# pymediainfo
[](https://pypi.org/project/pymediainfo)
[](https://pypi.org/project/pymediainfo)
[](https://repology.org/project/python%3Apymediainfo/versions)
[](https://github.com/sbraz/pymediainfo)
[](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/sbraz/pymediainfo)
pymediainfo is a wrapper for [the MediaInfo library](https://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo). It makes it easy to
extract detailed information from multimedia files.
## Compatibility
pymediainfo is compatible with the following:
* **Platforms**: **Linux**, **macOS** and **Windows**.
* **Python Versions**: Tested with Python **3.9** (the minimum required version) to **3.13**, as well as **PyPy3**.
## Installation
Please note that, without [the MediaInfo library](https://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo), pymediainfo
**cannot parse media files**. This severely limits its functionality, allowing it to process
only pre-generated XML output from MediaInfo.
### Linux distribution Packages
Packages are available for [most major Linux distributions](https://repology.org/project/python%3Apymediainfo/versions).
They often depend on the MediaInfo library and are the preferred way to
install pymediainfo on Linux, as they allow for independent updates to pymediainfo and the MediaInfo library itself.
### PyPI on Linux, macOS and Windows
If pymediainfo is not available for your Linux distribution, or if you're running macOS or Windows,
you can install it from PyPI:
```
python -m pip install pymediainfo
```
**Wheels** containing a bundled version of the MediaInfo library are available for:
* Linux x86-64 and ARM64.
* macOS x86-64 and ARM64.
* Windows x86-64 and x86.
If you do not want to use the wheels (for instance if you want to use the system-wide
MediaInfo library instead of the bundled one):
```
python -m pip install pymediainfo --no-binary pymediainfo
```
## Usage
Here are a few examples demonstrating how to use pymediainfo.
### Getting information from an image
The `MediaInfo` class provides a `parse()` method which takes paths as input and returns `MediaInfo` objects.
#### Example snippet
```py
from pymediainfo import MediaInfo
media_info = MediaInfo.parse("/home/user/image.jpg")
# Tracks can be accessed using the 'tracks' attribute or through shorthands
# such as 'image_tracks', 'audio_tracks', 'video_tracks', etc.
general_track = media_info.general_tracks[0]
image_track = media_info.image_tracks[0]
print(
f"{image_track.format} of {image_track.width}×{image_track.height} pixels"
f" and {general_track.file_size} bytes."
)
```
#### Example output
```text
JPEG of 828×828 pixels and 19098 bytes.
```
### Getting information from a video
In this example, we take advantage of the `to_data()` method, which returns a `dict` containing all
attributes from a `MediaInfo` or `Track` object. This makes it
easier to inspect tracks even when their attributes are unknown.
#### Example snippet
```py
from pprint import pprint
from pymediainfo import MediaInfo
media_info = MediaInfo.parse("my_video_file.mp4")
for track in media_info.tracks:
if track.track_type == "Video":
print(f"Bit rate: {track.bit_rate}, Frame rate: {track.frame_rate}, Format: {track.format}")
print("Duration (raw value):", track.duration)
print("Duration (other values:")
pprint(track.other_duration)
elif track.track_type == "Audio":
print("Track data:")
pprint(track.to_data())
```
#### Example output
```text
Bit rate: 3117597, Frame rate: 23.976, Format: AVC
Duration (raw value): 958
Duration (other values):
['958 ms',
'958 ms',
'958 ms',
'00:00:00.958',
'00:00:00;23',
'00:00:00.958 (00:00:00;23)']
Track data:
{'bit_rate': 236392,
'bit_rate_mode': 'VBR',
'channel_layout': 'L R',
'channel_positions': 'Front: L R',
'channel_s': 2,
'codec_id': 'mp4a-40-2',
'commercial_name': 'AAC',
'compression_mode': 'Lossy',
…
}
```
### Accessing Track attributes
Since the attributes from a `Track` are dynamically created during parsing, there isn't a firm definition
of what will be available at runtime.
In order to make consuming objects easier, the `__getattribute__` method from `Track` objects
has been overridden to return `None` when a non-existent attribute is accessed, instead of raising `AttributeError`.
#### Example snippet
```py
from pymediainfo import MediaInfo
media_info = MediaInfo.parse("my_video_file.mp4")
for track in media_info.tracks:
if track.bit_rate is None:
print(f"{track.track_type} tracks do not have a bit rate associated with them")
else:
print(f"Track {track.track_id} of type {track.track_type} has a bit rate of {track.bit_rate} b/s")
```
#### Example output
```text
General tracks do not have a bit rate associated with them
Track 1 of type Video has a bit rate of 4398075 b/s
Track 2 of type Audio has a bit rate of 131413 b/s
Menu tracks do not have a bit rate associated with them
```
### Parsing pre-generated MediaInfo XML output
pymediainfo relies on MediaInfo's `OLDXML` output to create `MediaInfo` objects.
It is possible to create a `MediaInfo` object from an existing XML string. For
instance if someone sent you the output of `mediainfo --output=OLDXML`, you can
call the `MediaInfo` constructor directly.
#### Example snippet
```py
from pymediainfo import MediaInfo
raw_xml_string = """
"""
media_info = MediaInfo(raw_xml_string)
print(f"File name is: {media_info.general_tracks[0].complete_name}")
```
#### Example output
```text
File name is: binary_file
```
### Text output (à la `mediainfo`)
If you want a text report, similar to what `mediainfo my_video_file.mp4` outputs,
use the `output="text"` argument with the `parse()` method. In this case, it
will return a string, not a `MediaInfo` object.
#### Example snippet
```py
from pymediainfo import MediaInfo
# To mirror a simple call to "mediainfo" without the "--Full" or "-f" option, we
# set "full=False". Leaving it at the default of "full=True" would result in
# more verbose output.
print(MediaInfo.parse("my_video_file.mp4", output="text", full=False))
```
#### Example output
```text
General
Complete name : my_video_file.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
[…]
```
## Documentation
For more detailed information, please refer to the reference documentation
available at .
## Issues and Questions
For feature requests and bug reports, please use the GitHub issue tracker at
.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the discussions at
.