What's Actually Inside a Live Photo File? A Metadata Inspector

The Live Photo checker gives you a verdict: pass or fail on each of the six things iOS requires. This tool does the opposite job — it dumps everything a file actually contains, with no judgement attached, so you can read the raw structure yourself. It is built for the case the checker doesn't cover: debugging a broken export, filing a bug report, or just wanting to see what's really in there.

It does not tell you whether a file will animate. For that, use the checker.

Before you drop a file

Get the file off your phone

A Live Photo is two files sharing one UUID: a .HEIC still and a .MOV video. On a Mac, open it in Photos and use File › Export › Export Unmodified Original — plain Export flattens the Live Photo into a single image and the video never comes out. Unlike the checker, this tool doesn't need both halves: drop just the .MOV for its metadata and box structure, just the .HEIC for its assetIdentifier, or both for two separate reports.

Live Photo Inspector FREE

Drop the video or the still and see every QuickTime metadata key, track and container box it carries — the raw structure, no verdict attached.

Drop a file here or click to choose Either one on its own is enough — unlike the checker, this tool doesn't need the pair. Drop both and you'll get two reports.

Read in your browser · nothing is uploaded — disconnect your network after this page loads and it still works.

What you're looking at

MOV, HEIC and MP4 are all built on the same container format — ISO/IEC 14496-12 — a flat sequence of typed, sized chunks called boxes. Every box is just a type (four letters, like moov or mdat), a byte offset, and a size; some boxes hold data directly, others just contain more boxes. The box structure this tool prints is that outermost layer — it's the table of contents for the file, and it's the fastest way to spot something wrong before going any deeper: a missing moov, a truncated mdat, or a file that isn't this container format at all.

Inside a MOV's moov box sits a meta box holding QuickTime's own key-value metadata — a keys list naming each field and an ilst list holding its value. That's the metadata table below. Alongside it, moov/trak boxes describe each track: a handler (vide for video, meta for timed metadata) and the sample format its data is stored in (hvc1 for HEVC, mebx for a timed-metadata track carrying frame markers).

The keys that decide wallpaper eligibility

Most metadata keys are routine — com.apple.quicktime.software, major_brand, and similar bookkeeping that has nothing to do with whether a Live Photo animates. A handful decide it, and this tool marks them with an eligibility tag so they stand out from the rest of the dump:

com.apple.quicktime.content.identifier — the UUID the video carries, matched against the still's own identifier to pair the two files.
com.apple.quicktime.still-image-time — lives in a timed-metadata track, not the key-value table; marks which frame is the key photo.
com.apple.quicktime.live-photo.auto, live-photo.vitality-score and live-photo.vitality-scoring-version — a group of three that travel together. Files missing them are treated as an ordinary video. Observed values on a working file: auto = boolean 1, vitality-score = float32 around 1.0, vitality-scoring-version = int64 4.

On the HEIC side, the equivalent field is the assetIdentifier — the same UUID as the video's content.identifier, stored not in a metadata table but inside Apple's MakerNote, tag 0x0011, buried in the Exif block. That's why a HEIC's report below is shorter than a MOV's: HEIC doesn't carry QuickTime's keys+ilst structure, so there's no key table to dump, just the identifier and the box layout.

Full explanations of what each of these means for eligibility, and the six-point pass/fail check, live on the checker page.

Reading binary values

QuickTime metadata values carry a type indicator. Type 1 is UTF-8 text, and this tool shows it as text. Everything else — integers, floats, opaque structs — is shown as hex bytes rather than guessed at, because decoding it wrong is worse than not decoding it. Long values are capped in the display; the "copy as text" button includes the same cap, so a bug report stays readable.

Frequently asked questions

Why does the HEIC report have no metadata table?

Because there isn't one to read. A HEIC stores its one Live Photo–relevant field, the assetIdentifier, inside an Exif MakerNote rather than in a QuickTime keys+ilst pair, so this tool shows that field directly instead of a table.

My file shows every eligibility key but still won't animate.

That's a content problem, not a structure one — this tool only reports what's present, not whether it's enough. Run the file through the checker, which also covers duration, codec and the motion pattern iOS seems to reward.

Does this upload my file anywhere?

No. Parsing happens in your browser in JavaScript. Disconnect your network after this page has loaded and it still works.

Lockimate writes every one of these fields by construction, so the wallpapers it makes animate on the first try.

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