ffprobe newer version detect audio codec incorrectly

Question

I find a strange problem.

I have a test video with h264 video codec and aac audio codec. It is at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YAyz5cO0kb9r0MgahCpISR4bZ_1_n8PL/view?usp=sharing

I build a ffmpeg version by myself, its version is:

ffprobe version 7.0.2 Copyright (c) 2007-2024 the FFmpeg developers
 built with gcc 14.1.0 (Rev3, Built by MSYS2 project)
 configuration: --enable-shared
 libavutil 59. 8.100 / 59. 8.100
 libavcodec 61. 3.100 / 61. 3.100
 libavformat 61. 1.100 / 61. 1.100
 libavdevice 61. 1.100 / 61. 1.100
 libavfilter 10. 1.100 / 10. 1.100
 libswscale 8. 1.100 / 8. 1.100
 libswresample 5. 1.100 / 5. 1.100

I then use ffprobe to get its info:

ffprobe -v quiet -print_format ini -show_streams -show_packets test_h264.mp4 > test_h264.ini

Then I get an ini file which shows the audio codec as MP2:

[streams.stream.0]
index=0
codec_name=mp2
codec_long_name=MP2 (MPEG audio layer 2)
profile=unknown
codec_type=audio
codec_tag_string=mp4a
codec_tag=0x6134706d
sample_fmt=fltp
sample_rate=44100
channels=2
channel_layout=stereo
bits_per_sample=0
initial_padding=0
id=0x1
r_frame_rate=0/0
avg_frame_rate=0/0
time_base=1/44100
start_pts=2788
start_time=0.063220
duration_ts=435455
duration=9.874263
bit_rate=127706
max_bit_rate=N/A
bits_per_raw_sample=N/A
nb_frames=378
nb_read_frames=N/A
nb_read_packets=378

Another developer he uses his version of ffprobe:

ffprobe version 2023年02月22日-git-d5cc7acff1-full_build-www.gyan.dev Copyright (c) 2007-2023 the FFmpeg developers 

Based on the year, my version(2024) should be newer than his(2023), but his version of ffprobe can get the audio codec properly:

[streams.stream.1]
index=1
codec_name=aac
codec_long_name=AAC (Advanced Audio Coding)
profile=LC
codec_type=audio
codec_tag_string=mp4a
codec_tag=0x6134706d
sample_fmt=fltp
sample_rate=44100
channels=2
channel_layout=stereo
bits_per_sample=0
initial_padding=0
id=0x2
r_frame_rate=0/0
avg_frame_rate=0/0
time_base=1/44100
start_pts=1764
start_time=0.040000
duration_ts=436480
duration=9.897506
bit_rate=111733
max_bit_rate=N/A
bits_per_raw_sample=N/A
nb_frames=427
nb_read_frames=N/A
nb_read_packets=427
extradata_size=5

Why?

I also tried a ffprobe version on ubuntu with the following version:

ffprobe version 6.1.1-3ubuntu5 Copyright (c) 2007-2023 the FFmpeg developers
 built with gcc 13 (Ubuntu 13.2.0-23ubuntu3)
 configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-version=3ubuntu5 --toolchain=hardened --libdir=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu --incdir=/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu --arch=amd64 --enable-gpl --disable-stripping --disable-omx --enable-gnutls --enable-libaom --enable-libass --enable-libbs2b --enable-libcaca --enable-libcdio --enable-libcodec2 --enable-libdav1d --enable-libflite --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-libfribidi --enable-libglslang --enable-libgme --enable-libgsm --enable-libharfbuzz --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libmysofa --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopenmpt --enable-libopus --enable-librubberband --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwebp --enable-libx265 --enable-libxml2 --enable-libxvid --enable-libzimg --enable-openal --enable-opencl --enable-opengl --disable-sndio --enable-libvpl --disable-libmfx --enable-libdc1394 --enable-libdrm --enable-libiec61883 --enable-chromaprint --enable-frei0r --enable-ladspa --enable-libbluray --enable-libjack --enable-libpulse --enable-librabbitmq --enable-librist --enable-libsrt --enable-libssh --enable-libsvtav1 --enable-libx264 --enable-libzmq --enable-libzvbi --enable-lv2 --enable-sdl2 --enable-libplacebo --enable-librav1e --enable-pocketsphinx --enable-librsvg --enable-libjxl --enable-shared
 libavutil 58. 29.100 / 58. 29.100
 libavcodec 60. 31.102 / 60. 31.102
 libavformat 60. 16.100 / 60. 16.100
 libavdevice 60. 3.100 / 60. 3.100
 libavfilter 9. 12.100 / 9. 12.100
 libswscale 7. 5.100 / 7. 5.100
 libswresample 4. 12.100 / 4. 12.100
 libpostproc 57. 3.100 / 57. 3.100

It will detect the audio as aac properly, but with different parameters, for example, bit_rate is 111733(developer) but 110399(ubuntu). But this parameter comes from the same file so should be the same.

[streams.stream.1]
index=1
codec_name=aac
codec_long_name=AAC (Advanced Audio Coding)
profile=LC
codec_type=audio
codec_tag_string=mp4a
codec_tag=0x6134706d
sample_fmt=fltp
sample_rate=44100
channels=2
channel_layout=stereo
bits_per_sample=0
initial_padding=0
id=0x2
r_frame_rate=0/0
avg_frame_rate=0/0
time_base=1/44100
start_pts=0
start_time=0.000000
duration_ts=441353
duration=10.008005
bit_rate=110399
max_bit_rate=N/A
bits_per_raw_sample=N/A
nb_frames=432
nb_read_frames=N/A
nb_read_packets=432
extradata_size=5

• VC.One: Not being rude but what Answer are you expecting? At worst, this is just a bug in someone else's code and we must all wait until they fix it. At best, you can try to re-compile FFmpeg with the relevant function(s) as modified to match the older version. Are you a C/C++ coder, who is willing to manually check the bytes for the answer? Or is it that it must be solved only via FFmpeg?
• alancc: @VC.One, Thank you. I just want to check if others have encountered a similar bug since it is so obviously and I even doubt if it is a bug.

Answer 1

audio stream codec of sample video provide by you, should be mp3, below is the output of command "ffprobe -v quiet -print_format ini -show_streams test_h264.mp4"

[streams.stream.0]
index=0
codec_name=mp3
codec_long_name=MP3 (MPEG audio layer 3)
profile=unknown
codec_type=audio
codec_tag_string=mp4a
codec_tag=0x6134706d
sample_fmt=fltp
sample_rate=44100
channels=2
channel_layout=stereo
bits_per_sample=0
initial_padding=0
id=0x1
r_frame_rate=0/0
avg_frame_rate=0/0
time_base=1/44100
start_pts=2788
start_time=0.063220
duration_ts=435455
duration=9.874263
bit_rate=127706
max_bit_rate=N/A
bits_per_raw_sample=N/A
nb_frames=378
nb_read_frames=N/A
nb_read_packets=N/A

but when you add "-show_packets" option, the output become:

[streams.stream.0]
index=0
codec_name=mp2
codec_long_name=MP2 (MPEG audio layer 2)
profile=unknown
codec_type=audio
codec_tag_string=mp4a
codec_tag=0x6134706d
sample_fmt=fltp
sample_rate=44100
channels=2
channel_layout=stereo
bits_per_sample=0
initial_padding=0
id=0x1
r_frame_rate=0/0
avg_frame_rate=0/0
time_base=1/44100
start_pts=2788
start_time=0.063220
duration_ts=435455
duration=9.874263
bit_rate=127706
max_bit_rate=N/A
bits_per_raw_sample=N/A
nb_frames=378
nb_read_frames=N/A
nb_read_packets=378

so it seems like a bug of ffprobe, also my ffprobe is compiled as the same as you:

ffprobe version n7.0.2 Copyright (c) 2007-2024 the FFmpeg developers
 built with gcc 14 (GCC)
 configuration: --enable-shared
 libavutil 59. 8.100 / 59. 8.100
 libavcodec 61. 3.100 / 61. 3.100
 libavformat 61. 1.100 / 61. 1.100
 libavdevice 61. 1.100 / 61. 1.100
 libavfilter 10. 1.100 / 10. 1.100
 libswscale 8. 1.100 / 8. 1.100
 libswresample 5. 1.100 / 5. 1.100
Simple multimedia streams analyzer
usage: ffprobe [OPTIONS] INPUT_FILE