Video Format Analyzer

Question

I have a video file I don't know what format it is.

Is there a software can analyze what kind of video container / compression format it uses?

I tried Gspot, but it doesn't work (Show "Unknown format")

I am sure the file is using some kind of public standard codec because I can use a media converter convert it to avi or mpg4 file.

Thanks in advance.

Here is the picture of Gspot, but it doesn't show anything: alt text http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/2675/gspota.png

When I press 1, it says DShow reports error.

Can you post a screen shot of the gspot window? some information there might be useful. — Shay Erlichmen, Sep 29 '09 at 07:27
libavcodec is a programming-related answer. But I guess that this question actually belongs on superuser. — mouviciel, Sep 29 '09 at 08:19

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 29 '09 at 08:57

2

You can use ffpmeg (Windows builds here) with the -i switch:

ffmpeg -i myfile.avi

FFmpeg version SVN-r19159-Sherpya, Copyright (c) 2000-2009 Fabrice Bellard, et al.
libavutil 50. 3. 0 / 50. 3. 0
libavcodec 52.30. 2 / 52.30. 2
libavformat 52.34. 0 / 52.34. 0
libavdevice 52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
libavfilter 0. 5. 0 / 0. 5. 0
libswscale 0. 7. 1 / 0. 7. 1
libpostproc 51. 2. 0 / 51. 2. 0
built on Jun 12 2009 04:25:02, gcc: 4.5.0 20090517 (experimental)
Input #0, avi, from 'myfile.avi':
Duration: 00:00:00.41, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 363 kb/s
Stream #0.0: Video: rawvideo, pal8, 60x49, 12 tbr, 12 tbn, 12 tbc
At least one output file must be specified

answered Sep 29 '09 at 08:57

Shay Erlichmen

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Yes, seems like it is a h264 file. Thanks. Seems stream 0 codec frame rate differs from container frame rate: 50.00 (50/1) -> 25.00 (50/2) Input #0, h264, from 'record2.avi': Duration: N/A, bitrate: N/A Stream #0.0: Video: h264, yuv420p, 25 tbr, 1200k tbn, 50 tbc At least one output file must be specified – KenC Sep 29 '09 at 09:15
It only shows the codec. Is there a way I can see the container it uses? Thanks – KenC Sep 29 '09 at 09:50
KenC: If you want to quickly wrap the raw h264 in a container using ffmpeg, use "ffmpeg -i myfile.avi -vcodec copy myfile_wrapped.avi" and you should get an AVI file with a single H.264 stream. This wrapping is also very fast as it is a simple stream mux. – AKX Jan 07 '10 at 08:09

unwind · Answer 2 · 2009-09-29T07:44:39.277

1

If you're reasonably close to a modern Linux system, try the file command. It's pretty well-educated:

~> file foo.mov
foo.mov: ISO Media, Apple QuickTime movie
~> mv foo.mov whatever
~> file whatever
whatever: ISO Media, Apple QuickTime movie

As you can see, it checks the contents of the file, it doesn't just test the filename. Not implying that the tool you tried was reliant on the filename, just trying to illustrate that it can be a powerful tool.

edited Sep 29 '09 at 07:44

answered Sep 29 '09 at 07:09

unwind

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gspot doesn't check the filename neither – Shay Erlichmen Sep 29 '09 at 07:26
@Shay: I wasn't trying to imply a limitation in gspot, I was trying to describe file to people who might not be familiar with it. Updated my wording to hopefully reflect that. – unwind Sep 29 '09 at 07:45

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 29 '09 at 07:42

1

Try mplayer in console mode. It prints file info if it detects it. This question should be posted in superuser i guess...

answered Sep 29 '09 at 07:42

Quamis

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score 0 · Answer 4 · edited Jan 30 '12 at 13:13

0

Try mediainfo. It is a great tool and gives you much more detailed information than ffmpeg or gspot.

edited Jan 30 '12 at 13:13

Cosmin

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answered Jan 07 '10 at 07:44

user195454

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Video Format Analyzer

4 Answers4