gst-typefind-1.0

Print media type of file

TLDR

Determine the media type of a file

$ gst-typefind-1.0 [path/to/file]

Detect media types of multiple files

$ gst-typefind-1.0 [path/to/file1] [path/to/file2]

Use a custom plugin path for type detection

$ gst-typefind-1.0 --gst-plugin-path=[path/to/plugins] [path/to/file]

SYNOPSIS

gst-typefind-1.0 [options] files

gst-typefind-1.0 is a command-line tool from the GStreamer multimedia framework that identifies the media type (MIME type) of files. It uses GStreamer's typefind subsystem, which examines file headers and content patterns through installed plugins to determine what kind of media a file contains.The tool applies a probability-based detection system where plugins report confidence levels for their media type matches. It is specifically designed for multimedia files that GStreamer can handle, rather than being a general-purpose file type detector.

PARAMETERS

--gst-plugin-path=PATH

Add colon-separated directories to the GStreamer plugin search path.

--gst-plugin-spew

Enable printout of errors while loading GStreamer plugins.

--gst-debug-level=LEVEL

Set the debugging output threshold (0-9, default 0).

--gst-info-mask=FLAGS

Set GStreamer info flags.

--gst-debug-mask=FLAGS

Set GStreamer debugging flags.

--gst-mask=FLAGS

Set both GStreamer info and debugging flags simultaneously.

--help

Display help information.

INSTALL

sudo apt install gstreamer1.0-tools

sudo apk add gstreamer-tools

CAVEATS

Detection accuracy depends entirely on which GStreamer plugins are installed. If the plugin for a particular media format is missing, the file may not be identified correctly or at all. This tool is not a replacement for the general-purpose file command, as it only recognizes media types supported by the installed GStreamer plugin ecosystem.

HISTORY

gst-typefind-1.0 is part of the GStreamer multimedia framework, originally created for the GNOME project. The 1.0 suffix was introduced with the GStreamer 1.0 release in September 2012, allowing parallel installation with the older 0.10 series. The typefind subsystem is a core part of GStreamer's architecture, enabling automatic media format detection across the framework.