1 \input texinfo @c -*- texinfo -*-
3 @settitle ffprobe Documentation
5 @center @titlefont{ffprobe Documentation}
14 The generic syntax is:
18 ffprobe [options] [@file{input_file}]
23 @c man begin DESCRIPTION
25 ffprobe gathers information from multimedia streams and prints it in
26 human- and machine-readable fashion.
28 For example it can be used to check the format of the container used
29 by a multimedia stream and the format and type of each media stream
32 If a filename is specified in input, ffprobe will try to open and
33 probe the file content. If the file cannot be opened or recognized as
34 a multimedia file, a positive exit code is returned.
36 ffprobe may be employed both as a standalone application or in
37 combination with a textual filter, which may perform more
38 sophisticated processing, e.g. statistical processing or plotting.
40 Options are used to list some of the formats supported by ffprobe or
41 for specifying which information to display, and for setting how
44 ffprobe output is designed to be easily parsable by a textual filter,
45 and consists of one or more sections of a form defined by the selected
46 writer, which is specified by the @option{print_format} option.
48 Metadata tags stored in the container or in the streams are recognized
49 and printed in the corresponding "FORMAT" or "STREAM" section.
56 @include avtools-common-opts.texi
66 Show the unit of the displayed values.
69 Use SI prefixes for the displayed values.
70 Unless the "-byte_binary_prefix" option is used all the prefixes
73 @item -byte_binary_prefix
74 Force the use of binary prefixes for byte values.
77 Use sexagesimal format HH:MM:SS.MICROSECONDS for time values.
80 Prettify the format of the displayed values, it corresponds to the
81 options "-unit -prefix -byte_binary_prefix -sexagesimal".
83 @item -print_format @var{writer_name}[=@var{writer_options}]
84 Set the output printing format.
86 @var{writer_name} specifies the name of the writer, and
87 @var{writer_options} specifies the options to be passed to the writer.
89 For example for printing the output in JSON format, specify:
94 For more details on the available output printing formats, see the
95 Writers section below.
98 Show information about the error found when trying to probe the input.
100 The error information is printed within a section with name "ERROR".
103 Show information about the container format of the input multimedia
106 All the container format information is printed within a section with
110 Show information about each packet contained in the input multimedia
113 The information for each single packet is printed within a dedicated
114 section with name "PACKET".
117 Show information about each frame contained in the input multimedia
120 The information for each single frame is printed within a dedicated
121 section with name "FRAME".
124 Show information about each media stream contained in the input
127 Each media stream information is printed within a dedicated section
131 Count the number of frames per stream and report it in the
132 corresponding stream section.
135 Count the number of packets per stream and report it in the
136 corresponding stream section.
138 @item -show_private_data, -private
139 Show private data, that is data depending on the format of the
140 particular shown element.
141 This option is enabled by default, but you may need to disable it
142 for specific uses, for example when creating XSD-compliant XML output.
144 @item -show_program_version
145 Show information related to program version.
147 Version information is printed within a section with name
150 @item -show_library_versions
151 Show information related to library versions.
153 Version information for each library is printed within a section with
154 name "LIBRARY_VERSION".
157 Show information related to program and library versions. This is the
158 equivalent of setting both @option{-show_program_version} and
159 @option{-show_library_versions} options.
161 @item -i @var{input_file}
162 Read @var{input_file}.
170 A writer defines the output format adopted by @command{ffprobe}, and will be
171 used for printing all the parts of the output.
173 A writer may accept one or more arguments, which specify the options to
176 A description of the currently available writers follows.
181 Print each section in the form:
190 Metadata tags are printed as a line in the corresponding FORMAT or
191 STREAM section, and are prefixed by the string "TAG:".
196 Each section is printed on a single line.
197 If no option is specifid, the output has the form:
199 section|key1=val1| ... |keyN=valN
202 Metadata tags are printed in the corresponding "format" or "stream"
203 section. A metadata tag key, if printed, is prefixed by the string
206 This writer accepts options as a list of @var{key}=@var{value} pairs,
209 The description of the accepted options follows.
214 Specify the character to use for separating fields in the output line.
215 It must be a single printable character, it is "|" by default.
218 If set to 1 specify not to print the key of each field. Its default
222 Set the escape mode to use, default to "c".
224 It can assume one of the following values:
227 Perform C-like escaping. Strings containing a newline ('\n') or
228 carriage return ('\r'), the escaping character ('\') or the item
229 separator character @var{SEP} are escaped using C-like fashioned
230 escaping, so that a newline is converted to the sequence "\n", a
231 carriage return to "\r", '\' to "\\" and the separator @var{SEP} is
232 converted to "\@var{SEP}".
235 Perform CSV-like escaping, as described in RFC4180. Strings
236 containing a newline ('\n'), a carriage return ('\r'), a double quote
237 ('"'), or @var{SEP} are enclosed in double-quotes.
248 This writer is equivalent to
249 @code{compact=item_sep=,:nokey=1:escape=csv}.
254 Each section is printed using JSON notation.
256 This writer accepts options as a list of @var{key}=@var{value} pairs,
259 The description of the accepted options follows.
264 If set to 1 enable compact output, that is each section will be
265 printed on a single line. Default value is 0.
268 For more information about JSON, see @url{http://www.json.org/}.
273 The XML output is described in the XML schema description file
274 @file{ffprobe.xsd} installed in the FFmpeg datadir.
276 Note that the output issued will be compliant to the
277 @file{ffprobe.xsd} schema only when no special global output options
278 (@option{unit}, @option{prefix}, @option{byte_binary_prefix},
279 @option{sexagesimal} etc.) are specified.
281 This writer accepts options as a list of @var{key}=@var{value} pairs,
284 The description of the accepted options follows.
288 @item fully_qualified, q
289 If set to 1 specify if the output should be fully qualified. Default
291 This is required for generating an XML file which can be validated
294 @item xsd_compliant, x
295 If set to 1 perform more checks for ensuring that the output is XSD
296 compliant. Default value is 0.
297 This option automatically sets @option{fully_qualified} to 1.
300 For more information about the XML format, see
301 @url{http://www.w3.org/XML/}.
305 @command{ffprobe} supports Timecode extraction:
309 @item MPEG1/2 timecode is extracted from the GOP, and is available in the video
310 stream details (@option{-show_streams}, see @var{timecode}).
312 @item MOV timecode is extracted from tmcd track, so is available in the tmcd
313 stream metadata (@option{-show_streams}, see @var{TAG:timecode}).
315 @item DV and GXF timecodes are available in format metadata
316 (@option{-show_format}, see @var{TAG:timecode}).
322 @include decoders.texi
323 @include demuxers.texi
324 @include protocols.texi
330 @settitle ffprobe media prober
333 ffmpeg(1), ffplay(1), ffserver(1) and the FFmpeg HTML documentation
337 The FFmpeg developers