Ubuntu Manpage: mkvpropedit - Modify properties of existing Matroska(TM) files without a complete remux

NAME

       mkvpropedit - Modify properties of existing Matroska(TM) files without a complete remux

SYNOPSIS

       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-names
Lists 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:n
If 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

       The second example removes the 'default track flag' from the first subtitle track and sets
       it for the second one. Note that mkvpropedit(1), unlike mkvmerge(1), does not set the
       'default track flag' of other tracks to '0' if it is set to '1' for a different track
       automatically.

           $ mkvpropedit movie.mkv --edit track:s1 --set flag-default=0 --edit track:s2 --set flag-default=1

       Replacing the tags for the second subtitle track in a file looks like this:

           $ mkvpropedit movie.mkv --tags track:s2:new-subtitle-tags.xml

       Removing all tags requires leaving out the file name:

           $ mkvpropedit movie.mkv --tags all:

       Replacing the chapters in a file looks like this:

           $ mkvpropedit movie.mkv --chapters new-chapters.xml

       Removing all chapters requires leaving out the file name:

           $ mkvpropedit movie.mkv --chapters ''

       Adding a font file (Arial.ttf) as an attachment:

           $ mkvpropedit movie.mkv --add-attachment Arial.ttf

       Adding a font file (89719823.ttf) as an attachment and providing some information as it
       really is just Arial:

           $ 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

       Replacing one attached font (Comit.ttf) file with another one (Arial.ttf):

           $ mkvpropedit movie.mkv --attachment-name Arial.ttf --attachment-description 'The Arial font as a TrueType font' --replace-attachment name:Comic.ttf:Arial.ttf

       Deleting the second attached file, whatever it may be:

           $ mkvpropedit movie.mkv --delete-attachment 2

       Deleting all attached fonts by MIME type:

           $ 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.

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_DEBUG
           The 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).

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
           http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/