'\" t
.\" Title: metadata
.\" Author: [see the "AUTHOR" section]
.\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets vsnapshot <http://docbook.sf.net/>
.\" Date: 06/17/2020
.\" Manual: \ \&
.\" Source: \ \&
.\" Language: English
.\"
.TH "METADATA" "1" "06/17/2020" "\ \&" "\ \&"
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.SH "NAME"
metadata \- media file metadata for human consumption
.SH "SYNOPSIS"
.sp
\fBasciidoc\fR [\fIOPTIONS\fR] \fIFILE\fR\&...
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.sp
The \fBmetadata(1)\fR command formats and displays metadata of one or more input media files\&.
.sp
\fBmetadata(1)\fR is powered by FFmpeg (libav*)\&.
.SH "OPTIONS"
.PP
\fB\-A, \-\-all\-tags\fR
.RS 4
Print all metadata tags of the container and all streams, including commonplace tags \(em major_brand, minor_version, compatible_brands, handler_name, etc\&. \(em that are mostly predictable\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-c, \-\-checksum\fR
.RS 4
Include the SHA\-256 checksum(s) of the file(s) in the output\&. (Slow for large files\&.)
.RE
.PP
\fB\-h, \-\-help\fR
.RS 4
Print help information\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-s, \-\-scan\fR
.RS 4
Decode beginning frames to determine scan type\&.
.sp
By default,
\fBmetadata(1)\fR
determines video scan type by looking at stream\-level field order metadata, but sometimes this info is not available\&. In such cases, for performance, progressive scan is assumed (in the output, there is a "*" symbol next to "Progressive scan" to indicate this uncertainty)\&. The
\fI\-\-scan\fR
option forces the decoding of a moderate number of frames (could be slow, especially when frames are large, e\&.g\&. in the case of 4K HDR HEVC\-encoded content) to see if frames are actually progressive or interlaced\&. Note that
\fI\-\-scan\fR
has no effect when the scan type is clear from stream\-level field order (i\&.e\&., when output without
\fI\-\-scan\fR
is "Interlaced scan", or "Progressive scan" without a "*")\&.
.sp
Justification for the default behavior: (1) Scan type is just one property that a user might not even care about (it is easy to determine qualitatively and empirically too), so it doesn\(cqt make sense to spend a disproportionate amount of time on it by default\&. (2) It is my belief that interlaced content is on the decline anyway\&. Increasingly more content is produced and delivered digitally; and interlaced TV displays are apparently on their way out\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-t, \-\-tags\fR
.RS 4
Print metadata tags of the container and all streams, but omit some "boring" ones\&.
.RE
.PP
\fB\-V, \-\-version\fR
.RS 4
Print version information\&.
.RE
.SH "BUGS"
.sp
Plese send bug reports to https://github\&.com/zmwangx/metadata\&.
.SH "AUTHOR"
.sp
Zhiming Wang <metadata@zhimingwang\&.org>
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.sp
ffprobe(1)
.SH "COPYING"
.sp
Copyright (C) 2018 Zhiming Wang\&. This software is released for free under the MIT License as published by the Open Source Initiative\&.