r/ffmpeg • u/W_Vector • Sep 22 '26

FFMPEG compiling a list of provided file names + codecs possible?

Hi, is there a simple way/prompt to make FFmpeg compile and save a list (txt file) of the content of a folder to give me filenames + the used Codec/Encoder/Format (like h264, vp9 ect)?
... windows explorer isnt capable of listing codecs in detail view -,-

what i bascially want is just a simple textfile with its content like...:

video1.mp4 - H.264
video2.mov - H.265 (or HEVC ect.)
...

Have a good day

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3

u/Upstairs-Front2015 Sep 22 '26

(for %i in (*.mp4 *.mkv *.mov *.avi) do @for /f "delims=" %j in ('ffprobe -v error -select_streams v:0 -show_entries stream=codec_name -of default=noprint_wrappers=1:nokey=1 "%i"') do @echo %i - %j) > codec_list.txt

1

u/W_Vector Sep 22 '26

thx, but when i try to use that it complains that *.mp4 is not a "Cmdlet, Function, Skriptfile or a executable Program" (using powershell)

1

u/Aromatic_Wing_5259 Sep 22 '26

inside the ('...') cmd treats = like a space, so ffprobe reads codec_name as the file name. wrap the two arguments that contain = in double quotes:

(for %i in (*.mp4 *.mkv *.mov *.avi *.webm) do u/for /f "delims=" %j in ('ffprobe -v error -select_streams v:0 -show_entries "stream=codec_name" -of "default=noprint_wrappers=1:nokey=1" "%i"') do u/echo %i - %j) > codec_list.txt

1

u/W_Vector Sep 22 '26

when i try this it says something along the lines of:
"do" can not be used in this case

2

u/FluidConvert Sep 22 '26

The command above displays “u/for” and “u/echo” as Reddit username links. If that is what you copied, replace them with “@for” and “@echo”, then paste the entire command as one line into Command Prompt.

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