Inspect media

Inspect reads media directly with Video Commander's native parsers. It does not depend on FFmpeg, so you can explore a file before configuring a local tool and without remembering ffprobe flags or parsing its JSON output.

Open a source

Drop a file onto the app, choose File → Open, paste an HTTP(S) URL, or open an object from Amazon S3, Cloudflare R2, or MinIO. Remote files use range requests where supported, so Inspect can read container structures without downloading the entire asset.

Supported sources

Format	Views
MP4, MOV, M4V	Overview, box tree, graph, samples, color, GOP, subtitles, events, DRM
MKV, WebM, MKA	Overview, tree, graph, samples
AVI	Overview, tree, graph, samples
HLS (.m3u8, .m3u)	Manifest and Validator
DASH (.mpd)	Manifest and Validator

Content-specific tabs appear only when the source carries the relevant data. An MP4 without subtitles or SCTE-35 events does not show empty tabs for them.

Start with Overview

Overview shows the container, duration, size, bitrate, fragmentation and fast-start status. Every track includes its codec, dimensions, language, timing, bitrate, and sample count. Timeline gaps and other quality-control findings appear with stable finding codes.

For an MP4 whose metadata sits at the end of the file, Optimize for streaming can remux it so the metadata is available before the media bytes.

Explore the container structure

MP4 and related formats are built from nested boxes such as moov, trak, mdia, and stbl. Inspect offers two ways to navigate them.

Tree

Tree renders the complete hierarchy with byte offsets and sizes. Expand a box and select it to see parsed fields in the detail panel. The hex panel shows the raw bytes beside those fields when you need to compare the parser output with the file itself.

Graph

Graph renders the same structure as a zoomable relationship map. It is useful for seeing how major branches relate rather than following nesting one row at a time. Select a node or load its subtree to focus on one branch.

Inspect tracks and samples

Samples goes down to individual frames with PTS, DTS, duration, size, file offset, and keyframe flags. Use it to diagnose missing keyframes, irregular sample durations, unexpected timeline gaps, or unusual size spikes that do not appear in the overview.

Read media signaling

ISOBMFF files can expose additional reports:

• Color decodes CICP values, mastering-display data, MaxCLL/MaxFALL, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision signaling.
• GOP summarizes keyframe intervals, frame types, and broken samples.
• Subtitles decodes tx3g, WebVTT, and TTML/IMSC cues and checks embedded CEA-608/708 captions.
• Events decodes SCTE-35 messages carried in emsg boxes.
• DRM identifies protected tracks, encryption schemes, and PSSH systems.

Inspect streaming manifests

An HLS or DASH source opens as a manifest instead of a container. Inspect lists variants or representations, codecs, bandwidths, segment templates, languages, and encryption information. Switch to Validator for conformance findings and optional URL probing. See Validate HLS and DASH.

Play the source

The Player tab plays the file or stream with an optional debug overlay for buffering state, dropped frames, current bitrate, and resolution. Use it for a visual check after investigating the structure.

You can also try MP4 inspection in the browser. The playground runs the same Rust box parser as WebAssembly; the file stays on your device.

Next

Convert the file after you understand the source, or analyze quality when you have a reference and encode to compare.