Working with multimedia files on our computer is becoming more and more common, not only those that we can download from the Internet but also those that we can create ourselves, such as videos. At first glance we only know its name and format, but it also has a lot of information inside that we don’t have access to at first, such as metadata.
To be able to read the metadata that hides the video files, we have both desktop programs that we can download to our computer and online applications, which will allow us to know all the data by simply uploading the video to its website or by entering a URL in case of make it an online video.
What is video metadata?
When we talk about metadata, we are not referring to all the information that is available about a video file but is not visible to the naked eye. Some of this data is related to the author, the date of creation, the location of the shot, the information of the camera or the date. Video metadata can be very useful in helping people to work with video files and to organize and classify their search results.
Metadata is generally kept hidden as it may contain personal information that we do not wish to share. Keep in mind that this data can often be a risk to our security and privacy . Therefore, in this case we are going to focus on one of the most used and shared types of files today, such as the aforementioned videos. If we right-click on a video file and click on Properties, we can see some of its information, although it is not always fully available.
Programs to know the information of the videos
If we want to know in depth all the data that our video files hide, we can make use of one of these programs that will help us to know everything about EXIF data and metadata.
MediaInfo
We are talking about a free program that allows us to access and view all the metadata that our audio and video files contain so that the user does not have to carry out any additional search to find them. With it we will be able to see data such as codec, fps, aspect and bitrate, among others. It is compatible with the most popular video formats such as MKV, AVI, MPEG-4, OGM, WMV, among others.
It has different display options like “Sheet”, “Tree”, “Text”, “HTML”, “XML”, etc. In this way we can see all the data in our files in the way that seems most comfortable to us. In addition, we must take into account that it is a very light program so it can be used on all types of computers. We can download it for free from its website.
MediaInfoXP
This free and open source program will allow us to see the technical information of almost any type of multimedia file, such as images, documents, audio and, of course, videos. It supports popular formats like MKV, OGM, AVI, DivX, WMV, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DVD (VOB), etc.
Getting started with MediaInfoXP is as simple as dragging and dropping any audio, image or video file onto its interface. Once added, the program will take care of showing all its properties on the screen in a way that is easy for us to read and understand. This will show us details such as the type of format, the configuration, the codec ID, the frame rate, the duration, the bit rate, the width, the height, the aspect ratio, the color space, compression, as well as the size of the sequence. In addition, it is portable so it does not require installation. We can download it for free from the developer’s website .
Web applications to view the metadata
In case we don’t want to download any software to our PC, we can also use online applications with which we can view the hidden metadata of our videos. For this we will only need to use our web browser and have an Internet connection.
TheExifer
We are talking about a proposal with multiple file format options that allows us to load a video file from our PC, or import it directly from Google Drive, Flickr or Dropbox. Once loaded, the web application extracts the metadata from it and displays it on the screen. It is also interesting to know that we will have the opportunity to remove this metadata and add new ones.
With its free version we will be able to upload up to five files simultaneously, with an upload size limit of 25 MB. We will have 121 editable labels and 200 characters free of keywords. It also has a Premium version for 5.99 euros per month that does not have ads, allows batch editing and increases the file upload limit, the size of editable tags and keyword characters. In order to use it, simply access its website.
Get-Metadata
Another proposal similar to the one mentioned is Get-Metadata , another free online application that allows us to access the EXIF data and hidden metadata of our files. It is compatible with a wide variety of file formats, including MP4, MOV, AVI or 3GP. To do this, all we have to do is load the video file into the tool by clicking the “Drag & Drop your file here” button or drag and drop it onto the interface.
After a few seconds for the file to be uploaded and analyzed, all its detailed metadata will appear on the screen, elements such as tags , geotags, codecs , bitrate, video resolution, image frequency, color representation, etc. In order to use this tool, simply access the developer’s website .
ExtractMetadata.com
It is a free tool that will allow us to extract the metadata from different types of files, including videos. It is possible to see the EXIF data of a video that we have hosted on our computer by loading it on its interface or to see it from an online video by simply inserting its URL. It is compatible with all types of files such as documents, audio, images, as well as videos with such popular formats as AVI, FLV, MPEG, among others.
Once the video is inserted, it will load and the application will show us data as relevant as the name and credentials of the author, date of creation, among others. Of course, it is important to know that the maximum size of the file that we want to upload should not exceed 20 MB. If we are concerned about privacy, we should know that uploaded files are automatically deleted after half an hour. To be able to use it, just access its official website.
exif.regex
It is a platform that was designed to show the metadata of short videos , since we must take into account that, with the large video files, they never worked on this website. It was initially designed to extract metadata from images, and was later extended to accept video formats as well.
To do this, simply specify a URL that contains this file, or upload it from your PC to the free online service. The tool itself used a captcha as an anti-bot security method, to then be able to see the metadata of the . Despite being a widely used service, it is currently out of service , without the developer having specified the reasons.
