How to show bit-rate on mp3 files from the command line?

bgoodr · 09-17-2009, 09:51 AM

Sometime in the past, I had installed some Debian package that would show the bit-rate on a .mp3 file, but alas, I cannot remember the name of the package. I thought it was the id3v2 utility, but that does not apparently show the bit-rate. I installed mpg123, but the mpg123 man page says nothing about showing that type of info. I do not want a GUI, I need it from the command line.

Can someone tell me what package I can install to show the bit-rate (no, I don't want to build it from source if at all possible), and ideally it would show it along with the ID3v2 MP3 tags as well similar to what id3v2 does.

Thanks,
bgoodr

bathory · 09-17-2009, 10:31 AM

I think that

Code:

mpg123 -t file.mp3

will do.

Regards

bgoodr · 09-18-2009, 12:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bathory

I think that

Code:

mpg123 -t file.mp3

will do.

Yes, that does show the bitrate, but takes way to long to come back with the answer on long mp3 files, presumably since that -t option decodes the entire stream file. I am expecting to be able to be able to get a bitrate reading from many .mp3 files, and that delay will be too expensive. So, aren't there any other tools that just seek into the file and read out the bitrate along with the other tags?

Thanks,
bg

bathory · 09-18-2009, 12:11 AM

In that case, you can use the the -n option (number of frames):

Code:

mpg123 -t -n 1 file.mp3

I'm not aware of other CLI tools.

Regards

slakmagik · 09-18-2009, 01:51 AM

id3info (which is a sort of demo tool in id3lib) will give you the bit rate and tags but only id3v1. There's also id3, mp3info, the aforementioned id3v2, and several others. I can't remember which are which and do what, though.

bgoodr · 09-18-2009, 09:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slakmagik

id3info (which is a sort of demo tool in id3lib) will give you the bit rate and tags but only id3v1. There's also id3, mp3info, the aforementioned id3v2, and several others. I can't remember which are which and do what, though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bathory

In that case, you can use:

Code:

mpg123 -t -n 1 file.mp3

Regards

Thanks everyone. I'll give them a shot and report back what I find that works the best.

bg

bgoodr · 09-18-2009, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bgoodr

Thanks everyone. I'll give them a shot and report back what I find that works the best.

bg

I found some of my files that, when running both with "mpg123 -t -n 1" and "mpg123 -t", I see output of the form that does NOT include any kbit/s reading:

Code:

High Performance MPEG 1.0/2.0/2.5 Audio Player for Layers 1, 2 and 3
    version 1.7.2; written and copyright by Michael Hipp and others
    free software (LGPL/GPL) without any warranty but with best wishes

Directory: [CENSORED]
Playing MPEG stream 1 of 1: [CENSORED] ...
Title:   [CENSORED]                      Artist: [CENSORED]
Comment:                                 Album:  [CENSORED]
Year:    2007                            Genre:  Jazz, 
MPEG 1.0 layer III, VBR, 44100 Hz joint-stereo

[0:00] Decoding of [CENSORED] finished.

So I don't know why that would be the case since the files do have to have some bitrate, don't they? Regardless, I'll investigate the other programs that were suggested.

bgoodr · 09-18-2009, 09:58 AM

The id3 program only shows the id3 tags, not the bit rate (unless there is some undocumented option not shown in the id3 man page).

Trying the other suggested tools ...

bg

bgoodr · 09-18-2009, 10:04 AM

mp3info is not id3v2 aware, resulting in this error message:

Code:

<file> does not have an ID3 1.x tag.

bg

pwc101 · 09-18-2009, 10:14 AM

I've not got time to test it, but I seem to recall that the midentify.sh script that's in the mplayer source archive might be able to give you this information.

edit: Here it is:

Code:

#!/bin/sh
#
# This is a wrapper around the -identify functionality.
# It is supposed to escape the output properly, so it can be easily
# used in shellscripts by 'eval'ing the output of this script.
#
# Written by Tobias Diedrich <ranma+mplayer@tdiedrich.de>
# Licensed under GNU GPL.

if [ -z "$1" ]; then
        echo "Usage: midentify.sh <file> [<file> ...]"
        exit 1
fi

mplayer -vo null -ao null -frames 0 -identify "$@" 2>/dev/null |
        sed -ne '/^ID_/ {
                          s/[]()|&;<>`'"'"'\\!$" []/\\&/g;p
                        }'

bgoodr · 09-18-2009, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pwc101

... midentify.sh script ...

Thanks a bunch everyone. the midentify.sh script fits the bill I believe, but I will have to try it on tons of files first. Some of the files I tried it on show two outputs for bitrate which I will have to puzzle over.

Again, thanks everyone!
bg

bgoodr · 09-18-2009, 11:14 AM

I posted a related question based upon my usage of mplayer at:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...95#post3688695

Shadow_7 · 09-18-2009, 07:49 PM

ffmpeg -i file.mp3

file file.mp3

mediainfo file.mp3

and probably dozens of other ways.

jhwilliams · 09-18-2009, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pwc101

s/[]()|&;<>`'"'"'\\!$" []/\\&/g;p

Gee. Can someone explain that substitution string to me?

mrclisdue · 09-18-2009, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhwilliams

Gee. Can someone explain that substitution string to me?

I'm pretty sure that it defines the author as a virgo, with libra on the horizon, then you turn left, go down three flights of stairs, take the elevator up 6 floors, to the lingerie department, look up, flick your left ear, leave via the fire exit, hail the 3rd burgundy cab that comes your way, and tell the driver to "fondle mine botox", or something eerily similar.

hth,