diff --git a/src/tag/TagConfig.cxx b/src/tag/TagConfig.cxx
index e4d40696d..de5faff32 100644
--- a/src/tag/TagConfig.cxx
+++ b/src/tag/TagConfig.cxx
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ TagLoadConfig()
 	if (value == nullptr)
 		return;
 
-	std::fill_n(ignore_tag_items, size_t(TAG_NUM_OF_ITEM_TYPES), true);
+	global_tag_mask = 0;
 
 	if (StringEqualsCaseASCII(value, "none"))
 		return;
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ TagLoadConfig()
 				FormatFatalError("error parsing metadata item \"%s\"",
 						 c);
 
-			ignore_tag_items[type] = false;
+			global_tag_mask |= tag_mask_t(1) << unsigned(type);
 
 			s++;
 			c = s;
diff --git a/src/tag/TagSettings.c b/src/tag/TagSettings.c
index 4582bd3c0..905265913 100644
--- a/src/tag/TagSettings.c
+++ b/src/tag/TagSettings.c
@@ -19,7 +19,4 @@
 
 #include "TagSettings.h"
 
-bool ignore_tag_items[TAG_NUM_OF_ITEM_TYPES] = {
-	/* ignore comments by default */
-	[TAG_COMMENT] = true,
-};
+tag_mask_t global_tag_mask = (tag_mask_t)-1 & ~(1 << TAG_COMMENT);
diff --git a/src/tag/TagSettings.h b/src/tag/TagSettings.h
index a58bd8915..708517a08 100644
--- a/src/tag/TagSettings.h
+++ b/src/tag/TagSettings.h
@@ -23,9 +23,11 @@
 #include "TagType.h"
 #include "Compiler.h"
 
-#include <stdbool.h>
+#include <stdint.h>
 
-extern bool ignore_tag_items[TAG_NUM_OF_ITEM_TYPES];
+typedef uint_least32_t tag_mask_t;
+
+extern tag_mask_t global_tag_mask;
 
 #ifdef __cplusplus
 
@@ -33,7 +35,7 @@ gcc_const
 static inline bool
 IsTagEnabled(unsigned tag)
 {
-	return !ignore_tag_items[tag];
+	return global_tag_mask & (1u << tag);
 }
 
 gcc_const