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MKVPROPEDIT(1) | User Commands | MKVPROPEDIT(1) |
NAME¶
mkvpropedit - Modify properties of existing Matroska(TM) files without a complete remuxSYNOPSIS¶
mkvpropedit [options] {source-filename} {actions}
DESCRIPTION¶
This program analyses an existing Matroska(TM) file and modifies some of its properties. Then it writes those modifications to the existing file. Among the properties that can be changed are the segment information elements (e.g. the title) and the track headers (e.g. the language code, 'default track' flag or the name). Options: -l, --list-property-namesLists all known and editable property names, their type
(string, integer, boolean etc) and a short description. The program exits
afterwards. Therefore the source-filename parameter does not have to be
supplied.
-p, --parse-mode mode
Sets the parse mode. The parameter 'mode' can
either be 'fast' (which is also the default) or 'full'. The 'fast' mode does
not parse the whole file but uses the meta seek elements for locating the
required elements of a source file. In 99% of all cases this is enough. But
for files that do not contain meta seek elements or which are damaged the user
might have to set the 'full' parse mode. A full scan of a file can take a
couple of minutes while a fast scan only takes seconds.
Actions that deal with track and segment info properties:
-e, --edit selector
Sets the Matroska(TM) file section (segment information
or a certain track's headers) that all following add, set and delete actions
operate on. This option can be used multiple times in order to make
modifications to more than one element.
By default mkvpropedit(1) will edit the segment information section.
See the section about edit selectors for a full description of the syntax.
-a, --add name=value
Adds a property name with the value value.
The property will be added even if such a property exists already. Note that
most properties are unique and cannot occur more than once.
-s, --set name=value
Sets all occurrences of the property name to the
value value. If no such property exists then it will be added.
-d, --delete name
Deletes all occurrences of the property name. Note
that some properties are required and cannot be deleted.
Actions that deal with tags and chapters:
-t, --tags selector:filename
Add or replace tags in the file with the ones from
filename or remove them if filename is empty. mkvpropedit(1) reads the
same XML tag format that mkvmerge(1) reads as well.
The selector must be one of the words all, global or
track. For allmkvpropedit(1) will replace or remove all
tags in a file. With global only global tags will be replaced or
removed.
With trackmkvpropedit(1) will replace tags for a specific track.
Additionally the tags read from filename will be assigned to the same track.
The track is specified in the same way edit selectors are specified (see
below), e.g. --tags track:a1:new-audio-tags.xml.
-c, --chapters filename
Add or replace chapters in the file with the ones from
filename or remove them if filename is empty. mkvpropedit(1) reads the
same XML and simple chapter formats that mkvmerge(1) reads as
well.
Actions for handling attachments:
--add-attachment filename
Adds a new attachment from filename.
If the option --attachment-name has been used prior to this option then
its value is used as the new attachment's name. Otherwise it is derived from
filename.
If the option --attachment-mime-type has been used prior to this option
then its value is used as the new attachment's MIME type. Otherwise it is
auto-detected from the content of filename.
If the option --attachment-description has been used prior to this option
then its value is used as the new attachment's description. Otherwise no
description will be set.
--replace-attachment selector:filename
Replaces one or more attachments that match
selector with the file filename. If more than one existing
attachment matches selector then all of their contents will be replaced
by the content of filename.
The selector can have one of four forms. They're exlained below in the
section attachment selectors.
If the option --attachment-name has been used prior to this option then
its value is used as the replaced attachment's name. Otherwise the name is not
changed.
If the option --attachment-mime-type has been used prior to this option
then its value is used as the replaced attachment's MIME type. Otherwise the
MIME type is not changed.
If the option --attachment-description has been used prior to this option
then its value is used as the replaced attachment's description. Otherwise no
description is not changed.
--delete-attachment selector
Deletes one or more attachments that match
selector.
The selector can have one of four forms. They're exlained below in the
section attachment selectors.
Options for attachment actions:
--attachment-name name
Sets the name to use for the following
--add-attachment or --replace-attachment operation.
--attachment-mime-type mime-type
Sets the MIME type to use for the following
--add-attachment or --replace-attachment operation.
--attachment-description description
Sets the description to use for the following
--add-attachment or --replace-attachment operation.
Other options:
--command-line-charset character-set
Sets the character set to convert strings given on the
command line from. It defaults to the character set given by system's current
locale.
--output-charset character-set
Sets the character set to which strings are converted
that are to be output. It defaults to the character set given by system's
current locale.
-r, --redirect-output file-name
Writes all messages to the file file-name instead
of to the console. While this can be done easily with output redirection there
are cases in which this option is needed: when the terminal reinterprets the
output before writing it to a file. The character set set with
--output-charset is honored.
--ui-language code
Forces the translations for the language code to
be used (e.g. 'de_DE' for the German translations). It is preferable to use
the environment variables LANG, LC_MESSAGES and LC_ALL
though. Entering 'list' as the code will cause mkvextract(1) to
output a list of available translations.
--debug topic
Turn on debugging for a specific feature. This option is
only useful for developers.
--engage feature
Turn on experimental features. A list of available
features can be requested with mkvpropedit --engage list. These
features are not meant to be used in normal situations.
--gui-mode
Turns on GUI mode. In this mode specially-formatted lines
may be output that can tell a controlling GUI what's happening. These messages
follow the format '#GUI#message'. The message may be followed by key/value
pairs as in '#GUI#message#key1=value1#key2=value2...'. Neither the messages
nor the keys are ever translated and always output in English.
-v, --verbose
Be verbose and show all the important Matroska(TM)
elements as they're read.
-h, --help
Show usage information and exit.
-V, --version
Show version information and exit.
--check-for-updates
Checks online for new releases by downloading the URL
http://mkvtoolnix-releases.bunkus.org/latest-release.xml. Four lines
will be output in key=value style: the URL from where the information was
retrieved (key version_check_url), the currently running version (key
running_version), the latest release's version (key available_version) and the
download URL (key download_url).
Afterwards the program exists with an exit code of 0 if no newer release is
available, with 1 if a newer release is available and with 2 if an error
occured (e.g. if the update information could not be retrieved).
This option is only available if the program was built with support for
libcurl.
@options-file
Reads additional command line arguments from the file
options-file. Lines whose first non-whitespace character is a hash mark
('#') are treated as comments and ignored. White spaces at the start and end
of a line will be stripped. Each line must contain exactly one option.
Several chars can be escaped, e.g. if you need to start a non-comment line with
'#'. The rules are described in the section about escaping text.
The command line ' mkvpropedit source.mkv --edit track:a2 --set
name=Comments' could be converted into the following option file:
# Modify source.mkv source.mkv # Edit the second audio track --edit track:a2 # and set the title to 'Comments' --set name=Comments
EDIT SELECTORS¶
The --edit option sets the Matroska(TM) file section (segment information or a certain track's headers) that all following add, set and delete actions operate on. This stays valid until the next --edit option is found. The argument to this option is called the edit selector. By default mkvpropedit(1) will edit the segment information section.Segment information¶
The segment information can be selected with one of these three words: 'info', 'segment_info' or 'segmentinfo'. It contains properties like the segment title or the segment UID.Track headers¶
Track headers can be selected with a slightly more complex selector. All variations start with 'track:'. The track header properties include elements like the language code, 'default track' flag or the track's name. track:nIf the parameter n is a number then the nth
track will be selected. The track order is the same that mkvmerge(1)'s
--identify option outputs.
Numbering starts at 1.
track:tn
If the parameter starts with a single character t
followed by a n then the nth track of a specific track type will
be selected. The track type parameter t must be one of these four
characters: 'a' for an audio track, 'b' for a button track, 's' for a subtitle
track and 'v' for a video track. The track order is the same that
mkvmerge(1)'s --identify option outputs.
Numbering starts at 1.
track:=uid
If the parameter starts with a '=' followed by a number
uid then the track whose track UID element equals this uid.
Track UIDs can be obtained with mkvinfo(1).
track:@number
If the parameter starts with a '@' followed by a number
number then the track whose track number element equals this
number. Track number can be obtained with mkvinfo(1).
Notes¶
Due to the nature of the track edit selectors it is possible that several selectors actually match the same track headers. In such cases all actions for those edit selectors will be combined and executed in the order in which they're given on the command line.ATTACHMENT SELECTORS¶
An attachment selector is used with the two actions --replace-attachment and --delete-attachment. It can have one of the following four forms: 1.Selection by attachment ID. In this form the selector
is simply a number, the attachment's ID as output by mkvmerge(1)'s
identification command.
2.Selection by attachment UID (unique ID). In this form
the selector is the equal sign = followed by a number, the attachment's unique
ID as output by mkvmerge(1)'s verbose identification command.
3.Selection by attachment name. In this form the
selector is the literal word name: followed by the existing attachment's name.
If this selector is used with --replace-attachment then colons within
the name to match must be escaped as \c.
4.Selection by MIME type. In this form the selector is
the literal word mime-type: followed by the existing attachment's MIME type.
If this selector is used with --replace-attachment then colons within
the MIME type to match must be escaped as \c.
EXAMPLES¶
The following example edits a file called 'movie.mkv'. It sets the segment title and modifies the language code of an audio and a subtitle track. Note that this example can be shortened by leaving out the first --edit option because editing the segment information element is the default for all options found before the first --edit option anyway.$ mkvpropedit movie.mkv --edit info --set "title=The movie" --edit track:a1 --set language=fre --edit track:a2 --set language=ita
$ mkvpropedit movie.mkv --edit track:s1 --set flag-default=0 --edit track:s2 --set flag-default=1
$ mkvpropedit movie.mkv --tags track:s2:new-subtitle-tags.xml
$ mkvpropedit movie.mkv --tags all:
$ mkvpropedit movie.mkv --chapters new-chapters.xml
$ mkvpropedit movie.mkv --chapters ''
$ mkvpropedit movie.mkv --add-attachment Arial.ttf
$ mkvpropedit movie.mkv --attachment-name Arial.ttf --attachment-description 'The Arial font as a TrueType font' --attachment-mime-type application/x-truetype-font --add-attachment 89719823.ttf
$ mkvpropedit movie.mkv --attachment-name Arial.ttf --attachment-description 'The Arial font as a TrueType font' --replace-attachment name:Comic.ttf:Arial.ttf
$ mkvpropedit movie.mkv --delete-attachment 2
$ mkvpropedit movie.mkv --delete-attachment mime-type:application/x-truetype-font
EXIT CODES¶
mkvpropedit(1) exits with one of three exit codes:•0 -- This exit codes means that the
modification has completed successfully.
•1 -- In this case mkvpropedit(1)
has output at least one warning, but the modification did continue. A warning
is prefixed with the text 'Warning:'. Depending on the issues involved the
resulting files might be ok or not. The user is urged to check both the
warning and the resulting files.
•2 -- This exit code is used after an error
occurred. mkvpropedit(1) aborts right after outputting the error
message. Error messages range from wrong command line arguments over
read/write errors to broken files.
TEXT FILES AND CHARACTER SET CONVERSIONS¶
For an in-depth discussion about how all tools in the MKVToolNix suite handle character set conversions, input/output encoding, command line encoding and console encoding please see the identically-named section in the mkvmerge(1) man page.ESCAPING SPECIAL CHARS IN TEXT¶
There are a few places in which special characters in text must or should be escaped. The rules for escaping are simple: each character that needs escaping is replaced with a backslash followed by another character. The rules are: ' ' (a space) becomes '\s', '"' (double quotes) becomes '\2', ':' becomes '\c', '#' becomes '\h' and '\' (a single backslash) itself becomes '\\'.ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES¶
mkvpropedit(1) uses the default variables that determine the system's locale (e.g. LANG and the LC_* family). Additional variables: MKVTOOLNIX_DEBUG and its short form MTX_DEBUGThe content is treated as if it had been passed via the
--debug option.
MKVTOOLNIX_ENGAGE and its short form MTX_ENGAGE
The content is treated as if it had been passed via the
--engage option.
MKVTOOLNIX_OPTIONS and its short form MTX_OPTIONS
The content is split on white space. The resulting
partial strings are treated as if it had been passed as command line options.
If you need to pass special characters (e.g. spaces) then you have to escape
them (see the section about escaping special characters in text).
SEE ALSO¶
mkvmerge(1), mkvinfo(1), mkvextract(1), mmg(1)WWW¶
The latest version can always be found at the MKVToolNix homepage[1].AUTHOR¶
Moritz Bunkus <moritz@bunkus.org>Developer
NOTES¶
- 1.
- the MKVToolNix homepage
2014-10-22 | MKVToolNix 7.3.0 |