Is it possible to get recording device from meta data?

Question

Im not sure if this is the right section to ask this question but i figured its worth a shot.

Is it possible to take metadata from a video and use that data to identify what phone model was used to record that video, like iPhone X, iPhone XR, iPhone 8+, etc.

I did some research on my own and I found two factors that might help, the first is vendor ID which is just “apple”, and then the second is the encoder, im not sure if different phones have different encoders in the hardware, i couldnt find any information on it.

If anybody could help me out that would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

There's a tool called ExifTool that can extract various forms of metadata from video and audio files. Here is an example (from 2013) of using the tool on a .mov file from an iPhone, which includes some lines in the output identifying the model of phone and OS version:

Make                            : Apple
Software (und-AU)               : 6.1.3
Model (und-AU)                  : iPhone 4S

However, it's entirely dependent on what metadata the program that created the video decided to include in the file. For example, on my Android phone using the built-in camera app, the metadata includes the version of Android but nothing about the make or model of the phone hardware.