Get Video Codec of File using FFmpeg

FFmpeg provides tools for inspecting multimedia files and extracting information about their streams. Identifying the codec stored in a video file can be useful when checking media compatibility, investigating encoding settings, or preparing a file for further processing. This tutorial shows how to get video codec of file using FFmpeg.

The ffprobe utility can be used to determine which video codec is associated with a particular file without decoding or converting the video.

Download a sample video file for testing:

curl -sSo test.mp4 https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mediaelement/mediaelement-files/master/big_buck_bunny.mp4

The video codec can then be retrieved by using the following command:

ffprobe -v error -select_streams v:0 -show_entries stream=codec_name -of default=noprint_wrappers=1:nokey=1 test.mp4

The command produces:

h264

Command breakdown:

• ffprobe - inpects multimedia files and reports information about their streams.
• -v error - sets the logging level to error, suppressing informational messages while still displaying errors. It prevents informational output from cluttering the codec result.
• -select_streams v:0 - selects the first video stream from the input file.
• -show_entries stream=codec_name - requests only the codec name from the selected stream.
• -of default=noprint_wrappers=1:nokey=1 - uses the default output format while removing wrappers and field names.
• test.mp4 - specifies the video file being inspected.