diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index c1ad691..eb8aebb 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -175,8 +175,9 @@ set(TEST_SRC_FILES
     tests/tagvalue.cpp
     tests/testfilecheck.cpp
     tests/utils.cpp)
-
 set(DOC_FILES README.md doc/adding-new-fields.md)
+set(LANGUAGE_HEADER "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/resources/iso_language_codes.h")
+set(RES_FILES "${LANGUAGE_HEADER}")
 
 # find c++utilities
 set(CONFIGURATION_PACKAGE_SUFFIX
@@ -203,16 +204,9 @@ include(TestTarget)
 include(Doxygen)
 include(ConfigHeader)
 
-# write languages header from CSV file
-set(LANGUAGES_HEADER "static const std::unordered_map<std::string, std::string> languages = \{")
-file(STRINGS languages.csv LANGUAGE_ROWS ENCODING UTF-8)
-foreach (LANGUAGE_ROW ${LANGUAGE_ROWS})
-    if (NOT LANGUAGE_ROW MATCHES "([a-z][a-z]) ,([a-z][a-z][a-z]) ,([a-z][a-z][a-z]) ,\"?([^\",]*) \"?,\"?([^\",]*) \"?")
-        continue()
-    endif ()
-    set(LANGUAGE_ABBREVIATION "${CMAKE_MATCH_3}")
-    set(LANGUAGE_NAME "${CMAKE_MATCH_4}")
-    set(LANGUAGES_HEADER "${LANGUAGES_HEADER}\n    \{\"${LANGUAGE_ABBREVIATION}\", \"${LANGUAGE_NAME}\"\},")
-endforeach ()
-set(LANGUAGES_HEADER "${LANGUAGES_HEADER}\n};")
-file(WRITE "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/resources/languages.h" "${LANGUAGES_HEADER}")
+# add rules to generate code for dealing with language codes
+add_custom_command(
+    OUTPUT "${LANGUAGE_HEADER}"
+    COMMENT "Generating code for ISO-639-2 language codes"
+    COMMAND "${CMAKE_COMMAND}" "-DOUTPUT_PATH=${LANGUAGE_HEADER}" -P
+            "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/scripts/generate_iso_language_codes.cmake")
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 44d55a2..fe58c5c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -106,8 +106,8 @@ works with all kinds of files. (When forcing rewrite a backup is always created.
 ## Build instructions
 The tagparser library depends on [c++utilities](https://github.com/Martchus/cpp-utilities) and is built
 in the same way.
-It also depends on zlib. For checking integrity of testfiles, the OpenSSL crypto
-library is required.
+It also depends on zlib, iso-codes and requires at least CMake 3.19. For checking integrity of testfiles, the OpenSSL
+crypto library is required.
 
 ## TODOs
 * Support more formats (EXIF, PDF metadata, Theora, ...)
diff --git a/cmake/scripts/generate_iso_language_codes.cmake b/cmake/scripts/generate_iso_language_codes.cmake
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..9d796ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmake/scripts/generate_iso_language_codes.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+#!/usr/bin/cmake -DOUTPUT_PATH=iso_language_codes.cpp -P
+# generates C++ code for ISO-639-2 language codes
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.19.0 FATAL_ERROR)
+
+if (NOT LANGUAGE_FILE)
+    # default to path provided usually by iso-codecs package (https://salsa.debian.org/iso-codes-team/iso-codes)
+    set(LANGUAGE_FILE "/usr/share/iso-codes/json/iso_639-2.json")
+endif ()
+if (NOT EXISTS "${LANGUAGE_FILE}")
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "The file ${LANGUAGE_FILE} does not exist.")
+else()
+endif()
+if (NOT OUTPUT_PATH)
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "No OUTPUT_PATH specified.")
+endif()
+
+set(OUTPUT "static const std::unordered_map<std::string, std::string> languageNames_iso_639_2_b = {\n")
+file(READ "${LANGUAGE_FILE}" LANGUAGE_JSON)
+string(JSON LANGUAGE_COUNT LENGTH "${LANGUAGE_JSON}" "639-2")
+message(STATUS "Found ${LANGUAGE_COUNT} ISO-639-2 language codes")
+math(EXPR LANGUAGE_COUNT "${LANGUAGE_COUNT} - 1")
+foreach (LANGUAGE_INDEX RANGE "${LANGUAGE_COUNT}")
+    string(JSON LANGUAGE_ENTRY GET "${LANGUAGE_JSON}" "639-2" "${LANGUAGE_INDEX}")
+    string(JSON LANGUAGE_ALPHA_2 ERROR_VARIABLE ERROR GET "${LANGUAGE_ENTRY}" "alpha_2")
+    string(JSON LANGUAGE_ALPHA_3 ERROR_VARIABLE ERROR GET "${LANGUAGE_ENTRY}" "alpha_3")
+    string(JSON LANGUAGE_BIBLIOGRAPHIC ERROR_VARIABLE ERROR GET "${LANGUAGE_ENTRY}" "bibliographic" "name")
+    string(JSON LANGUAGE_NAME ERROR_VARIABLE ERROR GET "${LANGUAGE_ENTRY}" "name")
+    if (NOT LANGUAGE_BIBLIOGRAPHIC)
+        set(LANGUAGE_BIBLIOGRAPHIC "${LANGUAGE_ALPHA_3}")
+    endif ()
+    set(OUTPUT "${OUTPUT}    {\"${LANGUAGE_BIBLIOGRAPHIC}\", \"${LANGUAGE_NAME}\"},\n")
+endforeach ()
+set(OUTPUT "${OUTPUT}};\n")
+file(WRITE "${OUTPUT_PATH}" "${OUTPUT}")
+message(STATUS "Wrote language entries to ${OUTPUT_PATH}")
diff --git a/languages.csv b/languages.csv
deleted file mode 100644
index 8010dbd..0000000
--- a/languages.csv
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,186 +0,0 @@
-639-1 ,639-2/T ,639-2/B ,Language name ,Native name 
-aa ,aar ,aar ,Afar ,Afaraf 
-ab ,abk ,abk ,Abkhaz ,"аҧсуа бызшәа, аҧсшәа "
-ae ,ave ,ave ,Avestan ,avesta 
-af ,afr ,afr ,Afrikaans ,Afrikaans 
-ak ,aka ,aka ,Akan ,Akan 
-am ,amh ,amh ,Amharic ,አማርኛ 
-an ,arg ,arg ,Aragonese ,aragonés 
-ar ,ara ,ara ,Arabic ,العربية 
-as ,asm ,asm ,Assamese ,অসমীয়া 
-av ,ava ,ava ,Avaric ,"авар мацӀ, магӀарул мацӀ "
-ay ,aym ,aym ,Aymara ,aymar aru 
-az ,aze ,aze ,Azerbaijani ,azərbaycan dili 
-az ,azb ,azb ,South Azerbaijani ,تورکجه‎ 
-ba ,bak ,bak ,Bashkir ,башҡорт теле 
-be ,bel ,bel ,Belarusian ,беларуская мова 
-bg ,bul ,bul ,Bulgarian ,български език 
-bh ,bih ,bih ,Bihari ,भोजपुरी 
-bi ,bis ,bis ,Bislama ,Bislama 
-bm ,bam ,bam ,Bambara ,bamanankan 
-bn ,ben ,ben ,Bengali; Bangla ,বাংলা 
-bo ,bod ,tib ,"Tibetan Standard, Tibetan, Central ",བོད་ཡིག 
-br ,bre ,bre ,Breton ,brezhoneg 
-bs ,bos ,bos ,Bosnian ,bosanski jezik 
-ca ,cat ,cat ,Catalan; Valencian ,"català, valencià "
-ce ,che ,che ,Chechen ,нохчийн мотт 
-ch ,cha ,cha ,Chamorro ,Chamoru 
-co ,cos ,cos ,Corsican ,"corsu, lingua corsa "
-cr ,cre ,cre ,Cree ,ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐍᐏᐣ 
-cs ,ces ,cze ,Czech ,"čeština, český jazyk "
-cu ,chu ,chu ,"Old Church Slavonic, Church Slavonic, Old Bulgarian ",ѩзыкъ словѣньскъ 
-cv ,chv ,chv ,Chuvash ,чӑваш чӗлхи 
-cy ,cym ,wel ,Welsh ,Cymraeg 
-da ,dan ,dan ,Danish ,dansk 
-de ,deu ,ger ,German ,Deutsch 
-dv ,div ,div ,Divehi; Dhivehi; Maldivian; ,ދިވެހި 
-dz ,dzo ,dzo ,Dzongkha ,རྫོང་ཁ 
-ee ,ewe ,ewe ,Ewe ,Eʋegbe 
-el ,ell ,gre ,"Greek, Modern ",ελληνικά 
-en ,eng ,eng ,English ,English 
-eo ,epo ,epo ,Esperanto ,Esperanto 
-es ,spa ,spa ,Spanish; Castilian ,"español, castellano "
-et ,est ,est ,Estonian ,"eesti, eesti keel "
-eu ,eus ,baq ,Basque ,"euskara, euskera "
-fa ,fas ,per ,Persian (Farsi) ,فارسی 
-ff ,ful ,ful ,Fula; Fulah; Pulaar; Pular ,"Fulfulde, Pulaar, Pular "
-fi ,fin ,fin ,Finnish ,"suomi, suomen kieli "
-fj ,fij ,fij ,Fijian ,vosa Vakaviti 
-fo ,fao ,fao ,Faroese ,føroyskt 
-fr ,fra ,fre ,French ,"français, langue française "
-fy ,fry ,fry ,Western Frisian ,Frysk 
-ga ,gle ,gle ,Irish ,Gaeilge 
-gd ,gla ,gla ,Scottish Gaelic; Gaelic ,Gàidhlig 
-gl ,glg ,glg ,Galician ,galego 
-gn ,grn ,grn ,Guaraní ,Avañe'ẽ 
-gu ,guj ,guj ,Gujarati ,ગુજરાતી 
-gv ,glv ,glv ,Manx ,"Gaelg, Gailck "
-ha ,hau ,hau ,Hausa ,"Hausa, هَوُسَ "
-he ,heb ,heb ,Hebrew (modern) ,עברית 
-hi ,hin ,hin ,Hindi ,"हिन्दी, हिंदी "
-ho ,hmo ,hmo ,Hiri Motu ,Hiri Motu 
-hr ,hrv ,hrv ,Croatian ,hrvatski jezik 
-ht ,hat ,hat ,Haitian; Haitian Creole ,Kreyòl ayisyen 
-hu ,hun ,hun ,Hungarian ,magyar 
-hy ,hye ,arm ,Armenian ,Հայերեն 
-hz ,her ,her ,Herero ,Otjiherero 
-ia ,ina ,ina ,Interlingua ,Interlingua 
-id ,ind ,ind ,Indonesian ,Bahasa Indonesia 
-ie ,ile ,ile ,Interlingue ,Originally called Occidental; then Interlingue after WWII 
-ig ,ibo ,ibo ,Igbo ,Asụsụ Igbo 
-ii ,iii ,iii ,Nuosu ,ꆈꌠ꒿ Nuosuhxop 
-ik ,ipk ,ipk ,Inupiaq ,"Iñupiaq, Iñupiatun "
-io ,ido ,ido ,Ido ,Ido 
-is ,isl ,ice ,Icelandic ,Íslenska 
-it ,ita ,ita ,Italian ,italiano 
-iu ,iku ,iku ,Inuktitut ,ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ 
-ja ,jpn ,jpn ,Japanese ,日本語 (にほんご) 
-jv ,jav ,jav ,Javanese ,basa Jawa 
-ka ,kat ,geo ,Georgian ,ქართული 
-kg ,kon ,kon ,Kongo ,KiKongo 
-ki ,kik ,kik ,"Kikuyu, Gikuyu ",Gĩkũyũ 
-kj ,kua ,kua ,"Kwanyama, Kuanyama ",Kuanyama 
-kk ,kaz ,kaz ,Kazakh ,қазақ тілі 
-kl ,kal ,kal ,"Kalaallisut, Greenlandic ","kalaallisut, kalaallit oqaasii "
-km ,khm ,khm ,Khmer ,"ខ្មែរ, ខេមរភាសា, ភាសាខ្មែរ "
-kn ,kan ,kan ,Kannada ,ಕನ್ನಡ 
-ko ,kor ,kor ,Korean ,"한국어 (韓國語), 조선어 (朝鮮語) "
-kr ,kau ,kau ,Kanuri ,Kanuri 
-ks ,kas ,kas ,Kashmiri ,"कश्मीरी, كشميري‎ "
-ku ,kur ,kur ,Kurdish ,"Kurdî, كوردی‎ "
-kv ,kom ,kom ,Komi ,коми кыв 
-kw ,cor ,cor ,Cornish ,Kernewek 
-ky ,kir ,kir ,Kyrgyz ,"Кыргызча, Кыргыз тили "
-la ,lat ,lat ,Latin ,"latine, lingua latina "
-lb ,ltz ,ltz ,"Luxembourgish, Letzeburgesch ",Lëtzebuergesch 
-lg ,lug ,lug ,Ganda ,Luganda 
-li ,lim ,lim ,"Limburgish, Limburgan, Limburger ",Limburgs 
-ln ,lin ,lin ,Lingala ,Lingála 
-lo ,lao ,lao ,Lao ,ພາສາລາວ 
-lt ,lit ,lit ,Lithuanian ,lietuvių kalba 
-lu ,lub ,lub ,Luba-Katanga ,Tshiluba 
-lv ,lav ,lav ,Latvian ,latviešu valoda 
-mg ,mlg ,mlg ,Malagasy ,fiteny malagasy 
-mh ,mah ,mah ,Marshallese ,Kajin M̧ajeļ 
-mi ,mri ,mao ,Māori ,te reo Māori 
-mk ,mkd ,mac ,Macedonian ,македонски јазик 
-ml ,mal ,mal ,Malayalam ,മലയാളം 
-mn ,mon ,mon ,Mongolian ,монгол 
-mr ,mar ,mar ,Marathi (Marāṭhī) ,मराठी 
-ms ,msa ,may ,Malay ,"bahasa Melayu, بهاس ملايو‎ "
-mt ,mlt ,mlt ,Maltese ,Malti 
-my ,mya ,bur ,Burmese ,ဗမာစာ 
-na ,nau ,nau ,Nauru ,Ekakairũ Naoero 
-nb ,nob ,nob ,Norwegian Bokmål ,Norsk bokmål 
-nd ,nde ,nde ,North Ndebele ,isiNdebele 
-ne ,nep ,nep ,Nepali ,नेपाली 
-ng ,ndo ,ndo ,Ndonga ,Owambo 
-nl ,nld ,dut ,Dutch ,"Nederlands, Vlaams "
-nn ,nno ,nno ,Norwegian Nynorsk ,Norsk nynorsk 
-no ,nor ,nor ,Norwegian ,Norsk 
-nr ,nbl ,nbl ,South Ndebele ,isiNdebele 
-nv ,nav ,nav ,"Navajo, Navaho ","Diné bizaad, Dinékʼehǰí "
-ny ,nya ,nya ,Chichewa; Chewa; Nyanja ,"chiCheŵa, chinyanja "
-oc ,oci ,oci ,Occitan ,"occitan, lenga d'òc "
-oj ,oji ,oji ,"Ojibwe, Ojibwa ",ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᒧᐎᓐ 
-om ,orm ,orm ,Oromo ,Afaan Oromoo 
-or ,ori ,ori ,Oriya ,ଓଡ଼ିଆ 
-os ,oss ,oss ,"Ossetian, Ossetic ",ирон æвзаг 
-pa ,pan ,pan ,"Panjabi, Punjabi ","ਪੰਜਾਬੀ, پنجابی‎ "
-pi ,pli ,pli ,Pāli ,पाऴि 
-pl ,pol ,pol ,Polish ,"język polski, polszczyzna "
-ps ,pus ,pus ,"Pashto, Pushto ",پښتو 
-pt ,por ,por ,Portuguese ,português 
-qu ,que ,que ,Quechua ,"Runa Simi, Kichwa "
-rm ,roh ,roh ,Romansh ,rumantsch grischun 
-rn ,run ,run ,Kirundi ,Ikirundi 
-ro ,ron ,rum ,Romanian ,limba română 
-ru ,rus ,rus ,Russian ,русский язык 
-rw ,kin ,kin ,Kinyarwanda ,Ikinyarwanda 
-sa ,san ,san ,Sanskrit (Saṁskṛta) ,संस्कृतम् 
-sc ,srd ,srd ,Sardinian ,sardu 
-sd ,snd ,snd ,Sindhi ,"सिन्धी, سنڌي، سندھی‎ "
-se ,sme ,sme ,Northern Sami ,Davvisámegiella 
-sg ,sag ,sag ,Sango ,yângâ tî sängö 
-si ,sin ,sin ,"Sinhala, Sinhalese ",සිංහල 
-sk ,slk ,slo ,Slovak ,"slovenčina, slovenský jazyk "
-sl ,slv ,slv ,Slovene ,"slovenski jezik, slovenščina "
-sm ,smo ,smo ,Samoan ,gagana fa'a Samoa 
-sn ,sna ,sna ,Shona ,chiShona 
-so ,som ,som ,Somali ,"Soomaaliga, af Soomaali "
-sq ,sqi ,alb ,Albanian ,gjuha shqipe 
-sr ,srp ,srp ,Serbian ,српски језик 
-ss ,ssw ,ssw ,Swati ,SiSwati 
-st ,sot ,sot ,Southern Sotho ,Sesotho 
-su ,sun ,sun ,Sundanese ,Basa Sunda 
-sv ,swe ,swe ,Swedish ,Svenska 
-sw ,swa ,swa ,Swahili ,Kiswahili 
-ta ,tam ,tam ,Tamil ,தமிழ் 
-te ,tel ,tel ,Telugu ,తెలుగు 
-tg ,tgk ,tgk ,Tajik ,"тоҷикӣ, toğikī, تاجیکی‎ "
-th ,tha ,tha ,Thai ,ไทย 
-ti ,tir ,tir ,Tigrinya ,ትግርኛ 
-tk ,tuk ,tuk ,Turkmen ,"Türkmen, Түркмен "
-tl ,tgl ,tgl ,Tagalog ,"Wikang Tagalog, ᜏᜒᜃᜅ᜔ ᜆᜄᜎᜓᜄ᜔ "
-tn ,tsn ,tsn ,Tswana ,Setswana 
-to ,ton ,ton ,Tonga (Tonga Islands) ,faka Tonga 
-tr ,tur ,tur ,Turkish ,Türkçe 
-ts ,tso ,tso ,Tsonga ,Xitsonga 
-tt ,tat ,tat ,Tatar ,"татар теле, tatar tele "
-tw ,twi ,twi ,Twi ,Twi 
-ty ,tah ,tah ,Tahitian ,Reo Tahiti 
-ug ,uig ,uig ,"Uyghur, Uighur ","Uyƣurqə, ئۇيغۇرچە‎ "
-uk ,ukr ,ukr ,Ukrainian ,українська мова 
-ur ,urd ,urd ,Urdu ,اردو 
-uz ,uzb ,uzb ,Uzbek ,"O‘zbek, Ўзбек, أۇزبېك‎ "
-ve ,ven ,ven ,Venda ,Tshivenḓa 
-vi ,vie ,vie ,Vietnamese ,Tiếng Việt 
-vo ,vol ,vol ,Volapük ,Volapük 
-wa ,wln ,wln ,Walloon ,walon 
-wo ,wol ,wol ,Wolof ,Wollof 
-xh ,xho ,xho ,Xhosa ,isiXhosa 
-yi ,yid ,yid ,Yiddish ,ייִדיש 
-yo ,yor ,yor ,Yoruba ,Yorùbá 
-za ,zha ,zha ,"Zhuang, Chuang ","Saɯ cueŋƅ, Saw cuengh "
-zh ,zho ,chi ,Chinese ,"中文 (Zhōngwén), 汉语, 漢語 "
-zu ,zul ,zul ,Zulu ,isiZulu 
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/localehelper.cpp b/localehelper.cpp
index 92c2e4f..e963dbc 100644
--- a/localehelper.cpp
+++ b/localehelper.cpp
@@ -9,10 +9,10 @@ using namespace std::literals;
 namespace TagParser {
 
 /// \cond
-static const auto &languageMapping()
+static const auto &languageNames_ISO_639_2_b()
 {
-#include "resources/languages.h"
-    return languages;
+#include "resources/iso_language_codes.h"
+    return languageNames_iso_639_2_b;
 }
 /// \endcond
 
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ inline static bool isLanguageDefined_ISO_639_2(const std::string &languageSpecif
  */
 static const std::string &languageName_ISO_639_2(const std::string &isoCode)
 {
-    const auto &mapping = languageMapping();
+    const auto &mapping = languageNames_ISO_639_2_b();
     const auto i = mapping.find(isoCode);
     if (i == mapping.cend()) {
         static const std::string empty;