MediaInfo on a Mac: see a video's codec, bitrate and HDR

The fastest way to see the exact codec, bitrate, audio channels, and HDR mastering metadata of any video on a Mac is by opening the file in MediaInfo. While macOS Finder only displays superficial details like file size and frame dimensions, MediaInfo reveals the underlying bitstream parameters that determine picture and sound quality.

MediaInfo is an open-source stream analyzer developed by Jérôme Martinez and MediaArea. It can inspect hundreds of container formats—including MKV, WebM, MP4, MOV, and AVI—in milliseconds without decompressing the video. Below is a complete guide to installing MediaInfo on macOS, navigating its views, and interpreting the technical fields that matter most.

Where can you download MediaInfo for Mac (and is it free)?

A frequent source of confusion among Mac users is whether MediaInfo is a free or paid application.

If you search for MediaInfo on the Mac App Store, Apple lists the app for $0.99 USD. This listing is authentic and maintained by the official developer, but the fee is intended to offset Apple’s annual developer program fees and the engineering overhead of maintaining sandboxed App Store compliance.

If you prefer the completely free open-source release, you have two official options:

1. Direct download from MediaArea: Visit the official download page at mediaarea.net and download the universal Apple Silicon (arm64) disk image (.dmg) free of charge. Drag MediaInfo into your Applications folder.
2. Homebrew package manager: If you use Homebrew in Terminal, install the graphical application or the command-line utility with:

# Install the graphical desktop app
brew install --cask mediainfo

# Install the terminal CLI utility
brew install mediainfo

Both direct options provide the full, unrestricted application under the permissive BSD 2-Clause license with zero advertisements, zero tracking, and zero in-app purchase requirements.

How do you navigate MediaInfo’s Tree and Text views?

When you launch MediaInfo and drag a video file onto the application window, MediaInfo opens in its default view. To get the most actionable technical information, navigate to the View menu in the menu bar:

• Tree view (⌘3): The best view for visual inspection. It organizes the file into collapsible hierarchical branches: General (container-level facts), Video (visual bitstreams), Audio (soundtracks), and Text (subtitles). Each stream is listed with clear labels and units.
• Text view (⌘4): Generates a clean, copy-pasteable plain-text report of the entire file. This is the standard format used by video editors, technical support forums, and archival databases to share video specifications.
• Basic / Sheet view: Displays a simplified tabular overview, ideal when comparing multiple video files side by side.

For day-to-day use, switching to Tree view makes it easy to find specific parameters without scrolling through walls of text.

Try it

Dissecting a MediaInfo Dolby Vision stream

HDR format: Dolby Vision, Version 1.0, Profile 8.1, BL+RPU

Parameter

Metadata category

1. HDR format: : Parameter. Metadata category
2. Dolby Vision: Standard. Dynamic metadata format
3. Version 1.0: Spec. Bitstream specification
4. Profile 8.1: Profile. Cross-compatible HDR10 base
5. BL+RPU: Layers. Base Layer plus Reference Processing Unit

Which video metadata fields actually matter?

When inspecting a video file, MediaInfo presents dozens of technical data points. Here are the crucial fields to focus on:

1. General section: container and bitrate

• Format: The container wrapper (e.g. Matroska for .mkv, or MPEG-4 for .mp4). Containers hold video and audio streams together.
• Overall bit rate: The total amount of data processed per second, combining video, all audio tracks, and container overhead. A 4K movie at 60 Mbps offers substantially higher visual fidelity than a heavily compressed streaming rip at 8 Mbps. Learn what bitrates mean in our guide on what is bitrate.
• File size and Duration: The exact storage footprint and runtime down to the millisecond.

2. Video section: codecs and color precision

• Format and Format Profile: Identifies the compression algorithm. Look for HEVC (H.265), AVC (H.264), AV1, or ProRes. Profiles such as Main [email protected] indicate 10-bit color support at high bitrates.
• Bit depth: Indicates whether the video uses standard 8-bit color (16.7 million possible colors) or 10-bit color (over 1 billion colors). 10-bit video dramatically reduces banding artifacts in skies and dark shadow gradients.
• Color primaries and Transfer characteristics: Indicates whether the video is standard dynamic range (BT.709) or wide color gamut HDR (BT.2020). For HDR files, Transfer characteristics will report PQ (SMPTE ST 2084) or HLG (ARIB STD-B67).
• Chroma subsampling: Typically 4:2:0 for consumer film releases, or 4:2:2 / 4:4:4 for professional camera masters.

3. Audio section: multi-channel sound

• Format: Identifies whether the soundtrack is AAC, AC-3 (Dolby Digital), E-AC-3 (Dolby Digital Plus), TrueHD, DTS, or uncompressed PCM.
• Channel(s): Confirms speaker layout. Look for 6 channels for 5.1 surround sound, 8 channels for 7.1 surround sound, or 2 channels for stereo.
• Sampling rate: Studio standard is 48.0 kHz, while CD audio is 44.1 kHz.

How do you check for HDR10 and Dolby Vision in MediaInfo?

Verifying whether a movie contains genuine High Dynamic Range metadata is one of MediaInfo’s strongest capabilities. File names frequently include misleading tags, but MediaInfo inspects the actual bitstream headers.

In the Video branch of Tree view, look for the following entries:

1. Checking for HDR10

If a file contains standard HDR10, MediaInfo will display:

• HDR format: SMPTE ST 2086, HDR10 compatible
• Mastering display luminance: Lists the minimum and maximum brightness of the reference monitor used during color grading (e.g. min: 0.0001 cd/m2, max: 1000 cd/m2).
• Maximum Content Light Level (MaxCLL): The brightest single pixel in the entire film (e.g. 1000 cd/m2).
• Maximum Frame-Average Light Level (MaxFALL): The highest average scene brightness (e.g. 400 cd/m2).

2. Checking for Dolby Vision

If the video contains Dolby Vision dynamic per-scene metadata, MediaInfo exposes the exact profile:

• Profile 5: Streaming Dolby Vision with proprietary IPTPQc2 color space and no standard HDR10 fallback layer. Requires a dedicated Dolby Vision player.
• Profile 7: Dual-layer UHD Blu-ray format containing an HDR10 Base Layer (BL) and a Reference Processing Unit (RPU) dynamic metadata layer.
• Profile 8.1: Single-layer cross-compatible format with an HDR10 Base Layer and Dolby Vision dynamic metadata.
• Profile 8.4: Cross-compatible format using an HLG Base Layer, commonly used by modern iPhone HDR video recordings.

For a comprehensive guide to verifying HDR bitstreams across tools, see our tutorial on how to tell if a video is HDR. If you prefer command-line inspections, read our walkthrough on how to use ffprobe.

How does MediaInfo compare to Finder and QuickTime?

Many Mac users wonder why they need an external tool like MediaInfo when macOS already has built-in inspection features.

macOS Finder and QuickTime Player are built exclusively around Apple’s proprietary AVFoundation frameworks. As a result, Finder cannot open or inspect modern .mkv or .webm files, displaying blank fields. QuickTime Player cannot distinguish between 8-bit and 10-bit video and ignores Dolby Vision dynamic metadata layers.

MediaInfo bypasses Apple’s system restrictions, reading the raw binary structure of the file directly.

What to do next

MediaInfo is an essential utility for anyone managing a digital movie library, troubleshooting playback stutter, or verifying video exports. Download the free DMG from MediaArea’s website or install it via Homebrew (brew install --cask mediainfo), and keep it handy whenever you need to check a file’s bit depth, audio tracks, or HDR profile.

If you want a player that tells you a film’s HDR format without a separate tool, try MacLC. With instant format cards, automatic Dolby Vision profile decoding, and hardware-accelerated playback, you never have to guess what is inside your files.