db = await database;
@@ -2049,23 +2055,7 @@ class LibraryDatabase {
   }
 
   String _normalizeConvertedFormat(String targetFormat) {
-    switch (targetFormat.trim().toLowerCase()) {
-      case 'alac':
-        return 'm4a';
-      case 'aac':
-        return 'aac';
-      case 'flac':
-        return 'flac';
-      case 'opus':
-        return 'opus';
-      case 'wav':
-        return 'wav';
-      case 'aiff':
-      case 'aif':
-        return 'aiff';
-      default:
-        return 'mp3';
-    }
+    return normalizeAudioFormatValue(targetFormat) ?? 'mp3';
   }
 
   int? _convertedBitrate({
diff --git a/lib/utils/audio_format_utils.dart b/lib/utils/audio_format_utils.dart
index 9902a499..90ef8a4e 100644
--- a/lib/utils/audio_format_utils.dart
+++ b/lib/utils/audio_format_utils.dart
@@ -54,6 +54,8 @@ String? normalizeAudioFormatValue(String? value) {
   return switch (normalized) {
     'flac' => 'flac',
     'alac' => 'alac',
+    'wav' || 'wave' => 'wav',
+    'aiff' || 'aif' || 'aifc' => 'aiff',
     'aac' || 'mp4a' => 'aac',
     'eac3' || 'ec_3' => 'eac3',
     'ac3' || 'ac_3' => 'ac3',
@@ -65,6 +67,17 @@ String? normalizeAudioFormatValue(String? value) {
   };
 }
 
+/// Resolves the actual audio codec reported by native metadata probing, while
+/// falling back to the container format when the codec is absent or generic.
+///
+/// This distinction matters for MP4/M4A files: the same container may hold
+/// AAC, ALAC, Dolby, or other codecs.
+String? detectedAudioFormatFromMetadata(Map<String, dynamic> metadata) {
+  final codec = normalizeAudioFormatValue(metadata['audio_codec']?.toString());
+  if (codec != null) return codec;
+  return normalizeAudioFormatValue(metadata['format']?.toString());
+}
+
 bool isLossyAudioFormat(String? value) {
   return const {
     'aac',
diff --git a/test/models_and_utils_test.dart b/test/models_and_utils_test.dart
index 5dbb24f1..a3d72d99 100644
--- a/test/models_and_utils_test.dart
+++ b/test/models_and_utils_test.dart
@@ -586,6 +586,21 @@ void main() {
   });
 
   group('audio conversion utils', () {
+    test('distinguishes an ALAC codec from its M4A container', () {
+      expect(normalizeAudioFormatValue('ALAC'), 'alac');
+      expect(
+        detectedAudioFormatFromMetadata({
+          'audio_codec': 'alac',
+          'format': 'm4a',
+        }),
+        'alac',
+      );
+      expect(
+        detectedAudioFormatFromMetadata({'audio_codec': '', 'format': 'alac'}),
+        'alac',
+      );
+    });
+
     test(
       'detects Dolby formats from stored scan format before file extension',
       () {