MP4 file inspector

There are a few tools for examining MP4 files such as mp4parser and Mp4 Explorer.

The best Windows tool is MP4 Inspector.

mp4parser is a great set of open-source tools created and maintained by Sebastian Annies.

One can simply use its compiled jars.  One can also import its source code to find out how it works.  This is useful considering its documentation is limited.

There are many ways to use the source code.  The following is just one of them:

1.  Use an SVN client (e.g. TortoiseSVN) to fetch a copy (svn checkout http://mp4parser.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ mp4parser-read-only) to a folder which will always store the latest version. 

2. Make another folder and copy everything from the aforementioned folder except the one related to SVN.

3. In Eclipse, File > Import... > Exsisting Maven Projects > select folder isoparser under the above newly created folder > finish.

4. To remedy error: "Plugin execution not covered by lifecycle configuration: org.codehaus.mojo:aspectj-maven-plugin:1.0:compile (execution: default, phase: process-classes)" in pom.xml, use tag <pluginManagement> to enclose all <plugins>.

If java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError occurs when a class of mp4parser is instantiated at runtime, export mp4parser to  jar, then add the jar file to folder "libs". then the following needs to be performed:

right-click the project > Build Path > Configure Build Path... >  Order and Export > check the mp3parser project included.

Instantiating IsoFile may invoke "java.lang.RuntimeException: java.io.IOException: BufferedInputStream is closed".