FFPROBE(1)

📦
version 8.1.3 · 17 versions
, in alpine 3.24, nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable

💖 NAME 💖

okay bestie, meet FFPROBE(1): ffprobe — ffprobe media prober. That’s the whole vibe of this page: it probes media and tells you what’s inside. 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

ffprobe [options] input_url

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

ffprobe gathers information from multimedia streams and prints it in human- and machine-readable fashion. Literally your little media detective. 🔍✨

For example, it can be used to check the format of the container used by a multimedia stream and the format and type of each media stream contained in it. It’s giving “what exactly is in this file?” energy.

If a url is specified in input, ffprobe will try to open and probe the url content. If the url cannot be opened or recognized as a multimedia file, a positive exit code is returned. No cap, that’s the error signal. 🚨

If no output is specified as output with o, ffprobe will write to stdout. Bestie, stdout is the main character here. 🫶

ffprobe may be employed both as a standalone application or in combination with a textual filter, which may perform more sophisticated processing, e.g. statistical processing or plotting. Fancy, lowkey. 📈💖

Options are used to list some of the formats supported by ffprobe or for specifying which information to display, and for setting how ffprobe will show it. Option city. 🎀

ffprobe output is designed to be easily parsable by a textual filter, and consists of one or more sections of a form defined by the selected writer, which is specified by the output_format option.

Sections may contain other nested sections, and are identified by a name (which may be shared by other sections), and an unique name. See the output of sections. Nested-section realness. 🦋

Metadata tags stored in the container or in the streams are recognized and printed in the corresponding "FORMAT", "STREAM", "STREAM_GROUP_STREAM" or "PROGRAM_STREAM" section. Those names are iconic, keep them exact. 👑

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

All the numerical options, if not specified otherwise, accept a string representing a number as input, which may be followed by one of the SI unit prefixes, for example: 'K', 'M', or 'G'.

If 'i' is appended to the SI unit prefix, the complete prefix will be interpreted as a unit prefix for binary multiples, which are based on powers of 1024 instead of powers of 1000. Appending 'B' to the SI unit prefix multiplies the value by 8. This allows using, for example: 'KB', 'MiB', 'G' and 'B' as number suffixes. Units, but make it nerdy. 💅

Options which do not take arguments are boolean options, and set the corresponding value to true. They can be set to false by prefixing the option name with "no". For example using -nofoo will set the boolean option with name "foo" to false. So -nofoo is the “actually, no” button. 🙈

Options that take arguments support a special syntax where the argument given on the command line is interpreted as a path to the file from which the actual argument value is loaded. To use this feature, add a forward slash '/' immediately before the option name (after the leading dash). E.g.

ffmpeg -i INPUT -/filter:v filter.script OUTPUT

will load a filtergraph description from the file named filter.script. File-based argument slay. 📄✨

🦋 Stream specifiers 🦋

Some options are applied per-stream, e.g. bitrate or codec. Stream specifiers are used to precisely specify which stream(s) a given option belongs to. It’s how you point at that stream, not just any stream. 🎯

A stream specifier is a string generally appended to the option name and separated from it by a colon. E.g. "-codec:a:1 ac3" contains the "a:1" stream specifier, which matches the second audio stream. Therefore, it would select the ac3 codec for the second audio stream.

A stream specifier can match several streams, so that the option is applied to all of them. E.g. the stream specifier in "-b:a 128k" matches all audio streams. Group-chat blast, but for streams. 💌

An empty stream specifier matches all streams. For example, "-codec copy" or "-codec: copy" would copy all the streams without reencoding. Empty specifier = everyone gets the message. 📣

Possible forms of stream specifiers are:

  • stream_index — Matches the stream with this index. E.g. "-threads:1 4" would set the thread count for the second stream to 4. If stream_index is used as an additional stream specifier (see below), then it selects stream number stream_index from the matching streams. Stream numbering is based on the order of the streams as detected by libavformat except when a stream group specifier or program ID is also specified. In this case it is based on the ordering of the streams in the group or program.
  • stream_type[:additional_stream_specifier] — stream_type is one of following: 'v' or 'V' for video, 'a' for audio, 's' for subtitle, 'd' for data, and 't' for attachments. 'v' matches all video streams, 'V' only matches video streams which are not attached pictures, video thumbnails or cover arts. If additional_stream_specifier is used, then it matches streams which both have this type and match the additional_stream_specifier. Otherwise, it matches all streams of the specified type.
  • g:group_specifier[:additional_stream_specifier] — Matches streams which are in the group with the specifier group_specifier. if additional_stream_specifier is used, then it matches streams which both are part of the group and match the additional_stream_specifier. group_specifier may be one of the following:
    • group_index — Match the stream with this group index.
    • #group_id or i:group_id — Match the stream with this group id.
  • p:program_id[:additional_stream_specifier] — Matches streams which are in the program with the id program_id. If additional_stream_specifier is used, then it matches streams which both are part of the program and match the additional_stream_specifier.
  • #stream_id or i:stream_id — Match the stream by stream id (e.g. PID in MPEG-TS container).
  • m:key[:value] — Matches streams with the metadata tag key having the specified value. If value is not given, matches streams that contain the given tag with any value. The colon character ':' in key or value needs to be backslash-escaped.
  • disp:dispositions[:additional_stream_specifier] — Matches streams with the given disposition(s). dispositions is a list of one or more dispositions (as printed by the -dispositions option) joined with '+'.
  • u — Matches streams with usable configuration, the codec must be defined and the essential information such as video dimension or audio sample rate must be present.
Note that in ffmpeg, matching by metadata will only work properly for input files. Important caveat, bestie. ⚠️

⭐ Generic options ⭐

These options are shared amongst the ff* tools. Bestie group chat behavior. 💬

  • -L, -license — Show license.
  • -h, -?, -help, --help [arg] — Show help. An optional parameter may be specified to print help about a specific item. If no argument is specified, only basic (non advanced) tool options are shown. Possible values of arg are:
    • long — Print advanced tool options in addition to the basic tool options.
    • full — Print complete list of options, including shared and private options for encoders, decoders, demuxers, muxers, filters, etc.
    • decoder=decoder_name — Print detailed information about the decoder named decoder_name. Use the -decoders option to get a list of all decoders.
    • encoder=encoder_name — Print detailed information about the encoder named encoder_name. Use the -encoders option to get a list of all encoders.
    • demuxer=demuxer_name — Print detailed information about the demuxer named demuxer_name. Use the -formats option to get a list of all demuxers and muxers.
    • muxer=muxer_name — Print detailed information about the muxer named muxer_name. Use the -formats option to get a list of all muxers and demuxers.
    • filter=filter_name — Print detailed information about the filter named filter_name. Use the -filters option to get a list of all filters.
    • bsf=bitstream_filter_name — Print detailed information about the bitstream filter named bitstream_filter_name. Use the -bsfs option to get a list of all bitstream filters.
    • protocol=protocol_name — Print detailed information about the protocol named protocol_name. Use the -protocols option to get a list of all protocols.
  • -version — Show version.
  • -buildconf — Show the build configuration, one option per line.
  • -formats — Show available formats (including devices).
  • -demuxers — Show available demuxers.
  • -muxers — Show available muxers.
  • -devices — Show available devices.
  • -codecs — Show all codecs known to libavcodec. Note that the term 'codec' is used throughout this documentation as a shortcut for what is more correctly called a media bitstream format.
  • -decoders — Show available decoders.
  • -encoders — Show all available encoders.
  • -bsfs — Show available bitstream filters.
  • -protocols — Show available protocols.
  • -filters — Show available libavfilter filters.
  • -pix_fmts — Show available pixel formats.
  • -sample_fmts — Show available sample formats.
  • -layouts — Show channel names and standard channel layouts.
  • -dispositions — Show stream dispositions.
  • -colors — Show recognized color names.
  • -sources device[,opt1=val1[,opt2=val2]...] — Show autodetected sources of the input device. Some devices may provide system-dependent source names that cannot be autodetected. The returned list cannot be assumed to be always complete.
ffmpeg -sources pulse,server=192.168.0.4
  • -sinks device[,opt1=val1[,opt2=val2]...] — Show autodetected sinks of the output device. Some devices may provide system-dependent sink names that cannot be autodetected. The returned list cannot be assumed to be always complete.
ffmpeg -sinks pulse,server=192.168.0.4
  • -loglevel [flags+]loglevel, -v [flags+]loglevel — Set logging level and flags used by the library. The optional flags prefix can consist of the following values:
    • repeat — Indicates that repeated log output should not be compressed to the first line and the "Last message repeated n times" line will be omitted.
    • level — Indicates that log output should add a "[level]" prefix to each message line. This can be used as an alternative to log coloring, e.g. when dumping the log to file.
    • time — Indicates that log lines should be prefixed with time information.
    • datetime — Indicates that log lines should be prefixed with date and time information.

Flags can also be used alone by adding a '+'/'-' prefix to set/reset a single flag without affecting other flags or changing loglevel. When setting both flags and loglevel, a '+' separator is expected between the last flags value and before loglevel.

okay so loglevel is a string or a number containing one of the following values, bestie:

  • quiet, -8 — Show nothing at all; be silent. 🤫
  • panic, 0 — Only show fatal errors which could lead the process to crash, such as an assertion failure. This is not currently used for anything.
  • fatal, 8 — Only show fatal errors. These are errors after which the process absolutely cannot continue.
  • error, 16 — Show all errors, including ones which can be recovered from.
  • warning, 24 — Show all warnings and errors. Any message related to possibly incorrect or unexpected events will be shown.
  • info, 32 — Show informative messages during processing. This is in addition to warnings and errors. This is the default value.
  • verbose, 40 — Same as "info", except more verbose.
  • debug, 48 — Show everything, including debugging information.
  • trace, 56 — the original just gives the number here, no extra description — not me inventing lore 💅

For example to enable repeated log output, add the "level" prefix, and set loglevel to "verbose":

ffmpeg -loglevel repeat+level+verbose -i input output

Another example that enables repeated log output without affecting current state of "level" prefix flag or loglevel:

ffmpeg [...] -loglevel +repeat

By default the program logs to stderr. If coloring is supported by the terminal, colors are used to mark errors and warnings. Log coloring can be disabled setting the environment variable AV_LOG_FORCE_NOCOLOR, or can be forced setting the environment variable AV_LOG_FORCE_COLOR.

  • -report — Dump full command line and log output to a file named program-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.log in the current directory. This file can be useful for bug reports. It also implies -loglevel debug.

Setting the environment variable FFREPORT to any value has the same effect. If the value is a ':'-separated key=value sequence, these options will affect the report; option values must be escaped if they contain special characters or the options delimiter ':' (see the Quoting and escaping section in the ffmpeg-utils manual).

The following options are recognized:

  • file — set the file name to use for the report; %p is expanded to the name of the program, %t is expanded to a timestamp, %% is expanded to a plain %.
  • level — set the log verbosity level using a numerical value (see -loglevel).

For example, to output a report to a file named ffreport.log using a log level of 32 (alias for log level "info"):

FFREPORT=file=ffreport.log:level=32 ffmpeg -i input output

Errors in parsing the environment variable are not fatal, and will not appear in the report.

  • -hide_banner — Suppress printing banner. All FFmpeg tools will normally show a copyright notice, build options and library versions. This option can be used to suppress printing this information. 🙈
  • -cpuflags flags (global) — Allows setting and clearing cpu flags. This option is intended for testing. Do not use it unless you know what you're doing. ⚠️
ffmpeg -cpuflags -sse+mmx ...
ffmpeg -cpuflags mmx ...
ffmpeg -cpuflags 0 ...

Possible flags for this option are:

  • x86:
    • mmx
    • mmxext
    • sse
    • sse2
    • sse2slow
    • sse3
    • sse3slow
    • ssse3
    • atom
    • sse4.1
    • sse4.2
    • avx
    • avx2
    • xop
    • fma3
    • fma4
    • 3dnow
    • 3dnowext
    • bmi1
    • bmi2
    • cmov
  • ARM:
    • armv5te
    • armv6
    • armv6t2
    • vfp
    • vfpv3
    • neon
    • setend
  • AArch64:
    • armv8
    • vfp
    • neon
  • PowerPC:
    • altivec
  • Specific Processors:
    • pentium2
    • pentium3
    • pentium4
    • k6
    • k62
    • athlon
    • athlonxp
    • k8
  • -cpucount count (global) — Override detection of CPU count. This option is intended for testing. Do not use it unless you know what you're doing. 🧠
ffmpeg -cpucount 2
  • -max_alloc bytes — Set the maximum size limit for allocating a block on the heap by ffmpeg's family of malloc functions. Exercise extreme caution when using this option. Don't use if you do not understand the full consequence of doing so. Default is INT_MAX. 🫣

🧬 AVOptions 🧬

These options are provided directly by the libavformat, libavdevice and libavcodec libraries. To see the list of available AVOptions, use the -help option. They are separated into two categories:

  • generic — These options can be set for any container, codec or device. Generic options are listed under AVFormatContext options for containers/devices and under AVCodecContext options for codecs.
  • private — These options are specific to the given container, device or codec. Private options are listed under their corresponding containers/devices/codecs.

For example to write an ID3v2.3 header instead of a default ID3v2.4 to an MP3 file, use the id3v2_version private option of the MP3 muxer:

ffmpeg -i input.flac -id3v2_version 3 out.mp3

All codec AVOptions are per-stream, and thus a stream specifier should be attached to them:

ffmpeg -i multichannel.mxf -map 0:v:0 -map 0:a:0 -map 0:a:0 -c:a:0 ac3 -b:a:0 640k -ac:a:1 2 -c:a:1 aac -b:2 128k out.mp4

In the above example, a multichannel audio stream is mapped twice for output. The first instance is encoded with codec ac3 and bitrate 640k. The second instance is downmixed to 2 channels and encoded with codec aac. A bitrate of 128k is specified for it using absolute index of the output stream. 🎧

Note: the -nooption syntax cannot be used for boolean AVOptions, use -option 0/-option 1.
Note: the old undocumented way of specifying per-stream AVOptions by prepending v/a/s to the options name is now obsolete and will be removed soon.

🎀 Main options 🎀

  • -f format — Force format to use.
  • -unit — Show the unit of the displayed values.
  • -prefix — Use SI prefixes for the displayed values. Unless the -byte_binary_prefix option is used all the prefixes are decimal.
  • -byte_binary_prefix — Force the use of binary prefixes for byte values.
  • -sexagesimal — Use sexagesimal format HH:MM:SS.MICROSECONDS for time values.
  • -pretty — Prettify the format of the displayed values, it corresponds to the options -unit -prefix -byte_binary_prefix -sexagesimal.
  • -output_format, -of, -print_format writer_name[=writer_options] — Set the output printing format. writer_name specifies the name of the writer, and writer_options specifies the options to be passed to the writer. For example for printing the output in JSON format, specify:
-output_format json

For more details on the available output printing formats, see the Writers section below. ✨

  • -sections — Print sections structure and section information, and exit. The output is not meant to be parsed by a machine. 🤖
  • -select_streams stream_specifier — Select only the streams specified by stream_specifier. This option affects only the options related to streams (e.g. "show_streams", "show_packets", etc.).

For example to show only audio streams, you can use the command:

ffprobe -show_streams -select_streams a INPUT

To show only video packets belonging to the video stream with index 1:

ffprobe -show_packets -select_streams v:1 INPUT
  • -show_data — Show payload data, as a hexadecimal and ASCII dump (other formats can be selected using -data_dump_format). Coupled with -show_packets, it will dump the packets' data. Coupled with -show_streams, it will dump the codec extradata. The dump is printed as the "data" field. It may contain newlines. 🔍
  • -show_data_hash algorithm — Show a hash of payload data, for packets with -show_packets and for codec extradata with -show_streams.
  • -data_dump_format format — Select a format used for the data dumps enabled with the -show_data option. The default is "xxd" which is a hexdump format compatible with the well-known xxd program. "base64" is also supported.
  • -show_error — Show information about the error found when trying to probe the input. The error information is printed within a section with name "ERROR".
  • -show_format — Show information about the container format of the input multimedia stream. All the container format information is printed within a section with name "FORMAT".
  • -show_entries section_entries — Set list of entries to show. Entries are specified according to the following syntax. section_entries contains a list of section entries separated by ":". Each section entry is composed by a section name (or unique name), optionally followed by a list of entries local to that section, separated by ",".

If section name is specified but is followed by no "=", all entries are printed to output, together with all the contained sections. Otherwise only the entries specified in the local section entries list are printed. In particular, if "=" is specified but the list of local entries is empty, then no entries will be shown for that section. 🫶

Note that the order of specification of the local section entries is not honored in the output, and the usual display order will be retained.

The formal syntax is given by:

<LOCAL_SECTION_ENTRIES> ::= <SECTION_ENTRY_NAME>[,<LOCAL_SECTION_ENTRIES>]
<SECTION_ENTRY>         ::= <SECTION_NAME>[=[<LOCAL_SECTION_ENTRIES>]]
<SECTION_ENTRIES>       ::= <SECTION_ENTRY>[:<SECTION_ENTRIES>]

For example, to show only the index and type of each stream, and the PTS time, duration time, and stream index of the packets, you can specify the argument:

packet=pts_time,duration_time,stream_index : stream=index,codec_type

To show all the entries in the section "format", but only the codec type in the section "stream", specify the argument:

format : stream=codec_type

To show all the tags in the stream and format sections:

stream_tags : format_tags

To show only the "title" tag (if available) in the stream sections:

stream_tags=title
  • -show_packets — shows you the tea on every single packet in the input multimedia stream 🎀. Each packet gets its own little dedicated section named PACKET.
  • -show_frames — spills the details on every frame and subtitle in the input multimedia stream ✨. Every frame gets its own dedicated section called FRAME, and subtitles get one called SUBTITLE.
  • -show_log loglevel — shows logging info from the decoder about each frame, based on whatever you set loglevel to (peep -loglevel for that one 👀). This option requires -show_frames — no frames, no logs, that's the rule. Each log message gets printed in its own dedicated section named LOG.
  • -show_streams — shows info about every media stream chillin' in the input multimedia stream 🌸. Each stream's info lives in its own dedicated section called STREAM.
  • -show_programs — shows info about the programs and their streams inside the input multimedia stream 💜. Each media stream's info goes in its own dedicated section named PROGRAM_STREAM.
  • -show_stream_groups — shows info about stream groups and the streams inside them, contained in the input multimedia stream 🦋. Each media stream's info gets its own dedicated section called STREAM_GROUP_STREAM.
  • -show_chapters — shows info about the chapters stored in the format 📖. Every chapter gets printed in its own dedicated section named CHAPTER.
  • -count_frames — literally counts the frames per stream and reports the number in the matching stream section 🔢.
  • -count_packets — same energy, but for packets: counts packets per stream and drops the number in the corresponding stream section 📦.
  • -read_intervals read_intervals — read only the intervals you specify, bestie. read_intervals has to be a sequence of interval specs separated by ,. ffprobe will seek to the interval's starting point and keep reading from there.

Each interval is made of two optional parts, separated by %.

The first part is the interval start position. It's read as an absolute position, or as a relative offset from the current position if it's preceded by the + character. If this first part isn't specified, no seeking happens when reading this interval — noted 🫶.

The second part is the interval end position. It's read as an absolute position, or as a relative offset from the current position if it's preceded by +. If the offset spec starts with #, it's interpreted as the number of packets to read (not counting the flushing packets) from the interval start. And if no second part is given, the program just reads until the end of the input 👑.

Heads up: seeking is not accurate, so the actual interval start point might not match the position you specified 😭. Also, when you give an interval duration, the absolute end time gets computed by adding the duration to the interval start point found by seeking the file — not to the start value you specified. Important distinction, don't forget it.

The formal syntax is giving:

<INTERVAL>  ::= [<START>|+<START_OFFSET>][%[<END>|+<END_OFFSET>]]
<INTERVALS> ::= <INTERVAL>[,<INTERVALS>]

A few examples follow 👇

  • Seek to time 10, read packets until 20 seconds after the found seek point, then seek to position "01:30" (1 minute and thirty seconds) and read packets until position "01:45".
10%+20,01:30%01:45
  • Read only 42 packets after seeking to position "01:23":
01:23%+#42
  • Read only the first 20 seconds from the start:
%+20
  • Read from the start until position "02:30":
%02:30
  • -show_private_data, -private — shows private data, aka data that depends on the format of the particular element being shown 🙈. This one is enabled by default, but you might need to turn it off for specific uses — for example when you're creating XSD-compliant XML output. Slay responsibly.
  • -show_program_version — shows info related to the program version ⭐. Version info gets printed in a section named PROGRAM_VERSION.
  • -show_library_versions — shows info related to library versions 🧚. Version info for each library is printed in a section named LIBRARY_VERSION.
  • -show_versions — shows info related to both program and library versions 💅. It's the equivalent of setting both -show_program_version and -show_library_versions at the same time. Two for one, iconic.
  • -show_pixel_formats — shows info about every pixel format FFmpeg supports 🌈. Pixel format info for each format is printed in a section named PIXEL_FORMAT.
  • -show_optional_fields value — okay so some writers, namely JSON and XML, skip printing fields whose values are invalid or non-applicable, while other writers always print them. This option lets you control that behaviour 🎀. Valid values are "always"/1, "never"/0, and "auto"/-1. Default is auto.
  • -analyze_frames — analyzes frames and/or their side data up to the read interval you provided, giving you extra info that might be useful at the stream level 🔥. Must be paired with the -show_streams option or it literally does nothing — no cap.

Currently, the extra fields this option provides when enabled are closed_captions and film_grain.

For example, to analyze the first 20 seconds and populate these fields:

ffprobe -show_streams -analyze_frames -read_intervals "%+20" INPUT
  • -bitexact — forces bitexact output 💀. Useful when you want output that doesn't depend on the specific build — portable vibes only.
  • -i input_url — reads input_url. Simple as that 🫶.
  • -o output_url — writes output to output_url ✨. If you don't specify it, the output goes to stdout. Default behaviour, love that.
  • -c:media_specifier codec_name
  • -codec:media_specifier codec_name — forces a specific decoder implementation for the stream identified by media_specifier 👑. That specifier can be "a" (audio), "v" (video), "s" (subtitle), or "d" (data). Pick your fighter.

✨ WRITERS ✨

Okay so a writer is literally the thing that defines the output format ffprobe uses, and it prints all the parts of the output. Main character behavior only 💅

A writer can take one or more arguments that specify which options to use. You pass those options as a list of key=value pairs, separated by :.

Every writer supports these two baddies:

  • string_validation, sv — sets the string validation mode. Accepted values are:
    • fail — the writer fails immediately if it finds an invalid string (UTF-8) sequence or code point in the input. This is especially useful for validating input metadata.
    • ignore — any validation error gets ignored. This can result in possibly broken output, especially with the json or xml writer.
    • replace — the writer substitutes invalid UTF-8 sequences or code points with the string specified by string_validation_replacement. Default value is replace.
  • string_validation_replacement, svr — sets the replacement string to use when string_validation is set to replace. If this option isn’t specified, the writer assumes the empty string, which means it removes the invalid sequences from the input strings.

A description of the currently available writers follows, bestie 🫶

🎀 default

Default format. It prints each section like this:

[SECTION]
key1=val1
...
keyN=valN
[/SECTION]

Metadata tags are printed as a line in the corresponding FORMAT, STREAM, STREAM_GROUP_STREAM or PROGRAM_STREAM section, and they’re prefixed by the string TAG:.

The accepted options are:

  • nokey, nk — if set to 1, specify not to print the key of each field. Default value is 0.
  • noprint_wrappers, nw — if set to 1, specify not to print the section header and footer. Default value is 0.

🌈 compact, csv

Compact and CSV format.

The csv writer is equivalent to compact, but it supports different defaults.

Each section is printed on a single line. If no option is specified, the output has this form:

section|key1=val1| ... |keyN=valN

Metadata tags are printed in the corresponding format or stream section. A metadata tag key, if printed, is prefixed by the string tag:.

The accepted options are:

  • item_sep, s — specify the character used for separating fields in the output line. It must be a single printable character, and it’s | by default (, for the csv writer).
  • nokey, nk — if set to 1, specify not to print the key of each field. Its default value is 0 (1 for the csv writer).
  • escape, e — set the escape mode to use, defaulting to c (csv for the csv writer). It can assume one of these values:
    • c — perform C-like escaping. Strings containing a newline (\n), carriage return (\r), a tab (\t), a form feed (\f), the escaping character (\) or the item separator character SEP are escaped using C-like fashioned escaping, so that a newline is converted to the sequence \n, a carriage return to \r, \ to \\ and the separator SEP is converted to \SEP.
    • csv — perform CSV-like escaping, as described in RFC4180. Strings containing a newline (\n), a carriage return (\r), a double quote ("), or SEP are enclosed in double-quotes.
    • none — perform no escaping.
  • print_section, p — print the section name at the beginning of each line if the value is 1; disable it with value set to 0. Default value is 1.

🦋 flat

Flat format.

A free-form output where each line contains an explicit key=value, such as streams.stream.3.tags.foo=bar. The output is shell escaped, so it can be directly embedded in sh scripts as long as the separator character is an alphanumeric character or an underscore (see the sep_char option).

The accepted options are:

  • sep_char, s — separator character used to separate the chapter, the section name, IDs and potential tags in the printed field key. Default value is ..
  • hierarchical, h — specify if the section name specification should be hierarchical. If set to 1, and if there’s more than one section in the current chapter, the section name will be prefixed by the name of the chapter. A value of 0 will disable this behavior. Default value is 1.

🍓 ini

INI format output.

Print output in an INI based format.

The following conventions are adopted:

  • all key and values are UTF-8
  • . is the subgroup separator
  • newline, \t, \f, \b and the following characters are escaped
  • \ is the escape character
  • # is the comment indicator
  • = is the key/value separator
  • : is not used but usually parsed as key/value separator

This writer accepts options as a list of key=value pairs, separated by :.

The accepted options are:

  • hierarchical, h — specify if the section name specification should be hierarchical. If set to 1, and if there’s more than one section in the current chapter, the section name will be prefixed by the name of the chapter. A value of 0 will disable this behavior. Default value is 1.

🌸 json

JSON based format.

Each section is printed using JSON notation.

The accepted options are:

  • compact, c — if set to 1, enable compact output, that is each section will be printed on a single line. Default value is 0.

For more information about JSON, see http://www.json.org/.

⭐ xml

XML based format.

The XML output is described in the XML schema description file ffprobe.xsd installed in the FFmpeg datadir.

An updated version of the schema can be retrieved at the url http://www.ffmpeg.org/schema/ffprobe.xsd, which redirects to the latest schema committed into the FFmpeg development source code tree.

Note that the output issued will be compliant to the ffprobe.xsd schema only when no special global output options (unit, prefix, byte_binary_prefix, sexagesimal etc.) are specified.

The accepted options are:

  • fully_qualified, q — if set to 1, specify if the output should be fully qualified. Default value is 0. This is required for generating an XML file which can be validated through an XSD file.
  • xsd_strict, x — if set to 1, perform more checks for ensuring that the output is XSD compliant. Default value is 0. This option automatically sets fully_qualified to 1.

For more information about the XML format, see https://www.w3.org/XML/.

⏰ TIMECODE ⏰

ffprobe supports Timecode extraction, and it’s giving very detail-oriented queen energy:

  • MPEG1/2 timecode is extracted from the GOP, and is available in the video stream details (-show_streams, see timecode).
  • MOV timecode is extracted from the tmcd track, so it’s available in the tmcd stream metadata (-show_streams, see TAG:timecode).
  • DV, GXF and AVI timecodes are available in format metadata (-show_format, see TAG:timecode).

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

Go read these next, bestie:

👑 AUTHORS 👑

The FFmpeg developers.

For details about the authorship, see the Git history of the project (https://git.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg), e.g. by typing the command git log in the FFmpeg source directory, or browsing the online repository at https://git.ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.

Maintainers for the specific components are listed in the file MAINTAINERS in the source code tree.

🎀 footer check: FFPROBE(1) — that’s the whole manual, bestie, go forth and probe something iconic ✨💅🫶

📦 where this page comes from