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Old July 10th 18, 04:50 PM posted to alt.windows7.general,microsoft.public.windowsxp.general,microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion,uk.tech.broadcast
Frank Slootweg
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Posts: 1
Default Does .mp4 - or any other video format - have a text field (comment, not subtitle)? If so, what can edit it?

NY wrote:
"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in message
...
I like the comment field in the .jpg image format; if viewing an image in
IrfanView, I just type I then C, and I can add comment text, that then
actually becomes part of the file, thus surviving any renaming, zipping,
even emailing. (I use it a lot in listing who's who in group photographs
[I come across those a lot in genealogy], but general information about an
image is useful.) [I _presume_ there are other image-handling softwares
that can access/edit this field, though I don't know what they are; I'd be
interested to know.]

I'd like to have a similar facility for videos (I have mostly .mp4 format,
but am interested for any format): _is_ there something intrinsic to the
format? I'm not talking about a subtitle "track", or anything like that -
just a comment field. And if there is, what software can access - and/or
edit - it?

At present, I'm reduced to either putting information into the filename,
or keeping a text (or other, such as .doc - I only use that for the one or
two places I want to e. g. include some Russian) file of the same name in
the folder next to it. Both of which are unsatisfactory compared to an
embedded text field.


I just had a look at some of my .mp4 [1] files and noted that
*Windows* - i.e. (Windows) File Explorer - Properties indeed does not
show a comments field in the metadata, but for example the VLC player
*does* have a 'Comments' field which you can view and edit.

In the Title/Duration/Album pane of VLC, right-click on a video file
and select 'Information...'. That will popup a 'Media information' popup
which has a 'General' tab which has the multi-line 'Comments' field.

I also had a quick check in Windows Media Player, but that does not
seem to have this 'Comments' field. WMP has a 'Description:' field, but
that is not the same as the (VLC) 'Comments' field and - at least for my
..mp4 files - does not contain anything and it can not be edited.

I don't have any other media players to play with, so you'll have to
check if the VLC 'Comments' field is a (sort of) standard field or
VLC-specific.

Hope this helps.

[1] Note that the file extension name - i.e. .mp4 - is basically
meaningless. What matters are the video format *in* the file, the audio
format *in* the file and the 'container' format of any container which
contains video, audio and more.

To give an example of how confusing/complicated these things a

A QuickTime file will most likely have a MPEG-4 video part in its
container, but its extension will be .MOV - *not* .MP4 - and programs
which can handle 'plain' MPEG-4 videos with .MP4 extensions might not be
able to play QuickTime/.MOV videos and vice versa.

For example, I converted a QuickTime .MOV video file, which had

- Container: MPEG-4 (Container format, NOT file extension name.)
- Video: H.264 - MPEG-4 AVC
- Audio: PCM S16 LE

to a .MP4 video file, which had

- Container: MPEG-4 (Container format, NOT file extension name.)
- Video: H.264 - MPEG-4 AVC
- Audio: MPEG AAC

because my TV could not handle the QuickTime .MOV video file, but could
handle the .MP4 video file, while both had 'Video: H.264 - MPEG-4 AVC'.