diff --git a/Jellyfin.Server.Implementations/Item/BaseItemRepository.cs b/Jellyfin.Server.Implementations/Item/BaseItemRepository.cs
index cebaaadd56..e1e7e1a074 100644
--- a/Jellyfin.Server.Implementations/Item/BaseItemRepository.cs
+++ b/Jellyfin.Server.Implementations/Item/BaseItemRepository.cs
@@ -701,7 +701,7 @@ public sealed class BaseItemRepository
         dto.TotalBitrate = entity.TotalBitrate;
         dto.ExternalId = entity.ExternalId;
         dto.Size = entity.Size;
-        dto.Genres = entity.Genres?.Split('|') ?? [];
+        dto.Genres = string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(entity.Genres) ? [] : entity.Genres.Split('|');
         dto.DateCreated = entity.DateCreated.GetValueOrDefault();
         dto.DateModified = entity.DateModified.GetValueOrDefault();
         dto.ChannelId = entity.ChannelId ?? Guid.Empty;
@@ -733,7 +733,7 @@ public sealed class BaseItemRepository
         dto.ExtraIds = string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(entity.ExtraIds) ? [] : entity.ExtraIds.Split('|').Select(e => Guid.Parse(e)).ToArray();
         dto.ProductionLocations = entity.ProductionLocations?.Split('|') ?? [];
         dto.Studios = entity.Studios?.Split('|') ?? [];
-        dto.Tags = entity.Tags?.Split('|') ?? [];
+        dto.Tags = string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(entity.Tags) ? [] : entity.Tags.Split('|');
 
         if (dto is IHasProgramAttributes hasProgramAttributes)
         {
diff --git a/MediaBrowser.Providers/MediaInfo/AudioFileProber.cs b/MediaBrowser.Providers/MediaInfo/AudioFileProber.cs
index cbbb7e83e9..45e8553ea2 100644
--- a/MediaBrowser.Providers/MediaInfo/AudioFileProber.cs
+++ b/MediaBrowser.Providers/MediaInfo/AudioFileProber.cs
@@ -340,9 +340,10 @@ namespace MediaBrowser.Providers.MediaInfo
 
                 genres = genres.Trimmed().Distinct(StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase).ToArray();
 
-                audio.Genres = options.ReplaceAllMetadata || audio.Genres is null || audio.Genres.Length == 0
-                    ? genres
-                    : audio.Genres;
+                if (options.ReplaceAllMetadata || audio.Genres is null || audio.Genres.Length == 0 || audio.Genres.All(string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace))
+                {
+                    audio.Genres = genres;
+                }
             }
 
             TryGetSanitizedAdditionalFields(track, "REPLAYGAIN_TRACK_GAIN", out var trackGainTag);