View or change media file properties

The Media Properties dialog shows information about a media file and lets you edit supported properties.

Open it from Project Media, Explorer, or a timeline event to review or edit properties for the selected media. The available pages depend on the selected media and the information Vegas Pro can read.

Open the Media Properties dialog

Open Media Properties from Project Media

Select one or more media files in the Project Media window.
Click the Media Properties button .

Open Media Properties from a timeline event

Right-click the event.
Choose Media Properties from the shortcut menu.

Open Media Properties from Explorer

Select a media file in Explorer.
Right-click the file and choose Properties from the shortcut menu, or press Ctrl+P.

NOTE When you open Media Properties from Explorer, the dialog shows only the Information page, because the file is not opened as project media.

Review and edit media properties

Review available Media Properties pages

The pages available in the dialog depend on the selected media and the information that Vegas Pro can read.

Page	Available when
Time code	The media file is part of the project.
Video	The media contains a video stream.
Audio	The media contains an audio stream.
Information	The media is not a media generator.
Still image	The media contains a still-image stream.
Generator	The media contains a generator stream.
Nested Sequence	The media is a nested sequence. The page replaces the Video page. The color settings of a nested sequence come from the saved project and cannot be changed; you can change Pixel Aspect Ratio, Alpha Channel, Background Color, and Rotation.
Meta Data	The file contains metadata. The page is read-only.

Media generators do not have an Information page. The dialog selects the Generator page for these files.

Media Properties actions

Action	Description
Help	Opens the relevant help page.
Copy to Clipboard	Copies the settings of the current page to the clipboard, one `Label: value` pair per line.
Save Profile	Saves Pixel Aspect Ratio, Scan Type, and Alpha Channel as a video profile. Available on the Video page when a single video file is selected. See Save settings to a video profile.

Set the timecode source

Use the Time code page to choose the timecode source for a media file.

Setting	Description
Physical media	Type the name of the tape or other physical media that the file was captured from.
Use custom timecode	Clear this check box to use the timecode from the media file. Select it to type a custom starting value for the timecode and choose its format from the drop-down list.

View media information

Click the Information page to view common media information.

The dialog retains the common-media information text from the previous dialog.

View audio properties

The Audio page shows the following read-only information for audio streams.

Item	Description
Format	Displays the audio format.
Sampling Rate (Hz)	Displays the audio sampling rate.
Bit Rate (Bps)	Displays the average data rate of the audio stream in bytes per second.
Channels	Displays the number of audio channels.
Bit Depth (bit)	Displays the audio bit depth.
Duration	Displays the audio duration.

Edit video properties

The Video page provides the following settings for video files.

In each drop-down list, the value that Vegas Pro read from the file when importing it is marked (detected). Choose it to undo a manual change.

Media Properties dialog with the pages Time code, Video, and Information on the left and the settings of the Video page on the right

FIGURE The Video page of the Media Properties dialog

Item	Description
Format	Displays the media format.
Resolution	Displays the media resolution.
Bit Depth	Displays the media bit depth.
Color Subsampling	Displays the media color subsampling.
Duration	Displays the media duration.
Frame Rate	Type a frame rate or choose a preset from the drop-down list to change the frame rate of the file.
Scan Type	Choose a setting from the drop-down list to select the scan type of the file. Default Progressive Top Field First Bottom Field First
Pixel Aspect Ratio	Choose a setting from the drop-down list to change the pixel aspect of the file. This setting will depend on your capture/video output card. Consult your capture/video output card manual for the proper settings.
Alpha Channel	Choose a setting from the drop-down list to change the alpha channel information for the file. If the alpha channel in an image is not detected, choose the correct type of alpha channel from this drop-down list. If you're unsure, try the Premultiplied setting first. Undefined – Video provides no alpha channel information. This setting ignores any alpha channel information in the file. None – Video has no alpha channel or there is an alpha channel but it's completely opaque (solid). Premultiplied – The standard method of handling alpha information. Transparency information is maintained in the alpha and RGB channels, and the image is ready for compositing. No RGB component exceeds the alpha value. Straight – Transparency information is maintained in only the alpha channel. Alpha information must be applied to the RGB channels before compositing.
Background Color	Click the color box to change the background color of the file.
OCIO Color Space	Choose the OpenColorIO input color space of the file, for example the Log format of a camera, or choose Off to use the internal color conversion. Available only in a 32-bit floating point project. The setting takes effect only when the project uses a view transform other than Off, for example in HDR Mode. »For further information: Specify the color space for individual clips
OCIO Input Device	For display-referred footage, such as HDR video in HLG or PQ, choose the display and view that the file was mastered for. Vegas Pro reverses this output transform. Choose Off if you do not need it. Available only in a 32-bit floating point project with ACES version 1.3. Like OCIO Color Space, the setting takes effect only when the project uses a view transform other than Off.
Color Primaries	Choose the color primaries (the color gamut) of the source, or keep the value detected from the file. For camera Log formats, choose the gamut that matches the recording mode of the camera. As soon as OCIO Color Space or OCIO Input Device is not set to Off, Color Primaries and Transfer Characteristics are unavailable, because OpenColorIO performs this conversion. Matrix Coefficients and Color Range stay available. NOTE Manual overrides of Color Primaries, Transfer Characteristics, Matrix Coefficients, and Color Range stay with the project. »For further information: Check the interpretation of each media file
Transfer Characteristics	Choose how the format encodes the brightness of the source, or keep the value detected from the file. Typical values are an SDR transfer function, a Log curve, HLG, or PQ. A source with the correct color primaries can still look wrong if the transfer characteristic is wrong.
Matrix Coefficients	Choose how Vegas Pro converts the YUV or YCbCr values of the source to RGB, or keep the value detected from the file. BT.709 is common for SDR HD video. BT.2020 non-constant luminance is common for HDR workflows in BT.2020.
Color Range	Choose the color range of the selected media: Undefined, Full, or Limited. Vegas Pro detects the media's color range if the media supports color range metadata. Most reader plug-ins support the color range override option. »For further information: Check the interpretation of each media file NOTE If the color range is “limited” or “Undefined” in Y’CbCr format, 16-236 and 16-255 color ranges will be converted to 0-255 RGB (full range). If the color range is full, no level conversion is performed when decoding Y’CbCr format into RGB color space. IMPORTANT The color range override option applies only when you've set 8-bit Pixel Format in Projects to full range mode. Some reader plug-ins, including MVC and WMV, do not support color range override. Still-image readers do not support it.
Rotation	Choose a setting from the drop-down list to rotate a media file's orientation. In this example, the video was shot with the camera tripod rotated 90 degrees. The project is rotated, but the media doesn't match the project orientation, so the video is letterboxed within the frame. After choosing 90° clockwise from the Rotation drop-down list, the media is rotated, and the video fills the frame. TIP To rotate the project orientation, use the Output rotation drop-down list on the Video tab of the Project Properties dialog. »For further information: Setting project properties To rotate multiple files quickly, select them in the Project Media window, right-click a selected file, and then choose Rotate 90° Clockwise or Rotate 90° Counterclockwise from the shortcut menu. For more information about working with rotated projects, see Creating rotated projects

Edit properties for multiple video files

Select two or more video files in the Project Media window and open Media Properties.

The page list shows a subpage for each selected file. A change on the parent page applies to all selected files. On the Information page, the information for each additional file appears below the preceding file.

The following settings can be edited for multiple video files:

Frame Rate
Scan Type
Pixel Aspect Ratio
Alpha Channel and Background Color
OCIO Color Space and OCIO Input Device
Color Primaries, Transfer Characteristics, Matrix Coefficients, and Color Range
Rotation

If a setting is not the same for all selected video files, the drop-down list shows (Multiple selection) and number boxes show ###. If you do not change the setting, the differing values are kept.

Save settings to a video profile

If you frequently edit a type of video file, click Save Profile after editing its settings. The button is available on the Video page when a single video file is selected.

Vegas Pro saves Pixel Aspect Ratio, Scan Type, and Alpha Channel. These settings are used whenever you add a file with the same format, resolution, frame rate, and bit depth.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Last modified on October 20, 2026

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