Quick Setup: Adding MediaInfoGUI .NET to Your C# ProjectMediaInfoGUI .NET offers a convenient way to view and extract technical and tag metadata from audio and video files directly inside a C# desktop application. This guide walks through prerequisites, installation options, a minimal working example, common tasks (reading basic metadata, parsing streams, and handling large batches), and troubleshooting tips so you can integrate MediaInfo functionality quickly and reliably.
What is MediaInfoGUI .NET?
MediaInfoGUI .NET is a .NET wrapper/GUI-oriented distribution around the MediaInfo library — a widely used open-source tool for retrieving media file technical details (format, codecs, bitrates, durations, resolution, audio channels, subtitles, container info, etc.). While MediaInfo itself is a native library (C/C++), the .NET wrapper exposes a managed API that you can call from C# projects to access the same metadata without writing native interop code.
Key fact: MediaInfo exposes both technical metadata (e.g., codec, bitrate, duration) and textual tags (e.g., title, artist, album).
Prerequisites
- Visual Studio 2019 or later (or another C#-capable IDE)
- .NET Framework 4.7.2+ or .NET 6/7/8 (check the specific MediaInfoGUI .NET package compatibility)
- NuGet access to install the managed MediaInfo wrapper package
- For non-Windows platforms or 32-bit vs 64-bit, the corresponding native MediaInfo DLL/so/dylib must be available
Installation options
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NuGet package (recommended)
- Search for a package named similar to “MediaInfo.DotNetWrapper”, “MediaInfoLib”, or “MediaInfoNative” depending on the distribution you choose. The package will usually include the managed assembly and may include the native binaries for common platforms and architectures.
- In Visual Studio: Tools → NuGet Package Manager → Manage NuGet Packages for Solution… → Browse → install the package into your project.
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Manual native DLL + managed assembly
- Download the official MediaInfo library from the project site or GitHub releases.
- Add the managed wrapper assembly to your project references.
- Place the native library (MediaInfo.dll / libmediainfo.so / libmediainfo.dylib) in your application output directory (or a path where it can be P/Invoked).
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Using the MediaInfo GUI application (for development/testing)
- Install MediaInfo GUI to inspect files while developing, but your deployed app should include the library or instruct users to install it.
Minimal C# example
Install the NuGet wrapper (example package name: MediaInfo.DotNetWrapper). Then create a simple console app demonstrating metadata extraction:
using System; using MediaInfoDotNet; // replace with actual namespace of the package class Program { static void Main(string[] args) { var path = args.Length > 0 ? args[0] : "sample.mp4"; try { var mi = new MediaFile(path); Console.WriteLine($"File: {path}"); Console.WriteLine($"Format: {mi.General.Format}"); Console.WriteLine($"Duration (ms): {mi.General.Duration}"); Console.WriteLine($"Overall bitrate: {mi.General.BitRate}"); foreach (var video in mi.Video) { Console.WriteLine($"Video codec: {video.Format}"); Console.WriteLine($"Resolution: {video.Width}x{video.Height}"); Console.WriteLine($"Frame rate: {video.FrameRate}"); } foreach (var audio in mi.Audio) { Console.WriteLine($"Audio codec: {audio.Format}"); Console.WriteLine($"Channels: {audio.Channel(s)}"); Console.WriteLine($"Sampling rate: {audio.SamplingRate}"); } } catch (Exception ex) { Console.WriteLine($"Error reading media info: {ex.Message}"); } } } Note: adjust namespaces and property names to match the specific wrapper you installed.
Common tasks
Reading basic metadata
- Use the wrapper’s General/Video/Audio/Text (subtitle) sections for quick access.
- Typical properties: Format, Duration, BitRate, Width, Height, FrameRate, Format_Profile, Channel(s), SamplingRate, Language, Title, Artist.
Parsing multiple files (batch)
- Loop file paths and create a MediaFile instance per file.
- For performance on large batches, consider processing files in parallel (Task.Run / Parallel.ForEach), but limit concurrency to avoid heavy disk and CPU I/O, and beware native library thread-safety (test wrapper).
Displaying metadata in a WinForms/WPF GUI
- Bind MediaInfo properties to UI controls (labels, grids).
- For lists (streams), use a DataGridView (WinForms) or ItemsControl/ListView (WPF) to show multiple audio/subtitle tracks.
Extracting custom fields
- Many wrappers provide Get(StreamKind, int, string) to fetch arbitrary fields by name (e.g., Get(StreamKind.Audio, 0, “BitRate”)).
- Use the full field list from MediaInfo’s documentation when you need less common properties.
Localization and output formats
- MediaInfo supports multiple output formats (Text, JSON, XML). Use JSON/XML when sending metadata to other systems or saving to disk.
Error handling and edge cases
- Missing native library: Catch DllNotFoundException and surface a clear error telling users which native DLL/so/dylib is missing and where to place it.
- Corrupt or unsupported files: Handle exceptions per-file and continue processing others.
- Thread-safety: Confirm the wrapper’s documentation; if uncertain, synchronize access to instances or create per-thread instances.
Deployment tips
- Include the correct native binary for each target platform/architecture. For Windows apps, include both x86 and x64 versions if you support both; for .NET Core, prefer RID-specific builds or runtime identifiers in your publish profile.
- Use assembly probing or a native library loader to locate the media info native binaries at runtime.
- Test your installer or publish output on a clean machine to ensure all native dependencies are present.
Troubleshooting checklist
- “MediaInfo not found” — verify native DLL is in output folder or PATH.
- Wrong values or missing streams — test with MediaInfo GUI to confirm what the native library reports.
- High memory/CPU during batches — limit parallelism; reuse objects if allowed by wrapper.
- Cross-platform issues — ensure the package includes platform-specific native libraries or instruct users to install MediaInfo via package managers (apt, brew, etc.) on Linux/macOS.
Further reading and resources
- MediaInfo official documentation for field names and output formats.
- The specific NuGet package README for any wrapper-specific API notes.
- Sample projects on GitHub that demonstrate WinForms/WPF integration with MediaInfo.
If you want, I can: provide a ready-to-run Visual Studio solution, adapt the example for WPF/WinForms with UI binding, or tailor code for .NET 6 single-file publish. Which would you like?
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