KnowIt

Know better your media files.

• Project page
  https://github.com/ratoaq2/knowit

Usage

CLI

Extract information from a video file:

$ knowit /folder/Audio Samples/hd_dtsma_7.1.mkv
For: /folder/Audio Samples/hd_dtsma_7.1.mkv
Knowit 0.4.0 found:
{
    "title": "7.1Ch DTS-HD MA - Speaker Mapping Test File",
    "path": "/folder/Audio Samples/hd_dtsma_7.1.mkv",
    "duration": "0:01:37",
    "size": "40.77 MB",
    "bit_rate": "3.3 Mbps",
    "container": "mkv",
    "video": [
        {
            "id": 1,
            "duration": "0:01:37",
            "width": "1920 pixel",
            "height": "1080 pixel",
            "scan_type": "Progressive",
            "aspect_ratio": "1.778",
            "pixel_aspect_ratio": "1.0",
            "resolution": "1080p",
            "frame_rate": "23.976 FPS",
            "bit_depth": "8 bit",
            "codec": "H.264",
            "profile": "Main",
            "profile_level": "4",
            "media_type": "video/H264",
            "default": true
        }
    ],
    "audio": [
        {
            "id": 2,
            "name": "7.1Ch DTS-HD MA",
            "language": "English",
            "duration": "0:01:37",
            "codec": "DTS-HD",
            "profile": "Master Audio",
            "channels_count": 8,
            "channels": "7.1",
            "bit_depth": "24 bit",
            "bit_rate_mode": "Variable",
            "sampling_rate": "48.0 KHz",
            "compression": "Lossless",
            "default": true
        }
    ],
    "provider": {
        "name": "mediainfo",
        "version": {
            "pymediainfo": "5.0.3",
            "libmediainfo.so.0": "v20.9"
        }
    }
}

Extract information from a video file using ffmpeg:

$ knowit --provider ffmpeg /folder/Audio Samples/hd_dtsma_7.1.mkv
For: /folder/Audio Samples/hd_dtsma_7.1.mkv
Knowit 0.4.0 found:
{
    "title": "7.1Ch DTS-HD MA - Speaker Mapping Test File",
    "path": "/folder/Audio Samples/hd_dtsma_7.1.mkv",
    "duration": "0:01:37",
    "size": "40.77 MB",
    "bit_rate": "3.3 Mbps",
    "container": "mkv",
    "video": [
        {
            "id": 0,
            "width": "1920 pixel",
            "height": "1080 pixel",
            "scan_type": "Progressive",
            "aspect_ratio": "1.778",
            "pixel_aspect_ratio": "1.0",
            "resolution": "1080p",
            "frame_rate": "23.976 FPS",
            "bit_depth": "8 bit",
            "codec": "H.264",
            "profile": "Main",
            "default": true
        }
    ],
    "audio": [
        {
            "id": 1,
            "name": "7.1Ch DTS-HD MA",
            "language": "English",
            "codec": "DTS-HD",
            "profile": "Master Audio",
            "channels_count": 8,
            "channels": "7.1",
            "bit_depth": "24 bit",
            "sampling_rate": "48.0 KHz",
            "default": true
        }
    ],
    "provider": {
        "name": "ffmpeg",
        "version": {
            "ffprobe": "v4.2.4-1ubuntu0.1"
        }
    }
}

Using docker:

docker run -it --rm -v /folder:/folder knowit /folder/Audio Samples/hd_dtsma_7.1.mkv
For: /folder/Audio Samples/hd_dtsma_7.1.mkv
Knowit 0.4.0 found:
{
    "title": "7.1Ch DTS-HD MA - Speaker Mapping Test File",
    "path": "/folder/Audio Samples/hd_dtsma_7.1.mkv",
    "duration": "0:01:37",
    "size": "40.77 MB",
    "bit_rate": "3.3 Mbps",
    "container": "mkv",
    "video": [
        {
            "id": 1,
            "duration": "0:01:37",
            "width": "1920 pixel",
            "height": "1080 pixel",
            "scan_type": "Progressive",
            "aspect_ratio": "1.778",
            "pixel_aspect_ratio": "1.0",
            "resolution": "1080p",
            "frame_rate": "23.976 FPS",
            "bit_depth": "8 bit",
            "codec": "H.264",
            "profile": "Main",
            "profile_level": "4",
            "media_type": "video/H264",
            "default": true
        }
    ],
    "audio": [
        {
            "id": 2,
            "name": "7.1Ch DTS-HD MA",
            "language": "English",
            "duration": "0:01:37",
            "codec": "DTS-HD",
            "profile": "Master Audio",
            "channels_count": 8,
            "channels": "7.1",
            "bit_depth": "24 bit",
            "bit_rate_mode": "Variable",
            "sampling_rate": "48.0 KHz",
            "compression": "Lossless",
            "default": true
        }
    ],
    "provider": {
        "name": "mediainfo",
        "version": {
            "pymediainfo": "5.0.3",
            "libmediainfo.so.0": "v20.9"
        }
    }
}

All available CLI options:

$ knowit --help
usage: knowit [-h] [-p PROVIDER] [--debug] [--report] [-y] [-N] [-P PROFILE] [--mediainfo MEDIAINFO]
              [--ffmpeg FFMPEG] [--mkvmerge MKVMERGE] [--bug-report] [--bug-report-output FILE]
              [--no-redact] [--check-name NAME] [--version] [videopath ...]

positional arguments:
  videopath             Path to the video to introspect

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit

Providers:
  -p, --provider PROVIDER
                        The provider to be used: mediainfo, ffmpeg, mkvmerge or enzyme.

Output:
  --debug               Print information for debugging knowit and for reporting bugs.
  --report              Parse media and report all non-detected values
  -y, --yaml            Display output in yaml format
  -N, --no-units        Display output without units
  -P, --profile PROFILE
                        Display values according to specified profile: code, default, human, technical

Configuration:
  --mediainfo MEDIAINFO
                        The location to search for MediaInfo binaries
  --ffmpeg FFMPEG       The location to search for ffprobe (FFmpeg) binaries
  --mkvmerge MKVMERGE   The location to search for mkvmerge (MKVToolNix) binaries

Bug reporting:
  --bug-report          Write a report with the environment and the raw output of every provider, to
                        attach to an issue.
  --bug-report-output FILE
                        Where to write the bug report. Use - to write it to the standard output.
  --no-redact           Do not mask titles, file names and tags in the bug report.
  --check-name NAME     Check whether a file name makes a provider fail. No media file is needed.

Information:
  --version             Display knowit version.

Reporting a problem

Do not send your media file. It is not needed, and it is usually too large. Run this command instead:

$ knowit --bug-report "/path/to/your/video.mkv"
Bug report written to knowit-report.yml

Attach knowit-report.yml to an issue at https://github.com/ratoaq2/knowit/issues.

The report contains:

• the knowit version, and where knowit is installed from
• the Python version, the operating system, and the text encodings in use
• the location and version of MediaInfo, ffprobe, mkvmerge and enzyme
• the characters of the file path, with their Unicode names
• the raw output of every installed provider for that file
• the values knowit parsed from that output, or the error it failed with

Titles, file names and tags are masked. Non-ascii characters are kept, because they are often the cause of the problem. Use --no-redact to keep the original text.

If knowit is bundled in another application, such as Bazarr or Medusa, run the command with the same Python that runs that application:

$ python -m knowit --bug-report "/path/to/your/video.mkv"

If a codec, a profile or another value is not known by knowit, use --report instead. It accepts a directory and lists every value knowit does not know:

$ knowit --report /path/to/your/media

Problems with a file name

Many problems come from the name of the file, not from its content: a superscript, a fraction, an accent, or a character the file system encoding cannot represent. For those, only the name is needed:

$ knowit --check-name "The Accountant² (2025).mkv"

knowit writes a small generated Matroska file under that name, and also under a plain ascii name. It then compares the two results:

result:
  mediainfo: ok: the name is handled correctly
  ffmpeg: ok: the name is handled correctly
  mkvmerge: ok: the name is handled correctly
  enzyme: fails with this name only: the name is the problem

A provider that fails only with your name has a name handling problem. A provider that fails with both names has a problem with the file content instead, and the name is not the cause.

The generated sample holds one audio track, so all four providers read it. If a provider reports a failure for both names on your system, that provider cannot read the sample at all, and its line says nothing about your file name.

Add a file to use your own media as the sample:

$ knowit --check-name "The Accountant² (2025).mkv" /path/to/any/video.mkv

Installation

KnowIt can be installed as a regular python module by running:

$ [sudo] pip install knowit

For a better isolation with your system you should use a dedicated virtualenv or install for your user only using the --user flag.

External dependencies

KnowIt can use MediaInfo, ffprobe (FFmpeg) or mkvmerge (MKVToolNix)

KnowIt supports MKV regardless if MediaInfo, FFmpeg or MKVToolNix are installed.

MediaInfo, FFmpeg or MKVToolNix increases the number of supported formats and the number of extracted information.

MediaInfo is the default provider. Visit their website and install the proper package for your system.

ffprobe (FFmpeg) can be downloaded here

mkvmerge (MKVToolNix) can be downloaded here