Good movie mp4 metadata editor?

Question

I need to read metadata from one of my movies in mp4 format and to do that I need a very basic mp4 (for movies) metadata editor. Which programs can you recommend ? (Since I don't know any).

I don't need media organizers, nor anything fancy, just something that allows me to peek inside the file.

Solution 1

You can use Wwidd for video file and

EasyTag (for mp4 + audio files). To install EasyTag type:

sudo apt-get install easytag

Solution 2

You can use VLC. Simply open the file and hit CTRL + L to show the playlist or from the View menu choose Playlist.

When you see the list right-click on the list item you need to edit and click on Information

Solution 3

If you're just trying to see the metadata, exiftool gives pretty extensive metadata on most media files, including .mp4/.m4v files.

If you need to edit specifically .mp4/.m4v files, try atomicparsley ( http://atomicparsley.sourceforge.net/ ). It can look a bit daunting at first, but a few minutes with the help section, and you'll get the basics.

Solution 4

None of the other solutions proposed here worked with my QuickTime MOV file (a movie recorded on an iPhone and edited with the iOS iMovie app). VLC almost worked but the 'Save metadata' button doesn't save anything. exiftool, however, did work!

apt install exiftool
exiftool -overwrite_original -year=2020 -comment="City trip to Paris" -title="Paris" '/tmp/paris.mov' 

Tested in Ubuntu 20.04.

Solution 5

Here's an example using the command line ffmpeg tool. This reads the metadata, displays it and edits the title.

ffmpeg -i infile.mp4 -f ffmetadata infile.txt
cat infile.txt
ffmpeg -i infile.mp4 -metadata title="New Title" -codec copy outfile.mp4

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Comments

[blade19899]

VLC can also edit metadata from Movies. Did u try it?

[Jaise George]

Thanks, but wwidd does not work at all and I dont need to check audio files :S

[g_p]

EasyTAG will work for mp4 file format, but will not work for other video format.

[Jaise George]

easytag may open mp4 movie files, but it simply does not work properly for them ... unless my mp4 movies files all have 0 metadata I dont see this being a solution. Thanks anyway ...

[David Foerster]

I recommend to edit this answer to expand it with specific details about how to install and use this. (See also How do I write a good answer? for general advice about what sorts of answers are considered most valuable on AskUbuntu.)

[Travis Well]

vlc does not show the date taken for mp4 files in the metadata view you described.

[almaceleste]

also VLC has Tools>Media Information to show and edit some metadata info