MediaInfo README

MediaInfo is a convenient unified display of the most relevant technical and tag data for video and audio files.

About

This repository contains the source code of the CLI and GUI for MediaInfoLib.

The CLI is available on various desktop operating systems.

There are a few different GUIs for Windows and Linux as shown below. Android and Apple's operating systems have their own GUIs too.

	Windows	Linux
Qt GUI
UWP GUI
VCL GUI
wxWidgets GUI

The CLI and GUIs are available for various CPU architectures.

How to build MediaInfo

Index

• Build for Windows
  • Prerequisites
  • Build Windows CLI
  • Build Windows GUI
    • Qt GUI
    • VCL GUI
    • wxWidgets GUI
• Build for macOS and Linux
  • Dependencies under macOS
  • Dependencies under Linux
  • Build MediaInfo CLI
  • Build MediaInfo GUI
  • Build MediaInfo Qt GUI
• Build CLI with CMake
• Build for other operating systems

Build for Windows

MediaInfo can be built on Windows for x86, x86-64/x64/amd64 and arm64 CPU architectures.

Prerequisites

The following are the common prerequisites that are required in order to build the CLI or any of the GUI on Windows.

Software

• Git for Windows (https://gitforwindows.org/) and/or GitHub Desktop (https://desktop.github.com/)
• Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition (https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/community/) or other editions
  • Visual Studio 2026 can also be used. In this case, use the .slnx files in MSVC2026 directories instead of the .sln files in MSVC2022 directories throughout this guide.

Repositories

Create an empty folder and clone the following repositories using Git or GitHub Desktop:

• This repository (https://github.com/MediaArea/MediaInfo)
• https://github.com/MediaArea/MediaInfoLib
• https://github.com/MediaArea/ZenLib
• https://github.com/MediaArea/zlib

If you need Curl or the Graph Plugin, they may be obtained from MediaArea-Utils-Binaries and MediaInfo-Graph-Plugin-Binaries respectively.

The rest of this guide will assume that you are in this newly created folder. It is also assumed that you have the development tools in the PATH by either opening a developer command prompt, calling the appropriate batch file or manually adding them to PATH.

Build Windows CLI

To build with Visual Studio IDE, open MediaInfo\Project\MSVC2022\MediaInfo.sln and build MediaInfo-CLI project.

To build with command line:

MSBuild -t:MediaInfo-CLI -p:Configuration=Release;Platform=x64 MediaInfo\Project\MSVC2022\MediaInfo.sln

To run the CLI:

MediaInfo\Project\MSVC2022\x64\Release\MediaInfo.exe

The build script can also be used, where <arch> can be Win32, x64 or ARM64 and <msvc> can be MSVC2022 or MSVC2026:

.\MediaInfo\Release\Build_CLI_Windows.ps1 <arch> <msvc>

Similarly, the release script can be used to generate a zip package similar to the official release after the build script is run. Note that 7z and Curl from MediaArea-Utils-Binaries are required.

.\MediaInfo\Release\Release_CLI_Windows.ps1 <arch> <msvc>

Build Windows GUI

There are multiple GUIs utilizing different GUI frameworks on Windows. Each of the GUIs have different designs and feature sets. The supported Windows versions and CPU architectures depend on the GUI frameworks.

Qt GUI

Install Qt for open source use (https://www.qt.io/download-qt-installer-oss) if you do not have Qt installed yet. It is recommended to use the latest version or at least 6.8.0 for Windows 11. Python is required to update the translation files. It may be installed from the Microsoft Store.

Prepare the prerequisites by running the following commands:

MSBuild -t:MediaInfoDLL -p:Configuration=Release;Platform=x64 MediaInfoLib\Project\MSVC2022\MediaInfoLib.sln
call MediaInfo\Source\GUI\Qt\Qt_Translations_Updater\update_Qt_translations.cmd

The Qt GUI can be built by opening MediaInfo\Project\QMake\GUI\MediaInfoQt.pro in Qt Creator or by using the command line:

qmake.exe MediaInfo\Project\QMake\GUI\MediaInfoQt.pro -spec win32-msvc "CONFIG+=qtquickcompiler" && jom.exe qmake_all
jom.exe

To run the GUI using Qt Creator, press Ctrl + R.

To run the GUI using command line, the Qt dependencies need to be deployed first:

windeployqt --no-quick-import --no-translations --no-system-d3d-compiler --no-system-dxc-compiler --no-compiler-runtime --no-opengl-sw x64\MediaInfo.exe

Then the GUI can be run:

VCL GUI

Install C++Builder 12 Community Edition (https://www.embarcadero.com/products/cbuilder/starter) and install the following dependencies from Tools > GetIt Package Manager:

• VCL Windows Style - Windows11 Dark 1.0 by Embarcadero Technologies
• EdgeView2 SDK 1.0.2739.1 by Microsoft

Prepare the dependencies by running the following commands:

MSBuild -t:MediaInfoDLL -p:Configuration=Release;Platform=x64 MediaInfoLib\Project\MSVC2022\MediaInfoLib.sln
xcopy /y MediaInfoLib\Project\MSVC2022\x64\Release\MediaInfo.dll MediaInfo\Project\BCB\GUI\Win64x\Release\
xcopy /y "C:\Program Files (x86)\Embarcadero\Studio\23.0\Redist\win64\WebView2Loader.dll" MediaInfo\Project\BCB\GUI\Win64x\Release\
robocopy MediaInfo\Source\Resource\Plugin MediaInfo\Project\BCB\GUI\Win64x\Release\Plugin /mir
call "C:\Program Files (x86)\Embarcadero\Studio\23.0\bin\rsvars.bat"
MSBuild /t:Build /p:Configuration=Release;Platform=Win64x zlib\contrib\BCB\zlib.cbproj
MSBuild /t:Build /p:Configuration=Release;Platform=Win64x ZenLib\Project\BCB\Library\ZenLib.cbproj

The VCL GUI can be built by opening MediaInfo\Project\BCB\GUI\MediaInfo_GUI.cbproj in C++Builder or by using the command line:

MSBuild /t:Build /p:Configuration=Release;Platform=Win64x MediaInfo\Project\BCB\GUI\MediaInfo_GUI.cbproj

To run the GUI:

MediaInfo\Project\BCB\GUI\Win64x\Release\MediaInfo_GUI.exe

wxWidgets GUI

Clone https://github.com/MediaArea/wxWidgets to obtain the required wxWidgets source.

To build with Visual Studio IDE, open MediaInfo\Project\MSVC2022\MediaInfo.sln and build MediaInfo-GUI project.

To build with command line:

MSBuild -t:MediaInfo-GUI -p:Configuration=Release;Platform=x64 MediaInfo\Project\MSVC2022\MediaInfo.sln

To run the GUI:

MediaInfo\Project\MSVC2022\x64\Release\MediaInfo-GUI.exe

Build for macOS and Linux

First, you must create a directory which will receive the MediaInfo directory, and ZenLib and MediaInfoLib if you decide to compile them yourself.

In this document, this directory will be referred as $BUILD_DIR.

Dependencies under macOS

MacPorts

Some dependencies are available with MacPorts. To install MacPorts: https://guide.macports.org/#installing

port install autoconf automake libtool pkgconfig zlib wxWidgets-3.0

MediaArea tools

• libzen
• libmediainfo

Dependencies under Linux

Listing

Build tools

• git
• automake
• autoconf
• libtool
• pkgconfig
• make
• g++

MediaArea tools

• libzen0
• libmediainfo0

CLI and GUI dependencies

• zlib

GUI only dependencies

• wxwidgets

Ubuntu

Build tools and CLI/GUI dependencies

apt-get install git automake autoconf libtool pkg-config make g++ zlib1g-dev

MediaArea tools

Go to https://mediaarea.net/fr/MediaInfo/Download/Ubuntu and download the libmediainfo0, libmediainfo-dev, libzen0 and libzen-dev packages corresponding to your Ubuntu version. Then install them with :

dpkg -i libmediainfo* libzen*

GUI only dependencies

apt-get install libwxgtk3.2-dev

Fedora

Build tools and CLI/GUI dependencies

sudo yum install git automake autoconf libtool pkgconfig make gcc-c++ zlib-devel

MediaArea tools

Go to https://mediaarea.net/fr/MediaInfo/Download/Fedora and download the libmediainfo0, libmediainfo-devel, libzen0 and libzen-devel packages corresponding to your Fedora version and CPU architecture. Then install them with :

sudo yum install libmediainfo*.rpm libzen*.rpm

GUI only dependencies

sudo yum install wxGTK-devel desktop-file-utils

Debian

Build tools and CLI/GUI dependencies

apt-get install git automake autoconf libtool pkg-config make g++ zlib1g-dev

MediaArea tools

Go to https://mediaarea.net/fr/MediaInfo/Download/Debian and download the libmediainfo0, libmediainfo-dev, libzen0 and libzen-dev packages corresponding to your Debian version. Then install them with :

dpkg -i libmediainfo* libzen*

GUI only dependencies

apt-get install libwxgtk3.0-dev

OpenSUSE

Build tools and CLI/GUI dependencies

zypper install git automake autoconf libtool pkgconfig make gcc-c++ zlib-devel

MediaArea tools

Go to https://mediaarea.net/fr/MediaInfo/Download/openSUSE and download the libmediainfo0, libmediainfo-devel, libzen0 and libzen-devel packages corresponding to your OpenSuse version. Then install them with :

rpm -i libmediainfo* libzen*

GUI only dependencies

zypper install libqt4-devel libQtWebKit-devel update-desktop-files

Build MediaInfo CLI

When you have done all the prerequisites for your configuration, then build MediaInfo. We start with the CLI.

cd $BUILD_DIR
git clone https://github.com/MediaArea/MediaInfo.git
cd MediaInfo/Project/GNU/CLI
./autogen.sh

Then, under macOS:

./configure --enable-staticlibs
make

Under Linux:

./configure --enable-shared
make

Or for statically linked executable, if you also build ZenLib and MediaInfoLib:

./configure --enable-staticlibs
make

Launch the CLI

Build MediaInfo GUI

If you have already built the CLI, no need to run git twice. In fact, if you re-run git with an existing MediaInfo directory, git will complain and exit.

To compile MediaInfo GUI under macOS and Linux:

cd $BUILD_DIR
git clone https://github.com/MediaArea/MediaInfo.git
cd MediaInfo/Project/GNU/GUI
./autogen.sh

Then, under macOS:

export PATH=$PATH:/opt/local/Library/Frameworks/wxWidgets.framework/Versions/wxWidgets/3/0/bin
./configure --enable-staticlibs
make

Under Linux:

./configure --enable-shared
make

Or for statically linked executable, if you also build ZenLib and MediaInfoLib:

./configure --enable-staticlibs
make

Launch the GUI

Build MediaInfo Qt GUI

Install the following dependencies. Their exact names depend on the package repository of your operating system.

• qt-base-dev
• qt-svg-dev
• qt-tools-dev-tools
• qt-webengine-dev
• curl (optional)
• graphviz (optional)

Then:

qmake MediaInfo/Project/QMake/GUI/MediaInfoQt.pro -spec linux-g++ CONFIG+=qtquickcompiler && make qmake_all
make -j4

Launch the Qt GUI

Optional : build ZenLib and MediaInfoLib

ZenLib

To compile ZenLib under macOS and Linux:

cd $BUILD_DIR
git clone https://github.com/MediaArea/ZenLib.git
cd ZenLib/Project/GNU/Library
./autogen.sh
./configure --enable-static
make

MediaInfoLib

To compile MediaInfoLib under macOS and Linux:

cd $BUILD_DIR
git clone https://github.com/MediaArea/MediaInfoLib.git
cd MediaInfoLib/Project/GNU/Library
./autogen.sh
./configure --enable-static
make

Build CLI with CMake

First, ensure the necessary build tools are available and accessible from the command line:

• Git
• CMake
• C/C++ build tools
• Ninja (optional)

To build statically-linked MediaInfo CLI with CMake, create a new directory and run the following in it:

git clone https://github.com/MediaArea/MediaInfo.git
cmake -G Ninja -D CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=./install/ -D CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=./install/ -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -D BUILD_ZENLIB=ON -D BUILD_ZLIB=ON -D ZLIB_BUILD_SHARED=OFF -D ZLIB_BUILD_TESTING=OFF -B build ./MediaInfo/Project/CMake/CLI/
cmake --build build
cmake --install build

The dependencies will be automatically obtained by CMake using Git.

MediaInfo CLI will be at ./install/bin/mediainfo.

Build for other operating systems

Project files for other operating systems can be found in MediaInfo/Source/GUI and MediaInfo/Project.

MediaInfo - https://github.com/MediaArea/MediaInfo Copyright (c) MediaArea.net SARL. All Rights Reserved.

This program is freeware under BSD-2-Clause license conditions. See the License for more information