1MKVINFO(1) User Commands MKVINFO(1)
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6 mkvinfo - Print information about elements in Matroska(TM) files
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9 mkvinfo [options] {source-filename}
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12 This program lists all elements contained in a Matroska(TM). The output
13 can be limited to a list of tracks in the file including information
14 about the codecs used.
15 -a, --all
17 By default mkvinfo(1) stops when it encounters the first cluster.
18 Additionally it doesn't show certain often occurring elements. With
19 this option mkvinfo(1) will continue processing regardless of the
20 verbosity level and show all elements.
21 -c, --checksums
23 Calculates and display the Adler-32 checksum for each frame. Useful
24 for debugging only.
25 -o, --continue
27 By default mkvinfo(1) stops when it encounters the first cluster.
28 With this option mkvinfo(1) will continue processing regardless of
29 the verbosity level.
30 -p, --hex-positions
32 Show the positions of all elements in hexadecimal regardless of the
33 verbosity level.
34 -P, --positions
36 Show the positions of all elements in decimal regardless of the
37 verbosity level.
38 -s, --summary
40 Only show a terse summary of what mkvinfo(1) finds and not each
41 element.
42 -t, --track-info
44 Show statistics for each track in verbose mode. Also sets verbosity
45 to 1 if it was at level 0 before.
46 -x, --hexdump
48 Show the first 16 bytes of each frame as a hex dump.
49 -X, --full-hexdump
51 Show all bytes of each frame as a hex dump.
52 -z, --size
54 Show the size of each element including its header.
55 --command-line-charset character-set
57 Sets the character set to convert strings given on the command line
58 from. It defaults to the character set given by system's current
59 locale.
60 --output-charset character-set
62 Sets the character set to which strings are converted that are to
63 be output. It defaults to the character set given by system's
64 current locale.
65 -r, --redirect-output file-name
67 Writes all messages to the file file-name instead of to the
68 console. While this can be done easily with output redirection
69 there are cases in which this option is needed: when the terminal
70 reinterprets the output before writing it to a file. The character
71 set set with --output-charset is honored.
72 --ui-language code
74 Forces the translations for the language code to be used (e.g.
75 'de_DE' for the German translations). Entering 'list' as the code
76 will cause the program to output a list of available translations.
77 --abort-on-warnings
79 Tells the program to abort after the first warning is emitted. The
80 program's exit code will be 1.
81 --debug topic
83 Turn on debugging for a specific feature. This option is only
84 useful for developers.
85 --engage feature
87 Turn on experimental features. A list of available features can be
88 requested with mkvinfo --engage list. These features are not meant
89 to be used in normal situations.
90 --gui-mode
92 Turns on GUI mode. In this mode specially-formatted lines may be
93 output that can tell a controlling GUI what's happening. These
94 messages follow the format '#GUI#message'. The message may be
95 followed by key/value pairs as in
96 '#GUI#message#key1=value1#key2=value2...'. Neither the messages nor
97 the keys are ever translated and always output in English.
98 -v, --verbose
100 Be more verbose. See the section about verbosity levels for a
101 description which information will be output at which level.
102 -h, --help
104 Show usage information and exit.
105 -V, --version
107 Show version information and exit.
108 @options-file.json
110 Reads additional command line arguments from the file options-file.
111 For a full explanation on the supported formats for such files see
112 the section called "Option files" in the mkvmerge(1) man page.
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115 The -v option can be used to increase mkvinfo(1)'s verbosity level and
116 print more information about the current file.
117 At level 0 mkvinfo(1) will print only the track headers it finds and
119 their types. mkvinfo(1) will exit as soon as the headers are parsed
120 completely (more technical: as soon as the first cluster is
121 encountered). In this level the seek head entries and the cues will not
122 be displayed -- even if they're located in front of the track
123 information.
124 At level 1 mkvinfo(1) will also print all Matroska(TM) elements
126 encountered for the complete file but the seek head entries and the cue
127 entries. If the summary mode is enabled then mkvinfo(1) will output the
128 frame position as well.
129 The same effect can be achieved with the option --continue.
131 At level 2 mkvinfo(1) will also print the seek head entries, the cue
133 entries and the file position at which each Matroska(TM) element can be
134 found at.
135 The same effect can be achieved with the options --all --positions.
137 At level 3 and above mkvinfo(1) will print some information that is not
139 directly connected to a Matroska(TM) element. All other elements only
140 print stuff about the elements that were just found. Level 3 adds meta
141 information to ease debugging (read: it's intended for developers
142 only). All lines written by level 3 are enclosed in square brackets to
143 make filtering them out easy.
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146 For an in-depth discussion about how all tools in the MKVToolNix suite
147 handle character set conversions, input/output encoding, command line
148 encoding and console encoding please see the identically-named section
149 in the mkvmerge(1) man page.
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152 mkvinfo(1) exits with one of three exit codes:
153 • 0 -- This exit code means that the run has completed successfully.
155 • 1 -- In this case mkvinfo(1) has output at least one warning, but
157 the run did continue. A warning is prefixed with the text
158 'Warning:'.
159 • 2 -- This exit code is used after an error occurred. mkvinfo(1)
161 aborts right after outputting the error message. Error messages
162 range from wrong command line arguments over read/write errors to
163 broken files.
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166 mkvinfo(1) uses the default variables that determine the system's
167 locale (e.g. LANG and the LC_* family). Additional variables:
168 MKVINFO_DEBUG, MKVTOOLNIX_DEBUG and its short form MTX_DEBUG
170 The content is treated as if it had been passed via the --debug
171 option.
172 MKVINFO_ENGAGE, MKVTOOLNIX_ENGAGE and its short form MTX_ENGAGE
174 The content is treated as if it had been passed via the --engage
175 option.
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178 mkvmerge(1), mkvextract(1), mkvpropedit(1), mkvtoolnix-gui(1)
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181 The latest version can always be found at the MKVToolNix homepage[1].
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184 Moritz Bunkus <moritz@bunkus.org>
185 Developer
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188 1. the MKVToolNix homepage
189 https://mkvtoolnix.download/
190MKVToolNix 80.0 2023-10-29 MKVINFO(1)