Retrieving and Saving media metadata using FFmpeg

Question

I want to read the metadata in media files and then save that metadata in a text/xml file, so that I can later insert that data in my database. I would prefer to use ffmpeg.

Also is the same thing possible with MediaInfo?? I know I can get the metadata for individual tracks using MediaInfo, but I would want to automate it; as in whenever a new media file is found, read its metadata and then store it in a txt/xml file.

Or, is there any other tool/utility/API that I can use for this?

Subscription

And how to get Program Guide (EPG) via ffmpeg?! – Rachitis

It seems nobody knows or it is not currently possible to export the EPG information from a .ts file (which is a text file with extension .eit) and put it as metadata in a MP4. Really i have searched some hours on Internet and i found nothing. i think that that whould be the obvious and the best step to have a short description for a chapter in a serie. Technically seems easy but no tools support that. – Zeba

By they way there is a software called metaX (danhinsley.com) that can retrieve metadata from Internet and set the metadata for a .mp4 .mkv and etc. You only need to know the name of the serie/movie/show and you it will look for the data. Unfortunately, It doesn´t work with EPG information or .ts files and the software doesn´t work well for chapters in a serie. Something that can be solved if you can export the EPG data. – Zeba

Answer 1

You can save the global metadata to a text file using the -f ffmetadata option as follows:

ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -f ffmetadata in.txt

If you also need metadata from the video and audio streams (for example if the global metadata does not contain the creation time) use:

ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -c copy -map_metadata 0 -map_metadata:s:v 0:s:v -map_metadata:s:a 0:s:a -f ffmetadata in.txt

For details, see Metadata section in ffmpeg documentation.

For restoring metadata from a file see https://mcmap.net/q/205233/-converting-video-formats-and-copying-tags-with-ffmpeg.

Hahn

I've found that avprobe prints more info (it comes along with ffmpeg). Something like "avprobe -show_format input_video -v 0" might be helpful. – Wisp

I think this page is a little more informative that the one linked: ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-formats.html#Metadata – Enervate

If you don't have avprobe on your system, it might exist as ffprobe. – Rasla

@DmitryShkuropatsky [mpegts @ 0000000002f6f2a0] PES packet size mismatch. Output file is empty, nothing was encoded. -------- Output content is: ;FFMETADATA1 encoder=Lavf56.40.101 – Rachitis

And how to get Program Guide (EPG) via ffmpeg?! – Rachitis

Add -map_metadata:s:v 0:s:v -map_metadata:s:a 0:s:a if you want to save metadata from video and audio, too. I will edit the answer accordingly. – Justinn

@DmitryShkuropatsky By any chance, do you know how to auto-increment metadata name? (Or simply, set the title so it take the same value than the file name? #53962068 – Mealy

Using exiftool -v I see all global metadata was nested into UserData (SubDirectory), this prevents Apple software to detect camera type and GPS coordinates. Any idea on solving this? – Susumu

Note about avprobe: Works great, but for ubuntu 18.04 the binary command is called ffprobe. – Ross

Still not correct according to my testing. To export much but not all global data (esp missing creation_time): ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -f ffmetadata meta.txt. To export all global data: ffmpeg -i in.mp4 -map_metadata 0 -f ffmetadata meta.txt. Note: global encoder always gets updated. To export all metadata: ffmpeg -t 0 -i in.mp4 -c copy -map 0 -map_metadata 0 -f ffmetadata meta.txt. Note the added -map 0. The -t 0 saves time (if all data is up front). Doing something like -map_metadata:s:v 0:s:v just messes with things by mapping data from the first video stream to all video streams. – Inextirpable

Answer 2

I prefer using exiftool which offers me more outputs than ffmpeg. take a example (a file from iphone):

exiftool IMG_0014.MOV >a.txt

the output is

---

ExifTool Version Number         : 8.60
File Name                       : IMG_0014.MOV
Directory                       : .
File Size                       : 19 MB
File Modification Date/Time     : 2013:07:19 12:03:22-10:00
File Permissions                : rw-r--r--
File Type                       : MOV
MIME Type                       : video/quicktime
Major Brand                     : Apple QuickTime (.MOV/QT)
Minor Version                   : 0.0.0
Compatible Brands               : qt
Movie Data Size                 : 19979709
Movie Header Version            : 0
Modify Date                     : 2013:07:19 22:03:21
Time Scale                      : 600
Duration                        : 7.27 s
Preferred Rate                  : 1
Preferred Volume                : 100.00%
Preview Time                    : 0 s
Preview Duration                : 0 s
Poster Time                     : 0 s
Selection Time                  : 0 s
Selection Duration              : 0 s
Current Time                    : 0 s
Next Track ID                   : 3
Track Header Version            : 0
Track Create Date               : 2013:07:19 22:03:13
Track Modify Date               : 2013:07:19 22:03:21
Track ID                        : 1
Track Duration                  : 7.27 s
Track Layer                     : 0
Track Volume                    : 0.00%
Image Width                     : 1920
Image Height                    : 1080
Graphics Mode                   : ditherCopy
Op Color                        : 32768 32768 32768
Compressor ID                   : avc1
Source Image Width              : 1920
Source Image Height             : 1080
X Resolution                    : 72
Y Resolution                    : 72
Compressor Name                 : H.264
Bit Depth                       : 24
Video Frame Rate                : 27.011
Camera Identifier               : Back
Frame Readout Time              : 28512 microseconds
Matrix Structure                : 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
Media Header Version            : 0
Media Create Date               : 2013:07:19 22:03:13
Media Modify Date               : 2013:07:19 22:03:21
Media Time Scale                : 44100
Media Duration                  : 7.31 s
Media Language Code             : und
Balance                         : 0
Handler Class                   : Data Handler
Handler Vendor ID               : Apple
Handler Description             : Core Media Data Handler
Audio Channels                  : 1
Audio Bits Per Sample           : 16
Audio Sample Rate               : 44100
Audio Format                    : chan
Model                           : iPhone 4S
Software Version                : 6.1.3
Create Date                     : 2013:07:20 08:03:13+10:00
Make                            : Apple
Handler Type                    : Metadata Tags
Make (und-AU)                   : Apple
Creation Date (und-AU)          : 2013:07:20 08:03:13+10:00
Software (und-AU)               : 6.1.3
Model (und-AU)                  : iPhone 4S
Avg Bitrate                     : 22 Mbps
Image Size                      : 1920x1080
Rotation                        : 90

---

while if i use ffmpeg

 ffmpeg -i IMG_0014.MOV -f ffmetadata metadata.txt

the output is

;FFMETADATA1
major_brand=qt  
minor_version=0
compatible_brands=qt  
date-eng=2013-07-20T08:03:13+1000
encoder=6.1.3
encoder-eng=6.1.3
date=2013-07-20T08:03:13+1000

---

Brew

And how to get Program Guide (EPG) via ffmpeg?! – Rachitis

is there any Android version of exiftool , have searched on the website of exiftool but could not find. – Afterbrain

Answer 3

You can use ffprobe (which comes with ffmpeg) for gathering information about multimedia files. For information about overall content of a multimedia file use

ffprobe -show_streams -show_format DV06xx.avi 

and for information about each single frame in a video file use

ffprobe -show_frames DV06xx.avi 

However, ffprobedoes not retrieve as much information as my favorite tool, Mediainfo, does, e.g., 'ffprobe' does not display the time code of first frame of the video (although the man page claims otherwise) or the recording date.

If you run mediainfo on the command line, you can even request output in XML format:

mediainfo --OUTPUT=XML DV06xx.avi 

In my example the output is:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Mediainfo version="0.7.63">
<File>
<track type="General">
<Complete_name>DV06xx.avi</Complete_name>
<Format>AVI</Format>
<Format_Info>Audio Video Interleave</Format_Info>
<Commercial_name>DVCPRO</Commercial_name>
<Format_profile>OpenDML</Format_profile>
<File_size>13.3 GiB</File_size>
<Duration>1h 2mn</Duration>
<Overall_bit_rate_mode>Constant</Overall_bit_rate_mode>
<Overall_bit_rate>30.5 Mbps</Overall_bit_rate>
<Recorded_date>2004-03-28 15:42:35.000</Recorded_date>
</track>

<track type="Video">
<ID>0</ID>
<Format>DV</Format>
<Commercial_name>DVCPRO</Commercial_name>
<Codec_ID>dvsd</Codec_ID>
<Codec_ID_Hint>Sony</Codec_ID_Hint>
<Duration>1h 2mn</Duration>
<Bit_rate_mode>Constant</Bit_rate_mode>
<Bit_rate>24.4 Mbps</Bit_rate>
<Encoded_bit_rate>28.8 Mbps</Encoded_bit_rate>
<Width>720 pixels</Width>
<Height>576 pixels</Height>
<Display_aspect_ratio>4:3</Display_aspect_ratio>
<Frame_rate_mode>Constant</Frame_rate_mode>
<Frame_rate>25.000 fps</Frame_rate>
<Standard>PAL</Standard>
<Color_space>YUV</Color_space>
<Chroma_subsampling>4:2:0</Chroma_subsampling>
<Bit_depth>8 bits</Bit_depth>
<Scan_type>Interlaced</Scan_type>
<Scan_order>Bottom Field First</Scan_order>
<Compression_mode>Lossy</Compression_mode>
<Bits__Pixel_Frame_>2.357</Bits__Pixel_Frame_>
<Time_code_of_first_frame>00:00:01:10</Time_code_of_first_frame>
<Time_code_source>Subcode time code</Time_code_source>
<Stream_size>12.6 GiB (94%)</Stream_size>
<Encoding_settings>ae mode=full automatic / wb mode=automatic / white balance= / fcm=manual focus</Encoding_settings>
</track>

<track type="Audio">
<ID>1</ID>
<Format>PCM</Format>
<Format_settings__Endianness>Little</Format_settings__Endianness>
<Format_settings__Sign>Signed</Format_settings__Sign>
<Codec_ID>1</Codec_ID>
<Duration>1h 2mn</Duration>
<Bit_rate_mode>Constant</Bit_rate_mode>
<Bit_rate>1 536 Kbps</Bit_rate>
<Channel_s_>2 channels</Channel_s_>
<Sampling_rate>48.0 KHz</Sampling_rate>
<Bit_depth>16 bits</Bit_depth>
<Stream_size>688 MiB (5%)</Stream_size>
<Alignment>Aligned on interleaves</Alignment>
<Interleave__duration>40 ms (1.00 video frame)</Interleave__duration>
<Interleave__preload_duration>40 ms</Interleave__preload_duration>
</track>

</File>
</Mediainfo>

Adding the optional parameter -f will produce even more detailed information.

Robot

And how to get Program Guide (EPG) via ffmpeg?! – Rachitis

what mediainfo exports are not necessarily the "metadata" which ffmpeg shows, like title, artist, track, etc. – Lerma

To show in json format: ffprobe -print_format json -show_programs -show_format -show_streams "source.mp4" – Abernethy

Answer 4

You can set the metadata on video, below mention set album_artist

ffmpeg -i source.mp4 -metadata album_artist='stack developer' -y -r 1 -acodec copy -vcodec copy destination.mp4

And retreive the meta tag as:

ffmpeg -i destination.mp4

Use this on command line .

Mailand

Answer 5

There's also atomicparsley for MPEG-4 files.

Cavorilievo

Answer 6

Assume that i need the frame count and duration. To get this with MediaInfo cli, use this code.MediaInfo --inform="Video;%FrameCount%,%Duration/String4%" videoname.mp4

The out will be something like this - 63525,00:42:21:00

Theretofore

Answer 7

I combine bash, ffmpeg, sed to write to a file only the basic metadata information that interests me: file type and name, title(s), video-, audio- and subtitlestreams details. A single file or all files in a dir. Linux. Only tested on a bunch of mkv videos b.t.w.

script: ffmpeg_metadata.sh
output file: ffmpeg_metadata.txt

The sed commands do all kind of things to 'purify' the given ffmpeg output.

Hereby not the whole script but the code that does things (hope it renders satisfactory, cause I've had trouble with line breaks in this post)...

echo -e "File name(s) (specific or wildcard,
no spaces or special chars, except '-' '_')?"

read -p "" INPUT

echo

for i in ${INPUT}; do ffmpeg -i "$i" -hide_banner; done |& tee ./ffmpeg_metadata.txt

sed -r -i "/Input|title|Stream/!d;s/[[:space:]]*[[:space:]]/ /g;s/^[[:space:]]//g;s/[[:space:]]:/:/g;s/Input/\n&/g;1i MULTIMEDIA METADATA" ./ffmpeg_metadata.txt

the /Input|title|Stream/!d says: don't delete the lines containing exactly these words aka strings. I.o.w. keep only those lines.

Here, for two mkv's, it results in:

MULTIMEDIA METADATA

Input #0, matroska,webm, from 'film1.mkv':
title: film1
Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (High), yuv420p(progressive), 1276x686 [SAR 1:1 DAR 638:343], SAR 343:359 DAR 638:359, 23.97 fps, 23.97 tbr, 1k tbn, 47.94 tbc (default)
title: film1_Track
Stream #0:1: Audio: aac (LC), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp (default)
title: film1_Track

Input #0, matroska,webm, from 'film2.mkv':
title: film2
Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (High), yuv420p(tv, bt709, progressive), 640x360 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 25 fps, 25 tbr, 1k tbn, 50 tbc (default)
title: film2_Track
Stream #0:1(eng): Audio: aac (LC), 44100 Hz, stereo, fltp (default)
title: film2_Track
Stream #0:2(eng): Subtitle: ass (default)
title: film2_Track
Stream #0:3(es): Subtitle: subrip (default)
title: film2_Track

Could be further reduced by leaving out the 'title' within sed. So, only file name and streams. Or, e.g., one could add the lines containing the word 'Duration', which also include the bitrate. Etcetera, etcetera. The day ffmpeg-development starts respelling words, this script will also need respelling :-D

Cheerio (not included in ouput file ;-) )!

Bloodmobile

Answer 8

While converting videos from H.265 to H.264 I found that the best solution is to combine ffmpeg and exiftool. First convert the video:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec libx264 -acodec aac output.mp4

Then import the metadata from input to output file:

exiftool -tagsFromFile input.mp4 -all:all output.mp4

The option -all:all is important when you transfer metadata from videos created by Apple products, I found that otherwise the time would not match. More details on the official FAQ.

Tip: to prevent creating an _original file, just add the -overwrite_original option.

Lavona