mediainfo_template: Describe media files by applying a MediaInfo template

In tidymedia: Media File Preprocessing and Metadata for the 'tidyverse'

Describe media files by applying a MediaInfo template

Description

mediainfo_template() uses the MediaInfo program to describe media files, and returns a tibble. It applies a MediaInfo template, which can read many parameters from many sections.

Usage

mediainfo_template(
  file,
  template = c("brief", "extended", "custom"),
  templatefile = NULL,
  typed = TRUE
)

Arguments

file	A character vector of one or more media file paths.
template	A string. Use "brief" or "extended" for a template that comes with the package. Use "custom" to apply the file in templatefile.
templatefile	The path to your own MediaInfo template, a .txt file that makes MediaInfo print comma-separated values. Give it when template is "custom", and only then. The default is NULL.
typed	A logical. If TRUE (the default), numeric columns become numbers and empty values become NA. If FALSE, all columns stay strings.

Details

The package comes with two templates, "brief" and "extended". You can also give your own template file. Give several files in file to get one row for each file. The first column, file, names the input file. The ⁠probe_*()⁠ functions read similar information with FFprobe.

Value

A tibble with one row for each input file. The template sets the columns, their names and their order. The function keeps the column names of a custom template, but removes spaces at their start and end.

A file that the function could not read gets a row of NA values. The function reads the other files, and then gives one warning that names the files it could not read. A file that reaches the time limit counts as not read; see with_timeout().

See Also

mediainfo_query() to read one section. mediainfo_parameter() to read a single value. probe_all() to read information with FFprobe. get_duration() and the other ⁠get_*()⁠ functions for common single values.

Other metadata functions: get_duration(), get_frame_rate(), get_height(), get_sample_rate(), get_width(), mediainfo_parameter(), mediainfo_query(), probe_all(), probe_container()

Examples

video <- system.file("extdata", "sample.mp4", package = "tidymedia")
mediainfo_template(video, template = "brief")

tidymedia documentation built on Oct. 11, 2026, 5:08 p.m.