Media file inspector

Drop an audio or video file here to inspect what is actually inside it. The file stays on your device: analysis runs in your browser.

Useful for: finding the real codec inside MP4/MKV/AVI files, checking profile and level, confirming 8/10/12-bit video, inspecting chroma/HDR signalling, checking sample rate and channels, and seeing subtitle or menu tracks before troubleshooting playback.

Choose a media file

Drop a media file here

or choose a local file from your computer

Choose media file

Privacy: your media file is not uploaded to Codec Help or sent to the analysis library. The browser reads only the local chunks requested by the parser.

Ready.

What the inspector can identify

Container and identifiers

Container family, format profile, codec/sample IDs, FOURCC-style identifiers, MIME hints and file-level bitrate/duration where available.

Video

Codec, profile, level, resolution, frame rate and frame-rate mode, scan type, bit depth, chroma subsampling, colour primaries, transfer characteristics, matrix coefficients and HDR metadata when present.

Audio

Codec, profile, bitrate and bitrate mode, sample rate, channels, channel layout, bit depth where meaningful, compression mode and language/track metadata.

Other streams

Subtitle/text tracks, image tracks, chapter/menu data and other stream types exposed by the parser.

Container is not codec

An extension such as .mp4, .mkv or .avi usually tells you the file's container, not which video or audio codec is inside. Two files with the same extension can require completely different decoder capabilities.

See the anatomy of a media file · Codec vs file extension · FOURCC identifiers

How to read an inspection report

A media report describes several layers at once. The container identifies the wrapper, while each stream has its own codec and properties. For example, an MKV file might contain HEVC Main 10 video, E-AC-3 audio and PGS subtitles; the .mkv extension alone does not describe those streams.

Video fields such as profile, level, bit depth, chroma subsampling, colour primaries and transfer characteristics help explain compatibility and picture signalling. Audio fields such as sample rate, channel layout, bitrate and compression mode describe a different set of properties. Codec IDs and FOURCC/sample-entry codes are identifiers used by software and containers, not necessarily different codecs.

If a report shows an unfamiliar value, use the linked Codec Help references to follow the layer that matters: profile and level, video colour, codec and container compatibility, or FOURCC and sample identifiers.

How it works

The deep inspection layer uses MediaInfoLib compiled to WebAssembly. MediaInfo reads selected chunks from the local File object rather than uploading the file. If that parser cannot load or cannot identify the file, Codec Help falls back to lightweight local signature detection and browser metadata where possible.

Inspection is not playback testing.

A browser may correctly identify a HEVC, DTS-HD or other stream that it cannot itself decode. The report tells you what the file contains; playback support still depends on the player, operating system, hardware and installed components.