1 \input texinfo @c -*- texinfo -*-
3 @settitle ffprobe Documentation
5 @center @titlefont{ffprobe Documentation}
14 ffprobe [@var{options}] [@file{input_file}]
17 @c man begin DESCRIPTION
19 ffprobe gathers information from multimedia streams and prints it in
20 human- and machine-readable fashion.
22 For example it can be used to check the format of the container used
23 by a multimedia stream and the format and type of each media stream
26 If a filename is specified in input, ffprobe will try to open and
27 probe the file content. If the file cannot be opened or recognized as
28 a multimedia file, a positive exit code is returned.
30 ffprobe may be employed both as a standalone application or in
31 combination with a textual filter, which may perform more
32 sophisticated processing, e.g. statistical processing or plotting.
34 Options are used to list some of the formats supported by ffprobe or
35 for specifying which information to display, and for setting how
38 ffprobe output is designed to be easily parsable by a textual filter,
39 and consists of one or more sections of a form defined by the selected
40 writer, which is specified by the @option{print_format} option.
42 Sections may contain other nested sections, and are identified by a
43 name (which may be shared by other sections), and an unique
44 name. See the output of @option{sections}.
46 Metadata tags stored in the container or in the streams are recognized
47 and printed in the corresponding "FORMAT", "STREAM" or "PROGRAM_STREAM"
55 @include fftools-common-opts.texi
65 Show the unit of the displayed values.
68 Use SI prefixes for the displayed values.
69 Unless the "-byte_binary_prefix" option is used all the prefixes
72 @item -byte_binary_prefix
73 Force the use of binary prefixes for byte values.
76 Use sexagesimal format HH:MM:SS.MICROSECONDS for time values.
79 Prettify the format of the displayed values, it corresponds to the
80 options "-unit -prefix -byte_binary_prefix -sexagesimal".
82 @item -of, -print_format @var{writer_name}[=@var{writer_options}]
83 Set the output printing format.
85 @var{writer_name} specifies the name of the writer, and
86 @var{writer_options} specifies the options to be passed to the writer.
88 For example for printing the output in JSON format, specify:
93 For more details on the available output printing formats, see the
94 Writers section below.
97 Print sections structure and section information, and exit. The output
98 is not meant to be parsed by a machine.
100 @item -select_streams @var{stream_specifier}
101 Select only the streams specified by @var{stream_specifier}. This
102 option affects only the options related to streams
103 (e.g. @code{show_streams}, @code{show_packets}, etc.).
105 For example to show only audio streams, you can use the command:
107 ffprobe -show_streams -select_streams a INPUT
110 To show only video packets belonging to the video stream with index 1:
112 ffprobe -show_packets -select_streams v:1 INPUT
116 Show payload data, as a hexadecimal and ASCII dump. Coupled with
117 @option{-show_packets}, it will dump the packets' data. Coupled with
118 @option{-show_streams}, it will dump the codec extradata.
120 The dump is printed as the "data" field. It may contain newlines.
123 Show information about the error found when trying to probe the input.
125 The error information is printed within a section with name "ERROR".
128 Show information about the container format of the input multimedia
131 All the container format information is printed within a section with
134 @item -show_format_entry @var{name}
135 Like @option{-show_format}, but only prints the specified entry of the
136 container format information, rather than all. This option may be given more
137 than once, then all specified entries will be shown.
139 This option is deprecated, use @code{show_entries} instead.
141 @item -show_entries @var{section_entries}
142 Set list of entries to show.
144 Entries are specified according to the following
145 syntax. @var{section_entries} contains a list of section entries
146 separated by @code{:}. Each section entry is composed by a section
147 name (or unique name), optionally followed by a list of entries local
148 to that section, separated by @code{,}.
150 If section name is specified but is followed by no @code{=}, all
151 entries are printed to output, together with all the contained
152 sections. Otherwise only the entries specified in the local section
153 entries list are printed. In particular, if @code{=} is specified but
154 the list of local entries is empty, then no entries will be shown for
157 Note that the order of specification of the local section entries is
158 not honored in the output, and the usual display order will be
161 The formal syntax is given by:
163 @var{LOCAL_SECTION_ENTRIES} ::= @var{SECTION_ENTRY_NAME}[,@var{LOCAL_SECTION_ENTRIES}]
164 @var{SECTION_ENTRY} ::= @var{SECTION_NAME}[=[@var{LOCAL_SECTION_ENTRIES}]]
165 @var{SECTION_ENTRIES} ::= @var{SECTION_ENTRY}[:@var{SECTION_ENTRIES}]
168 For example, to show only the index and type of each stream, and the PTS
169 time, duration time, and stream index of the packets, you can specify
172 packet=pts_time,duration_time,stream_index : stream=index,codec_type
175 To show all the entries in the section "format", but only the codec
176 type in the section "stream", specify the argument:
178 format : stream=codec_type
181 To show all the tags in the stream and format sections:
183 format_tags : format_tags
186 To show only the @code{title} tag (if available) in the stream
193 Show information about each packet contained in the input multimedia
196 The information for each single packet is printed within a dedicated
197 section with name "PACKET".
200 Show information about each frame and subtitle contained in the input
203 The information for each single frame is printed within a dedicated
204 section with name "FRAME" or "SUBTITLE".
207 Show information about each media stream contained in the input
210 Each media stream information is printed within a dedicated section
214 Show information about programs and their streams contained in the input
217 Each media stream information is printed within a dedicated section
218 with name "PROGRAM_STREAM".
221 Show information about chapters stored in the format.
223 Each chapter is printed within a dedicated section with name "CHAPTER".
226 Count the number of frames per stream and report it in the
227 corresponding stream section.
230 Count the number of packets per stream and report it in the
231 corresponding stream section.
233 @item -read_intervals @var{read_intervals}
235 Read only the specified intervals. @var{read_intervals} must be a
236 sequence of interval specifications separated by ",".
237 @command{ffprobe} will seek to the interval starting point, and will
238 continue reading from that.
240 Each interval is specified by two optional parts, separated by "%".
242 The first part specifies the interval start position. It is
243 interpreted as an abolute position, or as a relative offset from the
244 current position if it is preceded by the "+" character. If this first
245 part is not specified, no seeking will be performed when reading this
248 The second part specifies the interval end position. It is interpreted
249 as an absolute position, or as a relative offset from the current
250 position if it is preceded by the "+" character. If the offset
251 specification starts with "#", it is interpreted as the number of
252 packets to read (not including the flushing packets) from the interval
253 start. If no second part is specified, the program will read until the
256 Note that seeking is not accurate, thus the actual interval start
257 point may be different from the specified position. Also, when an
258 interval duration is specified, the absolute end time will be computed
259 by adding the duration to the interval start point found by seeking
260 the file, rather than to the specified start value.
262 The formal syntax is given by:
264 @var{INTERVAL} ::= [@var{START}|+@var{START_OFFSET}][%[@var{END}|+@var{END_OFFSET}]]
265 @var{INTERVALS} ::= @var{INTERVAL}[,@var{INTERVALS}]
268 A few examples follow.
271 Seek to time 10, read packets until 20 seconds after the found seek
272 point, then seek to position @code{01:30} (1 minute and thirty
273 seconds) and read packets until position @code{01:45}.
279 Read only 42 packets after seeking to position @code{01:23}:
285 Read only the first 20 seconds from the start:
291 Read from the start until position @code{02:30}:
297 @item -show_private_data, -private
298 Show private data, that is data depending on the format of the
299 particular shown element.
300 This option is enabled by default, but you may need to disable it
301 for specific uses, for example when creating XSD-compliant XML output.
303 @item -show_program_version
304 Show information related to program version.
306 Version information is printed within a section with name
309 @item -show_library_versions
310 Show information related to library versions.
312 Version information for each library is printed within a section with
313 name "LIBRARY_VERSION".
316 Show information related to program and library versions. This is the
317 equivalent of setting both @option{-show_program_version} and
318 @option{-show_library_versions} options.
321 Force bitexact output, useful to produce output which is not dependent
322 on the specific build.
324 @item -i @var{input_file}
325 Read @var{input_file}.
333 A writer defines the output format adopted by @command{ffprobe}, and will be
334 used for printing all the parts of the output.
336 A writer may accept one or more arguments, which specify the options
337 to adopt. The options are specified as a list of @var{key}=@var{value}
338 pairs, separated by ":".
340 All writers support the following options:
343 @item string_validation, sv
344 Set string validation mode.
346 The following values are accepted.
349 The writer will fail immediately in case an invalid string (UTF-8)
350 sequence or code point is found in the input. This is especially
351 useful to validate input metadata.
354 Any validation error will be ignored. This will result in possibly
355 broken output, especially with the json or xml writer.
358 The writer will substitute invalid UTF-8 sequences or code points with
359 the string specified with the @option{string_validation_replacement}.
362 Default value is @samp{replace}.
364 @item string_validation_replacement, svr
365 Set replacement string to use in case @option{string_validation} is
366 set to @samp{replace}.
368 In case the option is not specified, the writer will assume the empty
369 string, that is it will remove the invalid sequences from the input
373 A description of the currently available writers follows.
378 Print each section in the form:
387 Metadata tags are printed as a line in the corresponding FORMAT, STREAM or
388 PROGRAM_STREAM section, and are prefixed by the string "TAG:".
390 A description of the accepted options follows.
395 If set to 1 specify not to print the key of each field. Default value
398 @item noprint_wrappers, nw
399 If set to 1 specify not to print the section header and footer.
403 @section compact, csv
404 Compact and CSV format.
406 The @code{csv} writer is equivalent to @code{compact}, but supports
409 Each section is printed on a single line.
410 If no option is specifid, the output has the form:
412 section|key1=val1| ... |keyN=valN
415 Metadata tags are printed in the corresponding "format" or "stream"
416 section. A metadata tag key, if printed, is prefixed by the string
419 The description of the accepted options follows.
424 Specify the character to use for separating fields in the output line.
425 It must be a single printable character, it is "|" by default ("," for
426 the @code{csv} writer).
429 If set to 1 specify not to print the key of each field. Its default
430 value is 0 (1 for the @code{csv} writer).
433 Set the escape mode to use, default to "c" ("csv" for the @code{csv}
436 It can assume one of the following values:
439 Perform C-like escaping. Strings containing a newline ('\n'), carriage
440 return ('\r'), a tab ('\t'), a form feed ('\f'), the escaping
441 character ('\') or the item separator character @var{SEP} are escaped using C-like fashioned
442 escaping, so that a newline is converted to the sequence "\n", a
443 carriage return to "\r", '\' to "\\" and the separator @var{SEP} is
444 converted to "\@var{SEP}".
447 Perform CSV-like escaping, as described in RFC4180. Strings
448 containing a newline ('\n'), a carriage return ('\r'), a double quote
449 ('"'), or @var{SEP} are enclosed in double-quotes.
455 @item print_section, p
456 Print the section name at the begin of each line if the value is
457 @code{1}, disable it with value set to @code{0}. Default value is
465 A free-form output where each line contains an explicit key=value, such as
466 "streams.stream.3.tags.foo=bar". The output is shell escaped, so it can be
467 directly embedded in sh scripts as long as the separator character is an
468 alphanumeric character or an underscore (see @var{sep_char} option).
470 The description of the accepted options follows.
474 Separator character used to separate the chapter, the section name, IDs and
475 potential tags in the printed field key.
477 Default value is '.'.
479 @item hierarchical, h
480 Specify if the section name specification should be hierarchical. If
481 set to 1, and if there is more than one section in the current
482 chapter, the section name will be prefixed by the name of the
483 chapter. A value of 0 will disable this behavior.
491 Print output in an INI based format.
493 The following conventions are adopted:
497 all key and values are UTF-8
499 '.' is the subgroup separator
501 newline, '\t', '\f', '\b' and the following characters are escaped
503 '\' is the escape character
505 '#' is the comment indicator
507 '=' is the key/value separator
509 ':' is not used but usually parsed as key/value separator
512 This writer accepts options as a list of @var{key}=@var{value} pairs,
515 The description of the accepted options follows.
518 @item hierarchical, h
519 Specify if the section name specification should be hierarchical. If
520 set to 1, and if there is more than one section in the current
521 chapter, the section name will be prefixed by the name of the
522 chapter. A value of 0 will disable this behavior.
530 Each section is printed using JSON notation.
532 The description of the accepted options follows.
537 If set to 1 enable compact output, that is each section will be
538 printed on a single line. Default value is 0.
541 For more information about JSON, see @url{http://www.json.org/}.
546 The XML output is described in the XML schema description file
547 @file{ffprobe.xsd} installed in the FFmpeg datadir.
549 An updated version of the schema can be retrieved at the url
550 @url{http://www.ffmpeg.org/schema/ffprobe.xsd}, which redirects to the
551 latest schema committed into the FFmpeg development source code tree.
553 Note that the output issued will be compliant to the
554 @file{ffprobe.xsd} schema only when no special global output options
555 (@option{unit}, @option{prefix}, @option{byte_binary_prefix},
556 @option{sexagesimal} etc.) are specified.
558 The description of the accepted options follows.
562 @item fully_qualified, q
563 If set to 1 specify if the output should be fully qualified. Default
565 This is required for generating an XML file which can be validated
568 @item xsd_compliant, x
569 If set to 1 perform more checks for ensuring that the output is XSD
570 compliant. Default value is 0.
571 This option automatically sets @option{fully_qualified} to 1.
574 For more information about the XML format, see
575 @url{http://www.w3.org/XML/}.
579 @c man begin TIMECODE
581 @command{ffprobe} supports Timecode extraction:
586 MPEG1/2 timecode is extracted from the GOP, and is available in the video
587 stream details (@option{-show_streams}, see @var{timecode}).
590 MOV timecode is extracted from tmcd track, so is available in the tmcd
591 stream metadata (@option{-show_streams}, see @var{TAG:timecode}).
594 DV, GXF and AVI timecodes are available in format metadata
595 (@option{-show_format}, see @var{TAG:timecode}).
606 @ifset config-avcodec
608 @include bitstream_filters.texi
610 @ifset config-avformat
611 @include formats.texi
612 @include protocols.texi
614 @ifset config-avdevice
615 @include devices.texi
617 @ifset config-swresample
618 @include resampler.texi
620 @ifset config-swscale
623 @ifset config-avfilter
624 @include filters.texi
632 @url{ffprobe.html,ffprobe},
634 @ifset config-not-all
635 @url{ffprobe-all.html,ffprobe-all},
637 @url{ffmpeg.html,ffmpeg}, @url{ffplay.html,ffplay}, @url{ffserver.html,ffserver},
638 @url{ffmpeg-utils.html,ffmpeg-utils},
639 @url{ffmpeg-scaler.html,ffmpeg-scaler},
640 @url{ffmpeg-resampler.html,ffmpeg-resampler},
641 @url{ffmpeg-codecs.html,ffmpeg-codecs},
642 @url{ffmpeg-bitstream-filters.html,ffmpeg-bitstream-filters},
643 @url{ffmpeg-formats.html,ffmpeg-formats},
644 @url{ffmpeg-devices.html,ffmpeg-devices},
645 @url{ffmpeg-protocols.html,ffmpeg-protocols},
646 @url{ffmpeg-filters.html,ffmpeg-filters}
653 @ifset config-not-all
656 ffmpeg(1), ffplay(1), ffserver(1),
657 ffmpeg-utils(1), ffmpeg-scaler(1), ffmpeg-resampler(1),
658 ffmpeg-codecs(1), ffmpeg-bitstream-filters(1), ffmpeg-formats(1),
659 ffmpeg-devices(1), ffmpeg-protocols(1), ffmpeg-filters(1)
662 @include authors.texi
667 @settitle ffprobe media prober