H264 Analysis Tools
Dependencies
The majority of tools presented in this wiki rely on the great FFMPEG toolkit. To install it run:
sudo apt install ffmpeg
Display Frame Information
In order to display per-frame information you may use the following command.
ffprobe -v trace -show_frames test.h264
Sample output:
[FRAME] media_type=video stream_index=0 key_frame=1 pkt_pts=N/A pkt_pts_time=N/A pkt_dts=N/A pkt_dts_time=N/A best_effort_timestamp=N/A best_effort_timestamp_time=N/A pkt_duration=48000 pkt_duration_time=0.040000 pkt_pos=0 pkt_size=1606 width=320 height=240 pix_fmt=yuv420p sample_aspect_ratio=1:1 pict_type=I coded_picture_number=0 display_picture_number=0 interlaced_frame=0 top_field_first=0 repeat_pict=0 color_range=tv color_space=smpte170m color_primaries=smpte170m color_transfer=smpte170m chroma_location=center [SIDE_DATA] side_data_type=H.26[45] User Data Unregistered SEI message [/SIDE_DATA] [/FRAME] [h264 @ 0x7fd318813800] nal_unit_type: 9(AUD), nal_ref_idc: 0 [h264 @ 0x7fd318813800] nal_unit_type: 1(Coded slice of a non-IDR picture), nal_ref_idc: 2 [FRAME]t message repeated 1 times media_type=video stream_index=0 key_frame=0 pkt_pts=N/A pkt_pts_time=N/A pkt_dts=N/A pkt_dts_time=N/A best_effort_timestamp=N/A best_effort_timestamp_time=N/A pkt_duration=40000 pkt_duration_time=0.033333 pkt_pos=1606 pkt_size=545 width=320 height=240 pix_fmt=yuv420p sample_aspect_ratio=1:1 pict_type=P coded_picture_number=1 display_picture_number=0 interlaced_frame=0 top_field_first=0 repeat_pict=0 color_range=tv color_space=smpte170m color_primaries=smpte170m color_transfer=smpte170m chroma_location=center [/FRAME]
Display Nal Unit / Slice Information
In order to display per-nal unit (including separate slices) you may run the following command:
ffmpeg -i test.h264 -c copy -bsf:v trace_headers -f null -
Sample output:
[trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] Access Unit Delimiter [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 0 forbidden_zero_bit 0 = 0 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 1 nal_ref_idc 00 = 0 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 3 nal_unit_type 01001 = 9 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 8 primary_pic_type 001 = 1 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 11 rbsp_stop_one_bit 1 = 1 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 12 rbsp_alignment_zero_bit 0 = 0 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 13 rbsp_alignment_zero_bit 0 = 0 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 14 rbsp_alignment_zero_bit 0 = 0 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 15 rbsp_alignment_zero_bit 0 = 0 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] Slice Header [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 0 forbidden_zero_bit 0 = 0 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 1 nal_ref_idc 10 = 2 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 3 nal_unit_type 00001 = 1 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 8 first_mb_in_slice 1 = 0 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 9 slice_type 00110 = 5 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 14 pic_parameter_set_id 1 = 0 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 15 frame_num 0100 = 4 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 19 num_ref_idx_active_override_flag 0 = 0 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 20 ref_pic_list_modification_flag_l0 0 = 0 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 21 adaptive_ref_pic_marking_mode_flag 0 = 0 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 22 slice_qp_delta 00000110101 = -26 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 33 disable_deblocking_filter_idc 1 = 0 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 34 slice_alpha_c0_offset_div2 1 = 0 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 35 slice_beta_offset_div2 1 = 0 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] Slice Header [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 0 forbidden_zero_bit 0 = 0 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 1 nal_ref_idc 10 = 2 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 3 nal_unit_type 00001 = 1 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 8 first_mb_in_slice 000000010100001 = 160 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 23 slice_type 00110 = 5 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 28 pic_parameter_set_id 1 = 0 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 29 frame_num 0100 = 4 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 33 num_ref_idx_active_override_flag 0 = 0 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 34 ref_pic_list_modification_flag_l0 0 = 0 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 35 adaptive_ref_pic_marking_mode_flag 0 = 0 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 36 slice_qp_delta 00000110101 = -26 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 47 disable_deblocking_filter_idc 1 = 0 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 48 slice_alpha_c0_offset_div2 1 = 0 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] 49 slice_beta_offset_div2 1 = 0 [trace_headers @ 0x7f81a8416d00] Packet: 589 bytes, no pts, dts 207998, duration 40000.