MediaInfo 25.04 review: read delivery tracks, bitrate, and duration before you upload
Hands-on MediaInfo CLI on PASS delivery encodes and FAIL paths—missing tracks, short duration, and Conformance errors on a truncated MP4.
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MediaInfo
Confirm container, codecs, bitrate, duration, and track counts on a delivery file before upload—without opening an NLE. Our hands-on check used MediaInfo CLI 25.04 on Debian.
Visit the official websiteWhat we checked on MediaInfo CLI 25.04
On Debian 13 we installed mediainfo 25.04-1 (MediaInfoLib v25.04) and pointed it at the same Seattle interview stand-in and FFmpeg delivery MP4s used in our encode reviews. On the PASS file ff_veryfast_crf24.mp4, MediaInfo reported 12,562,019 bytes, duration 00:00:30.016, overall 3 348 kb/s, video AVC Main@L4 1920×1080@30 at 3 182 kb/s, audio AAC LC 2ch 160 kb/s—matching ffprobe on size, duration, and overall bitrate. An --Inform one-liner printed Format, FileSize, Duration, OverallBitRate, VideoCount, and AudioCount in one pasteable line.
Deliberate FAIL fixtures were obvious in the same dumps: audio-only remux left VideoCount empty; video-only left AudioCount empty; an 8-second cut showed duration 00:00:08.067 against a ~30 s brief; a file truncated to 4,187,339 of 12,562,019 bytes still claimed ~30 s in the header but raised Conformance errors: 2 (file size less than expected).
Limits from those runs: Metadata QC only—not an encode, cut, or mux tool. Duration alone can look fine on a truncated file until you read Conformance errors or compare FileSize. GUI (Desktop), Windows/macOS installers, MXF/ProRes/HEVC/AV1 delivery briefs, hour-long or multi-GB scans, and subtitle-language QC beyond TextCount were not tested.
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MediaInfo pre-upload checklist: Inform gates for Format, size, duration, and tracks before you ship
Pasteable MediaInfo CLI 25.04 Inform gate—write the brief, check Format/size/duration/VideoCount/AudioCount, catch Conformance errors before upload.
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FFmpeg review: script a delivery-size interview encode without guessing CRF
Encode first; MediaInfo is the read-before-upload check on the same Seattle fixtures.
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HandBrake review: shrink a cut interview for platform delivery without guessing presets
GUI/named-preset sister encode path—then use MediaInfo to confirm the output before upload.
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Official builds cover GUI and CLI on Windows, macOS, and Linux; our lab used the Debian package mediainfo 25.04-1 (MediaInfoLib v25.04) only. Upstream MediaArea also lists newer packaging (e.g. 26.x) and MediaInfoOnline—those were not the build we measured. Confirm architecture and release notes on the project site before a delivery machine switch.
Related handoff steps
MediaInfo pre-upload Inform gate checklist · FFmpeg for CLI delivery encode · HandBrake for preset delivery encode · LosslessCut for stream-copy cuts · MKVToolNix for labeled delivery mux