doc/ffprobe-doc.texi

   1 \input texinfo @c -*- texinfo -*-
   2
   3 @settitle FFprobe Documentation
   4 @titlepage
   5 @sp 7
   6 @center @titlefont{FFprobe Documentation}
   7 @sp 3
   8 @end titlepage
   9
  10 @chapter Introduction
  11
  12 @c man begin DESCRIPTION
  13
  14 FFprobe gathers information from multimedia streams and prints it in
  15 human- and machine-readable fashion.
  16
  17 For example it can be used to check the format of the container used
  18 by a multimedia stream and the format and type of each media stream
  19 contained in it.
  20
  21 If a filename is specified in input, ffprobe will try to open and
  22 probe the file content. If the file cannot be opened or recognized as
  23 a multimedia file, a positive exit code is returned.
  24
  25 FFprobe may be employed both as a standalone application or in
  26 combination with a textual filter, which may perform more
  27 sophisticated processing, e.g. statistical processing or plotting.
  28
  29 Options are used to list some of the formats supported by ffprobe or
  30 for specifying which information to display, and for setting how
  31 ffprobe will show it.
  32
  33 FFprobe output is designed to be easily parsable by a textual filter,
  34 and consists of one or more sections of the form:
  35 @example
  36 [SECTION]
  37 key1=val1
  38 ...
  39 keyN=valN
  40 [/SECTION]
  41 @end example
  42
  43 Metadata tags stored in the container or in the streams are recognized
  44 and printed in the corresponding ``FORMAT'' or ``STREAM'' section, and
  45 are prefixed by the string ``TAG:''.
  46
  47 @c man end
  48
  49 @chapter Invocation
  50
  51 @section Syntax
  52
  53 The generic syntax is:
  54
  55 @example
  56 @c man begin SYNOPSIS
  57 ffprobe [options] [@file{input_file}]
  58 @c man end
  59 @end example
  60
  61 @c man begin OPTIONS
  62
  63 @include fftools-common-opts.texi
  64
  65 @section Main options
  66
  67 @table @option
  68 @item -unit
  69 Show the unit of the displayed values.
  70
  71 @item -prefix
  72 Show a SI prefixes of the displayed values.
  73 Unless ``-byte_binary_prefix'' option is used all the prefix
  74 are decimal.
  75
  76 @item -byte_binary_prefix
  77 Force the use of binary prefixes for byte values.
  78
  79 @item -sexagesimal
  80 Use sexagesimal format HH:MM:SS.MICROSECONDS for time values.
  81
  82 @item -pretty
  83 Prettify the format of the displayed values, it corresponds to the
  84 options ``-unit -prefix -byte_binary_prefix -sexagesimal''.
  85
  86 @item -show_format
  87 Show information about the container format of the input multimedia
  88 stream.
  89
  90 All the container format information is printed within a section with
  91 name ``FORMAT''.
  92
  93 @item -show_streams
  94 Show information about each media stream contained in the input
  95 multimedia stream.
  96
  97 Each media stream information is printed within a dedicated section
  98 with name ``STREAM''.
  99
 100 @end table
 101 @c man end
 102
 103 @ignore
 104
 105 @setfilename ffprobe
 106 @settitle FFprobe media prober
 107
 108 @c man begin SEEALSO
 109 ffmpeg(1), ffplay(1), ffserver(1)
 110 @c man end
 111
 112 @end ignore
 113
 114 @bye