View Codec (Audio/Video) & Tag Info of a Media File Using MediaInfo

By Patrick Gumban last updated August 15, 2014

So after a very long time, you have finally downloaded an audio or video file that you've been searching for. But your excitement quickly turned into frustration because your favorite media player is unable to play the file and it displays error messages that you can't possibly comprehend. So what do you do? Try a different media player perhaps? Or maybe you are missing the necessary codec to play the file? Is it possible that the file is corrupted? Such a scenario can take you hours before you can determine the problem. But here's a tool that can help you view audio and video codec information.

MediaInfo Logo
Introducing MediaInfo for Windows, Mac and Linux, a special utility designed to extract highly detailed information from just about any multimedia file. So what are the files that are supported by MediaInfo? Some of the supported files include: MKV, OGM, AVI, DivX, WMV, QuickTime, Real, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DVD (VOB), OGG, MP3, WAV, RA, AC3, DTS, AAC, M4A, AU, AIFF and a lot more.
Download MediaInfo Screenshot

MediaInfo Features:

Supports a wide variety of multimedia files.
Information are viewable in many different formats (text, sheet, tree, HTML , XML etc.)
Details of the file can be exported.
Customizable viewing formats
Shell integration (context menu and drag n' drop interface)
Supports multi-languages

Accessing the information of an audio or video file is as simple as opening it in MediaInfo. You should then be able to see details like codec used, frame rate, video / audio stream rate, size, compression format, duration, creation date, bitrate and many others. The information provided are rather comprehensive and will surely help you know the details that you are looking for. In case you come across a file that you can't play, you can quickly grab the player or codec required to play the file with a single click.
Download MediaInfo Screenshot_2
MediaInfo is just a light download and is a lightweight application as well when running. If you frequently find yourself having playback problems with your multimedia files, then it is highly recommended that you check out this utility. Download MediaInfo from the link provided below.