vidpickr

Glossary · concept

What is Metadata (video file metadata)?

Metadata is the information about a video file that isn't the audio or video data itself — title, artist, duration, resolution, codec used, encoding date, GPS location, thumbnail. It lives in container headers (MP4 "moov" atom, MKV "Tags" elements) and is what media players read to populate library views.

Also called:file metadata · tags · id3

Every consumer video file carries metadata baked into the container. MP4 stores it in a structured "moov" atom near the start of the file; MKV uses Tags elements; WebM follows MKV. The metadata is small (a few KB) compared to the video itself but contains everything the OS and media apps need to display the file.

For YouTube downloads, metadata is typically minimal — title (sometimes), duration, technical properties. The full creator info, description, comments, and so on live in YouTube's database, not in the video file. Editors that pull rich metadata (Channel name, description, tags, upload date) get it from YouTube's API, not from the downloaded file.

When VidPickr saves a file, we preserve YouTube's original metadata for the audio/video tracks (codec settings, color profile, timing) and add the video title as the filename. We don't inject anything else; the file is as clean as if you'd ripped it from a DVD.

Common questions

Does downloading from YouTube preserve metadata?
Title and duration, yes — those come from the video file itself. Description, channel name, upload date, comments, tags, view count — those live in YouTube's database and need a separate API call. Some downloaders pull them; many don't.

Related terms

Container (file format)

A container is the file format that wraps one or more audio and video streams into a single file.

Codec

A codec is the algorithm that encodes (compresses) and decodes raw audio or video into a smaller stream.

Mux (muxing)

Muxing is the process of combining separate audio and video streams into a single container file (MP4, MKV, WebM).

VidPickr is a free, browser-based YouTube downloader. Every term in this glossary either describes how YouTube delivers video or why your downloads behave the way they do. Try the downloader →