Media Mediainfo

Media Mediainfo

Context: $ARGUMENTS

Quick start

• Human summary of a file: → Step 2 (mediainfo in.mp4)
• Machine-readable JSON for scripting: → Step 2 (--Output=JSON) and Step 3
• HDR10 / HDR10+ / Dolby Vision profile check: → Step 4 (hdr subcommand)
• Netflix delivery spec pre-flight: → Step 4 (netflix-check)
• Field-name crosswalk MediaInfo vs ffprobe: → references/mediainfo.md

When to use

• You need container-level detail that ffprobe silently omits (MP4 atom types, MKV cluster counts, MXF SMPTE operational patterns, CMAF moof/mdat structure).
• HDR static/dynamic metadata verification (MasteringDisplay primaries, MaxCLL, MaxFALL) — ffprobe only surfaces these via -show_frames -show_entries side_data; MediaInfo shows them at the stream level.
• Dolby Vision profile disambiguation (DV5 / DV7 / DV8.1 / DV8.4) — MediaInfo's DV reporting is the most reliable outside studio toolchains.
• Broadcast QC — codec profile ("High@L4.1", "Main 10@L5.1@High"), GOP structure, color description, audio channel layout description.
• Multi-file delivery audits where you script a compliance check and compare many files against a spec.

Step 1 — Install

# macOS
brew install mediainfo

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt-get install -y mediainfo

# verify
mediainfo --Version

Same binary and engine power the CLI and the GUI app — the JSON schema is stable across versions, so pin to JSON for automation.

Step 2 — Pick an output format

mediainfo in.mp4                                 # human-readable default
mediainfo --Full in.mp4                          # every tag, verbose (HDR, DV, GOP live here)
mediainfo --Output=JSON in.mp4                   # machine-readable, stable schema
mediainfo --Output=XML  in.mp4                   # XML tree, same info as JSON
mediainfo --Output=HTML in.mp4 > report.html     # browseable report
mediainfo --Output=EBU  in.mxf                   # EBU Core XML for broadcast
mediainfo --Output=PBCore in.mxf                 # PBCore XML for archives
mediainfo --Output=MPEG-7 in.mp4                 # MPEG-7 description
mediainfo --Output=CSV  in.mp4                   # CSV rows

Specific-field templates use --Inform="<stream>;<format>" and %Field% tokens:

mediainfo --Inform="Video;%Width% x %Height% @ %FrameRate%fps"  in.mp4
mediainfo --Inform="General;%Format% %Duration/String3%ms"      in.mp4
mediainfo --Inform="Audio;%Format% %Channels%ch %SamplingRate%" in.mp4

--Output picks a preset. --Inform customizes. %Field% names are MediaInfo's (not ffprobe's) — see references/mediainfo.md for the catalog.

Step 3 — Parse

Use JSON for automation. The root is {"media": {"track": [...]}}; each track has "@type" in {General, Video, Audio, Text, Image, Menu, Other}.

mediainfo --Output=JSON in.mp4 | jq '.media.track[] | {type: ."@type", format: .Format}'
mediainfo --Output=JSON in.mp4 | jq '.media.track[] | select(."@type"=="Video") | {w:.Width, h:.Height, prof:."Format profile", bd:.BitDepth}'
mediainfo --Output=JSON in.mp4 | jq '.media.track[] | select(."@type"=="Audio") | {codec:.Format, ch:.Channels, layout:.ChannelLayout}'

HDR / Dolby Vision inspection:

mediainfo --Full in.mkv | grep -i -E "colour|HDR|mastering|MaxCLL|MaxFALL|Dolby Vision|DV"
mediainfo --Full in.mp4 | grep -i dv                 # DV profile lines

GOP structure + codec profile:

mediainfo --Full in.mp4 | grep -i -E "format profile|gop|bframe|reference frame"

Per-codec profile strings:

• H.264 → "High@L4.1", "High 10@L5.1", "Baseline@L3.0"
• HEVC → "Main 10@L5.1@High" (profile / level / tier)
• AV1 → "Main@L5.1"
• AAC → "LC", "HE", "HE v2"

Step 4 — Use with diagnostics (this skill's script)

uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/mediainfo.py check
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/mediainfo.py summary      --input in.mp4
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/mediainfo.py json         --input in.mp4
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/mediainfo.py field        --input in.mp4 --stream Video --name Width
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/mediainfo.py hdr          --input in.mkv
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/mediainfo.py codec-profile --input in.mp4
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/mediainfo.py compare      --inputs a.mp4 b.mp4
uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/mediainfo.py netflix-check --input in.mp4

hdr returns a verdict (SDR / HDR10 / HDR10+ / HLG / DolbyVision) plus details. codec-profile parses profile + level for every video + audio stream. netflix-check flags common Netflix IMF/4K deliverables: HEVC Main 10, 10-bit, BT.2020, PQ, 3840x2160 or higher, ≥ 16 Mb/s for 4K.

Gotchas

• MediaInfo > ffprobe for container-level info. MP4 atom types, MKV cluster counts, fragmented-MP4 moof/mdat structure, MXF SMPTE operational pattern — all visible in MediaInfo; ffprobe often omits them.
• HDR10 static metadata is visible in MediaInfo --Full as MasteringDisplay_ColorPrimaries, MasteringDisplay_Luminance, MaxCLL, MaxFALL. ffprobe only surfaces these via -show_frames -show_entries side_data — expensive and requires decoding.
• Dolby Vision profile (5 / 7 / 8.1 / 8.4) reporting is reliable in MediaInfo. The line you want: HDR format : Dolby Vision, Version 1.0, Profile 8.1, dvhe.08.06.
• GOP structure (B-frame pattern, reference frame count, closed vs open GOP) is only visible via MediaInfo's deeper parse — ffprobe needs -show_frames frame-by-frame to infer it.
• JSON schema is stable across versions. Use it for automation. The human-readable output is NOT stable.
• Streams from URLs work: mediainfo https://example.com/file.mp4 — MediaInfo partial-downloads headers and index, no full file required.
• --Output (capital O) vs --Inform: --Output picks a preset format (JSON, XML, HTML, EBU, PBCore, MPEG-7, CSV). --Inform customizes output using %Field% templates.
• %Field% syntax uses MediaInfo's names, NOT ffprobe's. %Width% not width. %FrameRate% not r_frame_rate. See the crosswalk in references/mediainfo.md.
• FrameRate variants: FrameRate is the current effective rate; FrameRate_Original is the pre-conversion rate (important for IVTC'd / telecined sources).
• Duration/String3 is milliseconds as a formatted string ("01:23:45.678"). Raw Duration is seconds as a float string. BitRate is integer bps; BitRate/String is "8 000 kb/s" formatted.
• Format profile strings: H.264 = "High@L4.1", HEVC = "Main 10@L5.1@High" (profile / level / tier), AV1 = "Main@L5.1". Parse on @.
• MediaInfo CLI and GUI share one engine. Output differs only by renderer.
• Some fields require codec metadata in the bitstream (SPS/PPS for H.264, VPS for HEVC). If a codec was muxed without them, MediaInfo reports less. Fall back to ffprobe for bitstream-derived fields in that rare case.
• MXF: MediaInfo shows SMPTE operational patterns (OP1a / OP1b / OP-Atom) better than ffprobe.
• 3GPP / AMR / small containers: MediaInfo handles gracefully where ffprobe can choke.
• CMAF fragmented MP4: MediaInfo shows moof/mdat structure and fragment count; ffprobe sees only the muxed logical stream.

Examples

Example 1 — Is this file HDR10 or Dolby Vision?

uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/mediainfo.py hdr --input in.mkv
# {"verdict":"DolbyVision","dv_profile":"8.1","transfer":"PQ","primaries":"BT.2020","max_cll":1000,"max_fall":400}

Example 2 — Netflix 4K HDR10 delivery pre-flight

uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/mediainfo.py netflix-check --input master.mxf
# {"pass":true,"checks":{"codec":"HEVC","profile":"Main 10","bit_depth":10,"resolution":"3840x2160","hdr":"HDR10","bitrate_mbps":18.4}}

Example 3 — Extract one field for scripting

uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/mediainfo.py field --input in.mp4 --stream Video --name "Format profile"
# High@L4.1

Example 4 — Compare two encodes

uv run ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/mediainfo.py compare --inputs src.mov encode.mp4

Troubleshooting

Error: mediainfo: command not found

Cause: MediaInfo is not installed. Solution: brew install mediainfo (macOS) or apt-get install mediainfo (Linux). Verify with mediainfo --Version.

Field is missing in the JSON

Cause: Codec metadata (SPS/PPS/VPS) not present in the muxed bitstream, or the field is only surfaced by --Full. Solution: Re-run with --Full. If still missing, fall back to ffprobe -show_streams -show_frames for bitstream-derived values.

HDR / Dolby Vision not detected

Cause: Streaming segment without the init/header segment; or a partial file truncated before the config record. Solution: Point MediaInfo at the init segment (init.mp4) or the full file. For DASH/CMAF, run MediaInfo on the init segment concatenated with one media segment.

URL input hangs

Cause: Server does not support HTTP Range requests; MediaInfo tries to stream blindly. Solution: Download with curl -o file.mp4 URL then run MediaInfo on the local file.

--Inform returns nothing

Cause: Wrong stream name (case matters: Video not video) or unknown field name. Solution: Check references/mediainfo.md for the exact %Field% catalog per stream type.