How can I get information about a video with a command-line tool? (e.g. video duration, audio codec, bitrate etc)

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2 Answers

You have several commands to get that information:

avprobe from the package libav-tools is pretty good.

Sample output avprobe somefile.mp4

avprobe version 0.8.4-4:0.8.4-0ubuntu0.12.04.1, Copyright (c)
2007-2012 the Libav developers built on Nov 6 2012 16:51:33 with
gcc 4.6.3 Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'somefile.mp4':
Metadata: major_brand : avc1 minor_version : 0 compatible_brands: isomavc1 creation_time : 2012-08-10 15:01:14 Duration: 00:01:02.55, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 682 kb/s Stream #0.0(und): Video: h264 (High), yuv420p, 1904x1040 [PAR 1:1 DAR 119:65], 680 kb/s, 19.18 fps, 20 tbr, 20 tbn, 40 tbc Metadata: creation_time : 2012-08-10 15:01:14

To add to Thunar custom action, in relation to what was suggested here, the analog formula to add would be:

gnome-terminal --window-with-profile=new1 -e "avprobe %f"

Source: Command to see media file info in terminal? (then, duplicated).

And also you have:

You can use MPlayer to get that information.

$ mplayer -vo null -ao null -identify -frames 0 foo.avi

Source:

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There are several ways to achieve this. Here are three methods, using three different utilities.

Using exiftool

1. Install libimage-exiftool-perl using the command sudo apt-get install libimage-exiftool-perl.
2. Run exiftool /path/to/file

3. The output you get is similar to this:

   ExifTool Version Number : 9.04
   File Name : filename.avi
   Directory : Path/To/File
   File Size : ### MB
   File Modification Date/Time : 2013:04:14 10:46:51+04:00
   File Access Date/Time : 2013:05:19 09:21:08+04:00
   File Permissions : rwxrwxr--
   File Type : AVI
   MIME Type : video/x-msvideo
   Frame Rate : 25
   Max Data Rate : 0 kB/s
   Frame Count : 105154
   Stream Count : 2
   Stream Type : Video
   Video Codec : xvid
   Video Frame Rate : 25
   Video Frame Count : 105154
   Quality : 10000
   Sample Size : Variable
   Image Width : 640
   Image Height : 360
   Planes : 1
   Bit Depth : 12
   Compression : XVID
   Image Length : 1382400
   Pixels Per Meter X : 0
   Pixels Per Meter Y : 0
   Num Colors : Use BitDepth
   Num Important Colors : All
   Audio Codec :
   Audio Sample Rate : 41.67
   Audio Sample Count : 175252
   Encoding : MP3
   Num Channels : 2
   Sample Rate : 48000
   Avg Bytes Per Sec : 16000
   Bits Per Sample : 0
   Stream Name : filename.audio
   Duration : 1:10:06
   Image Size : 640x360

_Source:

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Using ffmpeg

1. Install ffmpeg using the command sudo apt-get install ffmpeg.
2. Run ffmpeg -i /path/to/file

3. The output you get is similar to this:

   Input #0, avi, from 'Path/To/File': Duration: 01:10:06.16, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 1172 kb/s Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg4 (Advanced Simple Profile), yuv420p, 640x360 [PAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 25 tbr, 25 tbn, 25 tbc Stream #0.1: Audio: mp3, 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 128 kb/s Metadata: title : filename.audio

_Source:

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Using mplayer

1. Install mplayer using the command sudo apt-get install mplayer.
2. Run mplayer -vo null -ao null -identify -frames 0 /path/to/file

3. The output you get is similar to this:

   Playing Path/To/File.
   libavformat version 53.21.1 (external)
   Mismatching header version 53.19.0
   AVI file format detected.
   ID_VIDEO_ID=0
   [aviheader] Video stream found, -vid 0
   ID_AUDIO_ID=1
   [aviheader] Audio stream found, -aid 1
   VIDEO: [XVID] 640x360 12bpp 25.000 fps 1031.9 kbps (126.0 kbyte/s)
   Load subtitles in Path/To/File
   ID_FILENAME=Path/To/File
   ID_DEMUXER=avi
   ID_VIDEO_FORMAT=XVID
   ID_VIDEO_BITRATE=1031880
   ID_VIDEO_WIDTH=640
   ID_VIDEO_HEIGHT=360
   ID_VIDEO_FPS=25.000
   ID_VIDEO_ASPECT=0.0000
   ID_AUDIO_FORMAT=85
   ID_AUDIO_BITRATE=127992
   ID_AUDIO_RATE=0
   ID_AUDIO_NCH=0
   ID_START_TIME=0.00
   ID_LENGTH=4206.16
   ID_SEEKABLE=1
   ID_CHAPTERS=0
   ==========================================================================
   Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
   libavcodec version 53.35.0 (external)
   Mismatching header version 53.32.2
   Unsupported PixelFormat 61
   Unsupported PixelFormat 53
   Unsupported PixelFormat 81
   Selected video codec: [ffodivx] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg MPEG-4)
   ==========================================================================
   ID_VIDEO_CODEC=ffodivx
   ==========================================================================
   Requested audio codec family [mpg123] (afm=mpg123) not available.
   Enable it at compilation.
   Opening audio decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg/libavcodec audio decoders
   AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, floatle, 128.0 kbit/4.17% (ratio: 16000->384000)
   ID_AUDIO_BITRATE=128000
   ID_AUDIO_RATE=48000
   ID_AUDIO_NCH=2
   Selected audio codec: [ffmp3float] afm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg MPEG layer-3 audio)
   ==========================================================================
   AO: [null] 48000Hz 2ch floatle (4 bytes per sample)
   ID_AUDIO_CODEC=ffmp3float
   Starting playback...
   Exiting... (End of file)
   ID_EXIT=EOF

_Source:

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