Video Info

What it's for

Find out what a video really is before you edit, upload or share it: which codecs it uses (and so what will play it), its resolution, frame rate and bitrate, whether it’s HDR or turned on its side, what audio and subtitle tracks it has, and what a phone stored with it, such as the camera and where it was filmed.

For example, when a video plays on your iPhone but not on a Windows PC, open it here: if the video track is H.265 (HEVC) or Dolby Vision, that’s why, and you know to export it as H.264.

How to use it

Choose a video (or drop it on the page). Only the parts that describe it are read, so even a file of several gigabytes opens at once. You see:

• Anything to know first: a GPS location, Content Credentials (C2PA), an index at the end of the file that makes web players wait (not “fast start”), fragmented MP4, a missing duration, or a codec this browser can’t play.
• The container, duration, file size, overall bitrate, creation date, and from phones and cameras the make and model, the software, the recording date and the location.
• Tracks: each one’s kind, codec (with the H.264 or HEVC profile and level), resolution, frame rate, rotation, HDR, audio channels and sample rate, language, bitrate and name.

When an MP4 or MOV records a location, Save a copy without the location saves one with it taken out. The video and sound aren’t re-encoded, so the copy is the same size and quality, and it’s made quickly even from a large file.

MP4, MOV, M4V and 3GP files are read in full detail, as are WebM and MKV; for other formats the browser’s own reading gives the duration and size. A player is shown when the browser can play it.

Example

Choose a video you filmed on a phone. You’ll typically see a QuickTime movie (MOV) or MPEG-4, an H.264 or HEVC video track of 1920 × 1080 or 3840 × 2160 at 30 or 60 fps, often “turned 90° to play” if you held the phone upright, an AAC audio track, the phone’s make and model, and, if location was on, a warning with the place it was filmed.

Good to know

Bitrates are worked out from the track’s size and length, so they’re averages. AVI, MPEG-TS and other formats aren’t read in detail.

The copy without the location has the location records this tool knows taken out (QuickTime’s, Apple’s and 3GPP’s, and any XMP); open the copy here again to check before you share it. It keeps the camera, date and other details. A GPS track recorded alongside the video, as action cameras and drones make, is part of the recording and isn’t removed (the message says when there is one), and WebM and MKV files aren’t changed. The video never leaves your browser.