MediaInfo(Lib) 0.7 - Reading information about media files [Archive]

Zenitram

27th June 2005, 22:33

I develop MediaInfo, which is a tool to show technical information (container format, codec, width, heigth...) and tags (Title, Artist, Language...) about all kind of multimedia files. Main purpose is to have a library for third-parties, but there is a graphical interface too.

I wish have some beta testers with complex files, to "stress" the program just released.
http://mediainfo.sf.net
There are :
- A graphical interface
- A command line interface
- A DLL for programers (with C++, C#, J#, VB.nt, VB5, Delphi, ActiveX examples)

I already did some tests on :
Matroska, Avi, Wav, Ogg, Ogm, Mpg, Vob, Mp4, M4a, 3gp, M2v, mp3, Wma, Wmv, Mov, Rm, Rmvb, Ifo of DVD, Aac, Ac3, Dts, Monkey Audio, Ape, Flac, Au, Aiff.
I am working on H264.

Did I forget a container?

SCIF

28th June 2005, 04:55

Good idea! It'll be useful. GSpot not support anything except *.avi. Cheers.

thana

29th June 2005, 10:35

just tested some files of my collection:

first of all, is .swf (flash) supported? its not mentioned anywhere but mediainfo finds mpeg-audio streams in some of them (albeit with bitrate 0).. i'm not sure if those are really mpeg audio streams, but it could very well be so..

i guess "S-Mpeg 4 v3" should really be "MS-Mpeg 4 v3", right?

why is the mpeg container called "MPEG 1 Multiplexer" instead of simply "MPEG 1"? is this the official name?

"MPEG-4 Video" should maybe renamed to "MPEG-4 (A)SP" and "MPEG-4 AVC" to better differentiate the two variants

while "MPEG-4 Audio" is technically correct, i think it would be more helpfull for users if you would write "MPEG-4 Audio (AAC)" and maybe even "MPEG-4 Audio (HE-AAC)" too.

the codecs in this .mov here (http://download.theforce.net/theater/nonsw/grayson/Grayson_web_large.zip) are not recognised at all. according to mplayer they should be "ima4" (IMA ADPCM) for audio and "SVQ3" (Sorensen Video 3) for the video track.

this movie here (http://www.kollektiv-kaffeemaschine.com/media/nebenderarbeitQT.mov) has exactly the same codecs, but this time "ima4" is detected as a second video track instead of the audio track.

i would appreciate it if the actual FOURCC would be displayed somewhere in conjunction with your "translated" description

whenever there is no audio or video track in a container, the codec name is displayed in the format-column too instead of the real container name, which is very confusing (at least for me).

i have another .mov on my hd (sorry, no link) which isn't recognised at all too. codecs are "Sorensen Video 3" and uncompressed pcm audio (FOURCC: "twos"). i can upload it somewhere if you want.

that's it for now, more to come later =)

Zenitram

29th June 2005, 10:59

Thank you for your tests.

just tested some files of my collection:

first of all, is .swf (flash) supported? its not mentioned anywhere but mediainfo finds mpeg-audio streams in some of them (albeit with bitrate 0).. i'm not sure if those are really mpeg audio streams, but it could very well be so..

No support of SWF.
My MPEG audio parser has difficulties to detect false MPEG Audio, because MPEG Audio "magic value" is only 12 bits :(
I will put more tests about coherancy of value (bitrate 0 and so on...)

i guess "S-Mpeg 4 v3" should really be "MS-Mpeg 4 v3", right?

Writing error, will be corrected ;-)

why is the mpeg container called "MPEG 1 Multiplexer" instead of simply "MPEG 1"? is this the official name?

MPEG is a group (Movie Picture Expert Group), who released a lot of standarts, with MPEG 1 Video, MPEG 1 Audio, MPEG1 Multiplexer and so on...
I would like to differenciate them.

"MPEG-4 Video" should maybe renamed to "MPEG-4 (A)SP" and "MPEG-4 AVC" to better differentiate the two variants
while "MPEG-4 Audio" is technically correct, i think it would be more helpfull for users if you would write "MPEG-4 Audio (AAC)" and maybe even "MPEG-4 Audio (HE-AAC)" too.

I will look at what I can do. Not sur to be able to always differenciate them.

the codecs in this .mov here (http://download.theforce.net/theater/nonsw/grayson/Grayson_web_large.zip) are not recognised at all. according to mplayer they should be "ima4" (IMA ADPCM) for audio and "SVQ3" (Sorensen Video 3) for the video track.

this movie here (http://www.kollektiv-kaffeemaschine.com/media/nebenderarbeitQT.mov) has exactly the same codecs, but this time "ima4" is detected as a second video track instead of the audio track.

I will download theses files

i would appreciate it if the actual FOURCC would be displayed somewhere in conjunction with your "translated" description

in the menu : Debug-->Advanced mode.
Or : you can edit preferences (for "sheet" view, or HTML...), and add "%Codec%" (instead of "%Codec_String%)

whenever there is no audio or video track in a container, the codec name is displayed in the format-column too instead of the real container name, which is very confusing (at least for me).

I don't have files with a container but without streams, could you send me one?

i have another .mov on my hd (sorry, no link) which isn't recognised at all too. codecs are "Sorensen Video 3" and uncompressed pcm audio (FOURCC: "twos"). i can upload it somewhere if you want.

Interested to have it.

that's it for now, more to come later =)
I am waiting for it :)
You can contact me with private messages.

thana

29th June 2005, 15:24

MPEG is a group (Movie Picture Expert Group), who released a lot of standarts, with MPEG 1 Video, MPEG 1 Audio, MPEG1 Multiplexer and so on...
I would like to differenciate them.
yeah, i know. but then the really correct name would be "MPEG-1 Systems Multiplex". also the codecs are correctly written with a dash before the number, f.e. "MPEG-1 Audio" or "MPEG-2 Video" instead of "MPEG Audio 1" or "MPEG Video 2".

What about MPEG transport streams? are they supported? i tried a sample but mediainfo found only the video stream and no audio stream.. (http://www.nextcomwireless.com/R5000/samples.htm)

if they are not supported, the correct description for the MPEG-2 container would be "MPEG-2 Program Stream", because "MPEG-2 Systems Multiplex" describes both, program streams and transport streams.

I don't have files with a container but without streams, could you send me one?
i didn't mean a container without any stream (would be quite useless), just one without an audio stream but with a video stream or the inverse.
but i just saw that this isn't a real problem, i was only confused because you called MPEG Elementary Streams "MPEG Video 1" etc. but you are probably correct, an elementary stream really doesn't have a container/format, its just the audio/video stream.

Interested to have it.
i put it on my ftp. also i found some other samples which are detected incorrect. you can find them all in "video-samples" on my ftp. i will send you the address per pm.

Zenitram

29th June 2005, 16:16

yeah, i know. but then the really correct name would be "MPEG-1 Systems Multiplex". also the codecs are correctly written with a dash before the number, f.e. "MPEG-1 Audio" or "MPEG-2 Video" instead of "MPEG Audio 1" or "MPEG Video 2".

OK, I will change for this.
But : what should I write for "MPEG Audio 2.5 (some MP3 have this, extended version of MPEG-2 Audio...)? MPEG-2.5 Audio?
but : "MPEG-1 Systems Multiplex" is long :(. I think I will change it in MPEG-x PS, and MPEG-x TS (see below for TS)

What about MPEG transport streams? are they supported?

TS? Not yet, because I didn't find documentation on this (which bit for what), :(

if they are not supported, the correct description for the MPEG-2 container would be "MPEG-2 Program Stream", because "MPEG-2 Systems Multiplex" describes both, program streams and transport streams.

if you know MPEG system, could you tel me where PS is used (DVD, and?), and where TS is used?
I have difficulties to understand all in the MPEG standarts, they are a little difficult with a lot of standarts :)

i didn't mean a container without any stream (would be quite useless), just one without an audio stream but with a video stream or the inverse.
but i just saw that this isn't a real problem, i was only confused because you called MPEG Elementary Streams "MPEG Video 1" etc. but you are probably correct, an elementary stream really doesn't have a container/format, its just the audio/video stream.

OK, I understand more what you said.
And as you said, Video ES or Audio ES (=MP3 or raw AAC) doesn't have a container, so I use the ES name in place of the container name, and I think to not change this.

Thank you for your analysis.

thana

29th June 2005, 17:32

OK, I will change for this.
But : what should I write for "MPEG Audio 2.5 (some MP3 have this, extended version of MPEG-2 Audio...)? MPEG-2.5 Audio?
yes, looks good to me. or maybe just leave it at MPEG-2, and describe the .5 part somewhere in the advanced mode text. MPEG-2.5 is a proprietary extension by FHG that only allows for some lower sample frequencies and bitrates, but it's not officially endorsed by the MPEG committee in any way.

but : "MPEG-1 Systems Multiplex" is long :(. I think I will change it in MPEG-x PS, and MPEG-x TS (see below for TS)
yes, that is ok too.

TS? Not yet, because I didn't find documentation on this (which bit for what), :(
you can find the last draft on this page: http://www.le-hacker.org/dvd.html, this should be a good starting point.

if you know MPEG system, could you tel me where PS is used (DVD, and?), and where TS is used?
afaik (but i'm not an expert) PS are officially used on VCD, SVCD and all variants thereof. VOBs on DVD contain several ES as well as other stuff for menu's etc.

TS are mainly used for digital broadcasting (DVB/ATSC/ISDB).

EDIT: typos

Kurtnoise

2nd July 2005, 23:20

Hi Zenitram,

First of all, many thanks for this tool. It's very nice....;) I'll use mediainfo.dll in the next YAMB release. (not finished yet but I'll release it very soon). I'd like to suggest you to use some GPAC code for mp4 files. It's up to date comparing to the mpeg4ip libraries...(h264, ,avc supports...) Hope this help.

Prodater64

3rd July 2005, 01:14

@Zenitram:

Could you post how can I call mediainfo.dll from VB6 files please.
Just for 1 file (not several media files).
If you can, post examples to obtain width, height, fps, bitrate, etc.
Thanks.

Doom9

3rd July 2005, 01:42

phew, just spotted this.. might come in very handy for MeGUI.. right now I only have AVIFile and basically have to make up something for every other format.

Sirber

3rd July 2005, 02:19

Gonna add it to RealAnime. Many thanks for the great tool!

Doom9

3rd July 2005, 02:31

Hmm... could it be that the feature matrix (http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/formats.html) is incomplete? Looking at the screenshots I see "play length" but that doesn't seem to be listed in the matrix. For me getting the length of a file (audio or video) as well as number of frames (in case of video) are the features I'm most interested in.

Sirber

3rd July 2005, 04:15

Track information seems to be missing for MKV... could be cool to have it :)

Zenitram

3rd July 2005, 12:31

Thanks for your replies...
I'd like to suggest you to use some GPAC code for mp4 files.I should.
But this is actually hard to understand GPAC interface (mainly for tags).
I use mp4ff for codecs, and mp4v2 for tags.
I know how to do for codecs with GPAC, but I don't know how to do for tags.
I will work on it, but some difficulties... ;-)

Could you post how can I call mediainfo.dll from VB6 files please.
There is an VB5 (works on VB6 too) example with the DLL package, in the "Contrib" Directory.
Not exactly what you want, but you should easily understand how to do

Hmm... could it be that the feature matrix (http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/formats.html) is incomplete?
little outdated

Looking at the screenshots I see "play length" but that doesn't seem to be listed in the matrix.
Duration is the same as "Play length", I changed the name in MediaInfo, but not in the matrix :(
For me getting the length of a file (audio or video) as well as number of frames (in case of video) are the features I'm most interested in.MediaInfo_Option(NULL, "Info_Parameters") to have all available parameters.
MediaInfo_Get(Handle, Stream_General, 0, "PlayTime", Info_Text, Info_Name) to have the length in millisecond (or "PlayTime_String1" or 2 or 3 to have formated text ("?h ?mn ?s"...)
MediaInfo_Get(Handle, Stream_Video, 0, "FrameCount", Info_Text, Info_Name) to have number of Frames (or PlayTime*FrameRate if you prefer...)
Track information seems to be missing for MKV... could be cool to have it :)The complete work on MKV is not done yet, this will come soon!

Doom9

3rd July 2005, 12:34

@Zenitram: thanks for the info.

Am I correct assuming you wrote your own code to parse the files and are not relying on any external APIs?

Zenitram

3rd July 2005, 13:02

Am I correct assuming you wrote your own code to parse the files and are not relying on any external APIs? You are not 100% correct, depend of what I found on Internet :
- AAC : internal
- AC3 : internal
- APE : MACLib
- CDXA : internal
- DVD : internal
- DTS : internal
- Flac : FlacLib
- MKV/MKA : libmatroska & libebml
- MPEG-1 and 2 multiplex : internal
- MPEG-1 & 2 Video : internal
- MPEG-1 & 2 Audio (technical) : internal
- MPEG-1 & 2 Audio (tags) : Id3Lib
- MPEG-4 (technical) : mp4ff (faac)
- MPEG-4 (tags) : mp4v2 (faad)
- Ogg : internal
- Quicktime : internal
- Riff (WAV/AVI/the stupid .divx extension) : internal
- AIFF, and other old audio : SndFile
- ASF/WMV/WMA : internal

Note : I sent you a submission for have MediaInfo in your 1st page, did you receive it?

Doom9

3rd July 2005, 13:14

Note : I sent you a submission for have MediaInfo in your 1st page, did you receive it?I don't recall but I don't have access to my latest inbox right now (it's on my new box that runs unstable so I'm currently running lenghty tests to try and figure out which is the faulty component.. and I can't get to my mails from a linux boot CD).

It's not really the news for your average users, but since I find the library useful I guess I could make an exception.

bond

3rd July 2005, 13:22

mp4v2 is mpeg4ip's lib, which faad uses too (but only the parts it needs i think), you might find a more complete version in the mpeg4ip cvs

Zenitram

3rd July 2005, 13:33

mp4v2 is mpeg4ip's lib, which faad uses too (but only the parts it needs i think), you might find a more complete version in the mpeg4ip cvsSo, what is the best library (mp4ff, mp4v2 from mpeg4ip, or GPAC) to have technical AND tags info from mp4 files?
I am a little lost with MPEG4 libraries, I didn't find yet the perfect library for my needs :(

bond

3rd July 2005, 13:59

tags are a special issue in mp4 because there is an official tagging standard for mp4, but the power of itunes (which uses a private tagging way) lead to that people use only the itunestagging
and as always private stuff leads to a mess...

i would say there are two good mp4 libs available: the one from mpeg4ip and the one from gpac

mpeg4ip tags in the itunesway, gpac i think in the official mpeg way (but i have to admit i never really tested it so i dunno much about it)

iNFO-DVD

4th July 2005, 16:29

Zenitram

4th July 2005, 16:45

I downloaded the zip package of this just to take a look and I must admit I was not very impressed with the way you 'shell' associated everything from within your program!

You should leave that to an installer!

Just took me half an hour hacking my registry to remove all the crap! :mad:
I don't understand :
- you downloaded the Installer file : all registry keys are deleted with uninstall
- you downloaded the ZIP file : how could I know you want to delete MediaInfo??? and this is a "one click" thing to suppress registry keys without uninstaller : uncheck Options, advanced, Shell explorer.

If you have an idea to do it with a better behaviour, I am interested... At this time, there *IS* an installer/uninstaller, and for people who want ZIP files, there is a ZIP file with the possibility to uncheck the shell explorer...
I don't plan to suppress the ZIP files, because some people want it.

And I don't think there is a better solution, a lot of software have the same problem if associations when shipped in a ZIP file...

buzzqw

4th July 2005, 18:51

would be possible to know the number of frames also for mpeg1 or mpeg2 video file (multiplexed vob or simple mpeg files) ?

BHH

Zenitram

4th July 2005, 23:36

would be possible to know the number of frames also for mpeg1 or mpeg2 video file (multiplexed vob or simple mpeg files) ?Yes.
with the DLL if you are programmer, or with the GUI (because no everybody is interested, you must active in the menu "Debug --> Advanced mode") : "FrameCount"

buzzqw

5th July 2005, 07:13

@Zenitram

thanks, but i prefer the command line version

would be possible to integrate in command line ?

Thanks anyway

BHH

Zenitram

5th July 2005, 09:31

thanks, but i prefer the command line version
would be possible to integrate in command line ?
Everything is possible :)
With command line : "-f" for "full information", you will have all information available, FrameCount included.
Command line is light at this time, but I plan to improve it...

buzzqw

5th July 2005, 12:13

(maybe i don't fully understod)
i try -f switch but i got framecount only for avi not mpeg...

anyway i wait a "lightless" command line ! :thanks:

BHH

Malow

7th July 2005, 03:51

pulldown detection will be incorpored? :D

Zenitram

7th July 2005, 17:21

pulldown detection will be incorpored? :D
Do yo uspeak of this (http://www.zerocut.com/tech/pulldown.html)?
1/ MediaInfo works on video track information, not frame per frame : I don't plan do say where is "A" frames. the only thing I plan to do in video frames is to know if video is compatible with DivX player (B-frames...), because his is a video track information, not only for some frames. So I don"t see what you would know about pulldown in MediaInfo.
2/ I am european, so I don't need pulldown (joke :D )

Doom9

8th July 2005, 07:19

Can you library tell me if an audio file is variable or constant bitrate?

Zenitram

8th July 2005, 17:40

Can you library tell me if an audio file is variable or constant bitrate?
Yes, when I can say it. (with GUI : select advanced mode, and there will sometimes be a "BitRate Mode" tag)
This is the case of MP3.
But for other audio formats, the format tells you if this is VBR or CBR (OGg is VBR, AC3 is CBR...)
The problem I didn't succeed to resolved is MP3 in AVI : I can't say VBR or CBR :(
Which format to you wish?

Doom9

9th July 2005, 02:27

I'd like to give your lib (the dll) an mp3 and have it tell me if it's vbr or cbr. Right now the user has to enter the audio type manually. That is all outside of an AVI. But in order to mux an MP3 into an AVI, knowing if it's CBR or VBR is crucial because the overhead changes significantly.

Zenitram

9th July 2005, 16:45

Doom9> So : Yes, you (will) be able to do this.
Why "will"? Because, I took a look in the source code, I saw I detect VBR or CBR to calculate bitrate (I need to know if this is a VBR file too), but I forgot to set the VBR tag on for external programs :(
In next version for this.
But : even if I dream you use MediaInfo.dll (because thanks to your homepage, I have at this time twice more people on my homepage, maybe the same with the DLL :) ), I don't understand you : there is simpler way to detect VBR in a MP3 file, because everybody use "xing" VBR header (but xing website is now offline :(, so : no specifications) (and I use only this method to detect VBR), and this is some line of code only, so no need of a 600 KB DLL to use only 20 lines of code.
You can take a look here (http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/mediainfo/MediaInfoLib/Source/MediaInfo/File_Mpega.cpp?annotate=1.27) , line 540 to write your own parser.

Doom9

9th July 2005, 17:04

well.. if I start using the lib then for the follwowing purposes:

detec if an mp3 is vbr or cbr
get the length of ac3/mp3/mp2/wav input
get the length, number of frames and framerate of an AviSynth file.

I'm not sure, can you handle the last one? I currently use AVIFile for the last one and have no solution for the other two.

Zenitram

9th July 2005, 17:56

detec if an mp3 is vbr or cbr
get the length of ac3/mp3/mp2/wav inputWill be able in the next version (while speaking with you, I took a look to your requests, seems I forgot some things, so there is not always information, even if it is easy to have it, MediaInfo.dll is young :(
get the length, number of frames and framerate of an AviSynth file..Not sure to understand : in my mind, AviSynth is only a script file (AVS), with not real video or audio in it. and I work only on real video or audio files. And I try do not have Win32 dependancies (so : no AVIFile for me :) ). Maybe later I will inspect AVS file, to detect original file (but if this is a D2V file, I need to parse it too to have source files :( ), but don't hope it soon.
So : I will work on having length for AC3/mp3/wav (and VBR) in the next version, it is easy.

Doom9

9th July 2005, 18:06

Not sure to understand : in my mind, AviSynth is only a script file (AVS), with not real video or audio in it. and I work only on real video or audio files.hmm.. then I guess we have a problem. It is possible to read those things without any platform dependencies though.. x264 and mencoder can handle AviSynth input.

Zenitram

9th July 2005, 18:32

hmm.. then I guess we have a problem. It is possible to read those things without any platform dependencies though.. x264 and mencoder can handle AviSynth input.
Ah? OK, you speak about avifile library, not AVIFile Win32 API, sorry.
Will take a look in it to see what I can do.

Doom9

9th July 2005, 18:46

no I meant I AM using the W32 AVIFile API but I'd like to get away from it. I guess I'll always rely on it for video preview, but at least for getting the properties of the source something else could come in handy. The problem some of the MeGUI users have is that they don't have the codecs to play YV12 installed but tested their script in other apps that do not require a YV12 decoder (or use a DShow one), and so they have a basically working AviSynth script that might even be encodable, but due to AVIFile requiring the YV12 decoder they cannot start without installing that codec first.

Either way I'd understand if you won't support AviSynth because it's not really a media file.

Zenitram

10th July 2005, 00:41

Doom9> Seems to not be too difficult, if you wish only to support AVS with .AVI in it, or D2V in it (if D2V has VOB in it for example), because I can write basic AVS and D2V parsers to extract original filenames. Is it why you wish? if yes, OK, I will do it because this is not opposite of MediaInfo philosophy.
And : do you know AVS with other than D2V or VOB? If yes, I am interested to have examples. (maybe in private)

Doom9

10th July 2005, 00:49

Well, I suppose the most common use case is an AviSynth script with a d2vsource in it.

Other options are AviSource, WavSource, DirectShowSource and AC3Source. I'm not sure how mencoder and co read AVS sources.. definitely not through AVIFile but most Windows Applications use AVIFile as AviSynth appears to be just another VfW decodeable format. I think parsing the script and looking what's in there could provide to be dangerous.. actually rendering sounds more promising.. for the specifics I'd check x264 or mencoder source code (probably the latter since it's smaller).

Zenitram

24th July 2005, 23:17

well.. if I start using the lib then for the follwowing purposes:

detec if an mp3 is vbr or cbr
get the length of ac3/mp3/mp2/wav input
get the length, number of frames and framerate of an AviSynth file.

DLL is updated with the first two lines.
https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=86862&package_id=90614

I will work on AVS later...

Zen

stax76

3rd September 2005, 20:35

Sirber

3rd September 2005, 23:45

I'm starting to implement the DLL into RealAnime LE. I plan to use it for all my source analysis :D

Sirber

4th September 2005, 01:53

Hum...

I'd like to know if it's possible to get infos on MKV like what language a track is (audio and sub) as well as the track # (to use to extract it).

Thanks!

Zenitram

4th September 2005, 21:33

I'd like to know if it's possible to get infos on MKV like what language a track is (audio and sub) as well as the track # (to use to extract it).I am working on v0.7 (more than 0.7.0.1) at this time, and I am implementing more tags for Matroska, including what you need.
At this time (v0.7.0.1), this piece of information is not implemented for MKV (it is for OGM), it will be soon for MKV.
You can work with OGM, this will be the same way to get info for MKV ;-)

PS : you can monitor DLL release (http://sourceforge.net/project/filemodule_monitor.php?filemodule_id=90614) to be informed imediatly when I release a new version