Question

How do I programmatically find out the details of particular file from its meta-data. Like for example:

• What kind of file it is; image{png/gif/jpeg.. etc.}, video{avi/mpeg/wmv.. etc.}, flash{fla/swf/flv}, some other
• What software and which version of that software was used to create it.
• What is the closest registered program available on the current pc to
  open it.

I am more interested in understanding the .fla files created by flash and the images and videos that came from within it. Some were probably embedded in. Some would have been created using the Flash IDE itself.

My choice of programing language to do this would be C#, but I am open to anything else as well.

Thanks.

Answer 1

What metadata a file contains – if any – depends entirely on the file format.

Here’s a good example of reading EXIF data from a photographic image file:

• http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/11305/EXIFextractor-library-to-extract-EXIF-information

And here are some links for reading metadata from an MP3 audio file:

• http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vblanguage/thread/12782857-7eb0-4ae0-856e-595d7b5ff136/

There are something things you can get for some file formats using the standard .Net classes. For example, here’s the MSDN documentation for reading “PropertyItems” of a GDI+ “Image”:

• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/xddt0dz7.aspx

You can read Windows Version info (if your .dll or .exe happens to have version info) using the standard .Net VersionInfo class:

• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee270515%28v=bts.10%29.aspx

‘Hope that helps