Video metadata: what the app writes to the file
Metadata are service fields inside a video file. They hold the camera make, the shooting date, the program name. Windows shows some of them in the file properties, on the "Details" tab. Video Unique Booster rewrites these fields for every copy. The setting is in the "Metadata" section of the open project.
What does the app always do with metadata?
Part of the work is not configurable at all. It is done with any list item selected. It is the same for video creation on the device and in the cloud.
| Field | What happens to it |
|---|---|
| All original tags | stripped completely; not a single tag of the source file is carried over to the copy |
Creation date (creation_time) | written anew: the moment the job starts, in UTC, for example 2026-09-06T11:18:03.072633Z |
Comment (comment) | written empty |
Copyright (copyright) | written empty |
Cover (artwork) | written empty |
There is no way to turn this off. The "Add metadata" list controls only what is added on top of these five rows.
Why does the "No" item not mean "leave as it was"?
The "No" item means "do not add your own fields". The original tags are stripped with it too. The title, author, shooting date and camera make from the source file are not carried over to the copy under any settings. A copy's creation date is the moment it was created, not the moment of shooting. A second copy of the same video gets its own date.
Where is the "Metadata" page?
- Open the project.
- In the left menu, expand the "OUTPUT" section.
- Click "Metadata".
The dot next to the menu item is lit while the table has at least one row. A preset with an empty table does not light it.
What does the page consist of?
| Element | What it does |
|---|---|
| "Add metadata" | the label of the preset list |
| preset list | picks a preset; changing the item rewrites the table |
| "Import from video" | reads tags from another video file into the table |
| "Key" column | the field name; edited by double-clicking the cell |
| "Key valid" column | the validity icon of the name: ✅, ⚠️ or a dash for an empty cell |
| "Value" column | the field value; a double click opens the edit window |
| "Value valid" column | the validity icon of the value |
🗑 | one click deletes the row, without confirmation |
| "＋ Add row" | adds an empty row and opens name editing right away |
| "Remove editing traces" | a switch in the card under the table: after video creation, removes the traces of the video processing module from the file |
There are no collapsible cards on this page.
What does the "Remove editing traces" switch do?
After each copy is created, the app removes the traces of the video processing module from its file. The quality of the picture and audio does not change.
- It works for MP4 and MOV containers. MKV, WebM and AVI files stay as they are. The container is chosen on the "Performance" page, with the "Choose codec and container" switch.
- With video creation in the cloud, the cleanup runs on your computer, right after the copy is downloaded.
- A preview in the player is not cleaned.
- If the file could not be cleaned, the copy stays as the app created it.
In a new project the switch is on. In projects created before version 1.11.3 it is off until you turn it on yourself.
What does the cleanup change in the preset fields?
The cleanup runs after the metadata are written and may rewrite some preset rows. The fields and values a finished copy ended up with are shown in the file properties: where to see the result.
What is in the "Add metadata" list?
A new project has the "No" item selected. The items come in this order.
| Item | What it does to the table |
|---|---|
| "No" | clears the whole table, including rows typed by hand |
| "iPhone" | erases the table and fills in 10 rows |
| "Samsung" | erases the table and fills in 4 rows |
| "Google Pixel" | erases the table and fills in 4 rows |
| "DaVinci Resolve" | erases the table and fills in 4 rows |
| "Adobe Premiere Pro" | erases the table and fills in 4 rows |
| "Final Cut Pro" | erases the table and fills in 4 rows |
| "CapCut" | erases the table and fills in 3 rows |
| "HandBrake" | erases the table and fills in 3 rows |
| "Custom" | does not touch the table |
The app selects the "Custom" item itself. This happens after any cell is edited and after a successful import from another video.
What does each ready-made preset write?
| Preset | Fields and values |
|---|---|
| "iPhone" | major_brand=qt, minor_version=0, compatible_brands=qt, com.apple.quicktime.make=Apple, com.apple.quicktime.model - one model out of six, com.apple.quicktime.software - one system version out of 19, com.apple.quicktime.creationdate=<<dateUTC>>, language=ru, two handler_name rows |
| "Samsung" | major_brand=mp42, minor_version=0, compatible_brands=isommp42, com.android.version - one number out of three |
| "Google Pixel" | major_brand=mp42, minor_version=0, compatible_brands=isommp42, com.android.version - one number out of three |
| "DaVinci Resolve" | major_brand=qt, minor_version=0, compatible_brands=qt, software=Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve |
| "Adobe Premiere Pro" | major_brand=mp42, minor_version=0, compatible_brands=mp41mp42isom, software=Adobe Premiere Pro |
| "Final Cut Pro" | major_brand=qt, minor_version=0, compatible_brands=qt, software=Final Cut Pro |
| "CapCut" | major_brand=isom, minor_version=512, compatible_brands=isomiso2avc1mp41 |
| "HandBrake" | major_brand=isom, minor_version=512, compatible_brands=isomiso2avc1mp41 |
The "CapCut" and "HandBrake" presets give the same result. They cannot be told apart by the file.
With the "Remove editing traces" switch on, some of these fields may be rewritten: what the cleanup changes in the preset fields.
Two details of the "iPhone" preset. It has two rows named handler_name, and the second one is written to the file. It also sets the language ru for all copies. For a video in another language, it is worth fixing this by hand.
Why do copies have different values?
Curly braces in a value mean spintax: {option1|option2}. The app picks a variant anew for each copy. Twenty copies of one video get twenty independent draws. That is how the phone model and system version differ for each file.
How do I set my own fields?
- Pick any preset in the list or leave "No".
- Press "＋ Add row" at the bottom of the table.
- Type the field name and press Enter.
- Double-click the "Value" cell and type the value.
- Press "Save" in the edit window.
Rules for the field name: Latin letters, digits, -, _ and a dot for nesting (tags.language). There must be no spaces. The length is no more than 64 characters. Spintax is not allowed in the field name.
Rules for the value: spaces are allowed, curly braces mean spintax. A group in braces must contain at least two options separated by |.
What macros are there?
The value edit window opens with a double click on the "Value" cell. Its title is Editing: <field name>. Under the field there is a row of buttons labeled "Macros:". The macro value is picked at the moment the copy is created.
| Macro | What it inserts |
|---|---|
<<rn>> | "A random digit 0-9" |
<<rl>> | "A random letter a-z (lower case)" |
<<rL>> | "A random letter A-Z (upper case)" |
<<dateUTC>> | "The UTC date and time of video creation, for example 2026-03-19T12:44:18.000000Z" |
<<uuid>> | "A random UUID, for example 550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000" |
The "Save" button accepts the edit, the "Cancel" button discards it.
How do I take metadata from my own video?
- Open the "Metadata" page.
- Press "Import from video".
- Pick the file in the "Select a donor video" window.
The window filter accepts 13 extensions: mp4, mov, mkv, avi, webm, m4v, wmv, flv, mpg, mpeg, ts, m2ts, 3gp.
| Outcome | App text |
|---|---|
| the file was not read | "This file could not be read. Check that the file is in place and is not open in another program." |
| the file has no tags | "The file was read in full, but it has no metadata - there is nothing to take. Choose another file if you expected to see tags." |
| the table is not empty | The table holds <N> <row/rows>. Replace them with <M> <row/rows> from the donor video? This action cannot be undone. The "Replace" and "Cancel" buttons |
| some tags were not read | Some tags could not be read: <number> of them. |
What to know about importing:
- the table is replaced entirely, not added to; with an empty table the replacement happens silently;
- six of the thirteen extensions usually contain no tags at all: wmv, flv, mpg, mpeg, ts, m2ts;
- two fields are not taken from the other video: the creation date and the encoder program field;
- after a successful import the list switches to "Custom", and the values can be edited by hand.
What blocks the start?
| Line in the check sheet | When it appears | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| "Fix the errors in the metadata before export" | at least one cell is marked with the ⚠️ icon | press "Go to", open the cell and fix it |
Fill in the metadata table: it is empty in the "<item>" mode | a preset is selected, but the table has no rows | add a row or pick the "No" item |
Tooltips for an invalid field name: "The key cannot be empty", "Spintax is not allowed in the key (only in values)", "Spaces are not allowed in the key", "Allowed: Latin letters, digits, "-", "_" and "." for nesting (tags.language)", "Maximum length is 64 characters".
Tooltips for an invalid value:
The value cannot be empty
Extra closing brace at position <number>
Unclosed curly braces: <number>
The "{...}" group must contain at least two options separated by "|"
A row with an invalid name or value is not written to the file. There is no separate message about this, so fix all cells with the ⚠️ icon.
What will not be in the file?
The app does not write geographic coordinates or EXIF data to the video. No preset contains them, and such fields cannot be added by hand either.
Metadata are not part of the project complexity counter. They do not affect the cost of video creation in the cloud.
Where can I see the result?
Only in the file properties. Right-click the file, pick "Properties" and open the "Details" tab. The app's results table has no metadata columns. So the phone model that was drawn can be seen only in the file itself.
FAQ
Can I keep the original metadata?
No. The source file tags are stripped under any settings and in both video creation modes. The app has no separate item that keeps them.
Why do the file properties show today's shooting date?
That is by design. The creation date is written anew for each copy. It is the moment the file was created, not the moment of shooting.
How do the "CapCut" and "HandBrake" presets differ?
They do not. They write the same three rows. Pick either of the two.
Why did the list switch to "Custom" on its own?
You edited a table cell or imported tags from another video. The preset is kept: the rows in the table stayed the same. The word "Custom" only means that the table no longer matches a ready-made preset.
Why do copies of one video have different phone models?
A value with spintax is drawn anew for each copy. If you need the same label for the whole batch, replace the group in curly braces with a single value.
Does metadata affect how a platform behaves?
The app changes the contents of the file, and that is all that can be said about it. The app does not check how platforms behave when videos are uploaded.