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
109 @item -show_format_entry @var{name}
110 Like @option{-show_format}, but only prints the specified entry of the
111 container format information, rather than all. This option may be given more
112 than once, then all specified entries will be shown.
115 Show information about each packet contained in the input multimedia
118 The information for each single packet is printed within a dedicated
119 section with name "PACKET".
122 Show information about each frame contained in the input multimedia
125 The information for each single frame is printed within a dedicated
126 section with name "FRAME".
129 Show information about each media stream contained in the input
132 Each media stream information is printed within a dedicated section
136 Count the number of frames per stream and report it in the
137 corresponding stream section.
140 Count the number of packets per stream and report it in the
141 corresponding stream section.
143 @item -show_private_data, -private
144 Show private data, that is data depending on the format of the
145 particular shown element.
146 This option is enabled by default, but you may need to disable it
147 for specific uses, for example when creating XSD-compliant XML output.
149 @item -show_program_version
150 Show information related to program version.
152 Version information is printed within a section with name
155 @item -show_library_versions
156 Show information related to library versions.
158 Version information for each library is printed within a section with
159 name "LIBRARY_VERSION".
162 Show information related to program and library versions. This is the
163 equivalent of setting both @option{-show_program_version} and
164 @option{-show_library_versions} options.
166 @item -i @var{input_file}
167 Read @var{input_file}.
175 A writer defines the output format adopted by @command{ffprobe}, and will be
176 used for printing all the parts of the output.
178 A writer may accept one or more arguments, which specify the options to
181 A description of the currently available writers follows.
186 Print each section in the form:
195 Metadata tags are printed as a line in the corresponding FORMAT or
196 STREAM section, and are prefixed by the string "TAG:".
201 Each section is printed on a single line.
202 If no option is specifid, the output has the form:
204 section|key1=val1| ... |keyN=valN
207 Metadata tags are printed in the corresponding "format" or "stream"
208 section. A metadata tag key, if printed, is prefixed by the string
211 This writer accepts options as a list of @var{key}=@var{value} pairs,
214 The description of the accepted options follows.
219 Specify the character to use for separating fields in the output line.
220 It must be a single printable character, it is "|" by default.
223 If set to 1 specify not to print the key of each field. Its default
227 Set the escape mode to use, default to "c".
229 It can assume one of the following values:
232 Perform C-like escaping. Strings containing a newline ('\n') or
233 carriage return ('\r'), the escaping character ('\') or the item
234 separator character @var{SEP} are escaped using C-like fashioned
235 escaping, so that a newline is converted to the sequence "\n", a
236 carriage return to "\r", '\' to "\\" and the separator @var{SEP} is
237 converted to "\@var{SEP}".
240 Perform CSV-like escaping, as described in RFC4180. Strings
241 containing a newline ('\n'), a carriage return ('\r'), a double quote
242 ('"'), or @var{SEP} are enclosed in double-quotes.
253 This writer is equivalent to
254 @code{compact=item_sep=,:nokey=1:escape=csv}.
259 Each section is printed using JSON notation.
261 This writer accepts options as a list of @var{key}=@var{value} pairs,
264 The description of the accepted options follows.
269 If set to 1 enable compact output, that is each section will be
270 printed on a single line. Default value is 0.
273 For more information about JSON, see @url{http://www.json.org/}.
278 The XML output is described in the XML schema description file
279 @file{ffprobe.xsd} installed in the FFmpeg datadir.
281 Note that the output issued will be compliant to the
282 @file{ffprobe.xsd} schema only when no special global output options
283 (@option{unit}, @option{prefix}, @option{byte_binary_prefix},
284 @option{sexagesimal} etc.) are specified.
286 This writer accepts options as a list of @var{key}=@var{value} pairs,
289 The description of the accepted options follows.
293 @item fully_qualified, q
294 If set to 1 specify if the output should be fully qualified. Default
296 This is required for generating an XML file which can be validated
299 @item xsd_compliant, x
300 If set to 1 perform more checks for ensuring that the output is XSD
301 compliant. Default value is 0.
302 This option automatically sets @option{fully_qualified} to 1.
305 For more information about the XML format, see
306 @url{http://www.w3.org/XML/}.
310 @command{ffprobe} supports Timecode extraction:
314 @item MPEG1/2 timecode is extracted from the GOP, and is available in the video
315 stream details (@option{-show_streams}, see @var{timecode}).
317 @item MOV timecode is extracted from tmcd track, so is available in the tmcd
318 stream metadata (@option{-show_streams}, see @var{TAG:timecode}).
320 @item DV and GXF timecodes are available in format metadata
321 (@option{-show_format}, see @var{TAG:timecode}).
327 @include decoders.texi
328 @include demuxers.texi
329 @include protocols.texi
335 @settitle ffprobe media prober
338 ffmpeg(1), ffplay(1), ffserver(1) and the FFmpeg HTML documentation
342 The FFmpeg developers