diff --git a/picard/file.py b/picard/file.py
index 6d422f9dc..4d05e4afd 100644
--- a/picard/file.py
+++ b/picard/file.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 # Copyright (C) 2012-2014 Wieland Hoffmann
 # Copyright (C) 2013 Calvin Walton
 # Copyright (C) 2013-2014 Ionuț Ciocîrlan
-# Copyright (C) 2013-2014, 2017 Sophist-UK
+# Copyright (C) 2013-2014, 2017, 2021 Sophist-UK
 # Copyright (C) 2013-2014, 2017-2019 Laurent Monin
 # Copyright (C) 2016 Rahul Raturi
 # Copyright (C) 2016 Ville Skyttä
@@ -156,9 +156,9 @@ class File(QtCore.QObject, Item):
     def __repr__(self):
         return '<%s %r>' % (type(self).__name__, self.base_filename)
 
-    @property
-    def new_metadata(self):
-        return self.metadata
+    # pylint: disable=no-self-use
+    def format_specific_metadata(self, metadata, tag):
+        return metadata.getall(tag)
 
     def load(self, callback):
         thread.run_task(
@@ -370,14 +370,14 @@ class File(QtCore.QObject, Item):
             temp_info = {}
             for info in FILE_INFO_TAGS:
                 temp_info[info] = self.orig_metadata[info]
-            images_changed = self.orig_metadata.images != self.new_metadata.images
+            images_changed = self.orig_metadata.images != self.metadata.images
             # Data is copied from New to Original because New may be
             # a subclass to handle id3v23
             config = get_config()
             if config.setting["clear_existing_tags"]:
-                self.orig_metadata.copy(self.new_metadata)
+                self.orig_metadata.copy(self.metadata)
             else:
-                self.orig_metadata.update(self.new_metadata)
+                self.orig_metadata.update(self.metadata)
             # After saving deleted tags should no longer be marked deleted
             self.metadata.clear_deleted()
             self.orig_metadata.clear_deleted()
@@ -630,22 +630,21 @@ class File(QtCore.QObject, Item):
         return self.similarity == 1.0 and self.state == File.NORMAL
 
     def update(self, signal=True):
-        new_metadata = self.new_metadata
-        names = set(new_metadata.keys())
-        names.update(self.orig_metadata.keys())
+        metadata = self.metadata
+        names = set(metadata) | set(self.orig_metadata)
         config = get_config()
         clear_existing_tags = config.setting["clear_existing_tags"]
         ignored_tags = config.setting["compare_ignore_tags"]
         for name in names:
             if (not name.startswith('~') and self.supports_tag(name)
                 and name not in ignored_tags):
-                new_values = new_metadata.getall(name)
+                new_values = metadata.getall(name)
                 if not (new_values or clear_existing_tags
-                        or name in new_metadata.deleted_tags):
+                        or name in metadata.deleted_tags):
                     continue
                 orig_values = self.orig_metadata.getall(name)
                 if orig_values != new_values:
-                    self.similarity = self.orig_metadata.compare(new_metadata, ignored_tags)
+                    self.similarity = self.orig_metadata.compare(metadata, ignored_tags)
                     if self.state == File.NORMAL:
                         self.state = File.CHANGED
                     break
diff --git a/picard/formats/id3.py b/picard/formats/id3.py
index 130896aa9..75fc19ad1 100644
--- a/picard/formats/id3.py
+++ b/picard/formats/id3.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 # Copyright (C) 2011-2014 Wieland Hoffmann
 # Copyright (C) 2013 Calvin Walton
 # Copyright (C) 2013-2014, 2017-2019 Laurent Monin
-# Copyright (C) 2013-2015, 2017 Sophist-UK
+# Copyright (C) 2013-2015, 2017, 2021 Sophist-UK
 # Copyright (C) 2015 Frederik “Freso” S. Olesen
 # Copyright (C) 2016 Christoph Reiter
 # Copyright (C) 2016-2018 Sambhav Kothari
@@ -650,36 +650,29 @@ class ID3File(File):
             tags.update_to_v24()
             tags.save(filename, v2_version=4, v1=v1)
 
-    @property
-    def new_metadata(self):
+    def format_specific_metadata(self, metadata, tag):
         config = get_config()
         if not config.setting["write_id3v23"]:
-            return self.metadata
-
-        copy = Metadata()
-        copy.copy(self.metadata)
+            return super().format_specific_metadata(metadata, tag)
 
         join_with = config.setting["id3v23_join_with"]
-        copy.multi_valued_joiner = join_with
 
-        for name, values in copy.rawitems():
-            # ID3v23 can only save TDOR dates in YYYY format. Mutagen cannot
-            # handle ID3v23 dates which are YYYY-MM rather than YYYY or
-            # YYYY-MM-DD.
-            if name == "originaldate":
-                values = [v[:4] for v in values]
-            elif name == "date":
-                values = [(v[:4] if len(v) < 10 else v) for v in values]
+        values = metadata.getall(tag)
+        if not values:
+            return values
 
-            # If this is a multi-valued field, then it needs to be flattened,
-            # unless it's TIPL or TMCL which can still be multi-valued.
-            if (len(values) > 1 and name not in ID3File._rtipl_roles
-                    and not name.startswith("performer:")):
-                values = [join_with.join(values)]
+        if tag == "originaldate":
+            values = [v[:4] for v in values]
+        elif tag == "date":
+            values = [(v[:4] if len(v) < 10 else v) for v in values]
 
-            copy[name] = values
+        # If this is a multi-valued field, then it needs to be flattened,
+        # unless it's TIPL or TMCL which can still be multi-valued.
+        if (len(values) > 1 and tag not in ID3File._rtipl_roles
+                and not tag.startswith("performer:")):
+            values = [join_with.join(values)]
 
-        return copy
+        return values
 
 
 class MP3File(ID3File):
diff --git a/picard/ui/metadatabox.py b/picard/ui/metadatabox.py
index 6a6e63936..b95b568e0 100644
--- a/picard/ui/metadatabox.py
+++ b/picard/ui/metadatabox.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 # Copyright (C) 2006-2007, 2012 Lukáš Lalinský
 # Copyright (C) 2011-2014 Michael Wiencek
 # Copyright (C) 2012 Nikolai Prokoschenko
-# Copyright (C) 2013-2014 Sophist-UK
+# Copyright (C) 2013-2014, 2021 Sophist-UK
 # Copyright (C) 2013-2014, 2017-2019 Laurent Monin
 # Copyright (C) 2015 Ohm Patel
 # Copyright (C) 2015 Wieland Hoffmann
@@ -586,13 +586,13 @@ class MetadataBox(QtWidgets.QTableWidget):
         top_tags_set = set(top_tags)
 
         for file in files:
-            new_metadata = file.new_metadata
+            new_metadata = file.metadata
             orig_metadata = file.orig_metadata
             tags = set(list(new_metadata.keys()) + list(orig_metadata.keys()))
 
             for name in filter(lambda x: not x.startswith("~") and file.supports_tag(x), tags):
-                new_values = new_metadata.getall(name)
-                orig_values = orig_metadata.getall(name)
+                new_values = file.format_specific_metadata(new_metadata, name)
+                orig_values = file.format_specific_metadata(orig_metadata, name)
 
                 if not clear_existing_tags and not new_values:
                     new_values = list(orig_values or [""])
diff --git a/test/formats/test_id3.py b/test/formats/test_id3.py
index 8e065a355..862bf9bfa 100644
--- a/test/formats/test_id3.py
+++ b/test/formats/test_id3.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 # Picard, the next-generation MusicBrainz tagger
 #
 # Copyright (C) 2019 Laurent Monin
-# Copyright (C) 2019-2020 Philipp Wolfer
+# Copyright (C) 2019-2021 Philipp Wolfer
 # Copyright (C) 2019 Zenara Daley
 #
 # This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
@@ -638,3 +638,33 @@ class Id3UtilTest(PicardTestCase):
 
 class Mp3CoverArtTest(CommonCoverArtTests.CoverArtTestCase):
     testfile = 'test.mp3'
+
+
+class ID3FileTest(PicardTestCase):
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        super().setUp()
+        self.file = id3.ID3File('somepath/somefile.mp3')
+        config.setting['write_id3v23'] = False
+        config.setting['id3v23_join_with'] = ' / '
+        self.file.metadata['artist'] = ['foo', 'bar']
+        self.file.metadata['originaldate'] = '2020-04-01'
+        self.file.metadata['date'] = '2021-04-01'
+
+    def test_format_specific_metadata_v24(self):
+        metadata = self.file.metadata
+        for name, values in metadata.rawitems():
+            self.assertEqual(values, self.file.format_specific_metadata(metadata, name))
+
+    def test_format_specific_metadata_v23(self):
+        config.setting['write_id3v23'] = True
+        metadata = self.file.metadata
+        self.assertEqual(['foo / bar'], self.file.format_specific_metadata(metadata, 'artist'))
+        self.assertEqual(['2020'], self.file.format_specific_metadata(metadata, 'originaldate'))
+        self.assertEqual(['2021-04-01'], self.file.format_specific_metadata(metadata, 'date'))
+
+    def test_format_specific_metadata_v23_incomplete_date(self):
+        config.setting['write_id3v23'] = True
+        metadata = self.file.metadata
+        metadata['date'] = '2021-04'
+        self.assertEqual(['2021'], self.file.format_specific_metadata(metadata, 'date'))
diff --git a/test/test_file.py b/test/test_file.py
index 5cc37c4fa..625fa8529 100644
--- a/test/test_file.py
+++ b/test/test_file.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 #
 # Picard, the next-generation MusicBrainz tagger
 #
-# Copyright (C) 2018-2020 Philipp Wolfer
+# Copyright (C) 2018-2021 Philipp Wolfer
 # Copyright (C) 2019-2020 Laurent Monin
 #
 # This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
@@ -87,6 +87,11 @@ class DataObjectTest(PicardTestCase):
         self.assertEqual(None, self.file.acoustid_fingerprint)
         self.assertEqual(0, self.file.acoustid_length)
 
+    def format_specific_metadata(self):
+        values = ['foo', 'bar']
+        self.file.metadata['test'] = values
+        self.assertEqual(values, self.file.format_specific_metadata(self.file.metadata, 'test'))
+
 
 class TestPreserveTimes(PicardTestCase):