Decrypt an avi file to disclose author information

can you be more specific?
A simple solutions could be opening that file in VLC and looking at the stream info. but that may or maynot give out the details that you are looking for.
 
booo said:
can you be more specific?
A simple solutions could be opening that file in VLC and looking at the stream info. but that may or maynot give out the details that you are looking for.
Click to expand...
pauldmps said:
Try the Media File Info option in Format Factory. Also right clicking and going into properties may give you few details.
Click to expand...
I looked for the author information of an avi file in properties>detials and it shows my name there, when I try to see the same information on a different PC, it shows the name of that PCs owner there. I want to know if there is any way by which I can get to know about the person who has created that avi file. I want to know if at any place in the encrypted data the information pertaining to author's IP address, computer serial number, software built number, or any other information is stored which can help in identifying creator of that file.

I just have the avi file in my hand, I want to reach upto the creator of that file. If there is any way it can be identified, if it can be done by the help of cops then I can approach them also, but first I want to know if it is possible to trace the author/creator.
 
MediaInfo(From K Lite Codec pack) only gives the name of the application/software that was used to create the file and not the author.I don't think that the cerator will put in their name in the Description section.

upload_2015-10-12_15-22-4.png
 
I worked with AVI files long time back but let me try to explain a little. AVI means Audio Video Interleave. basically chunks of audio and video are put together so that when they play, the stream has both audio and video data. The main avi header is below and obviously you can see There is no information about the author in it. but since its an interleave of audio and video data, audio formats such as mp3 usually have the author included into the id3 tags if the author chose it. you can try that if you want.

Code: 
typedef          struct
{
DWORD          dwMicroSecPerFrame;          //          frame          display          rate          (or          0)
DWORD          dwMaxBytesPerSec;          //          max.          transfer          rate
DWORD          dwPaddingGranularity;          //          pad          to          multiples          of          this
//          size;
DWORD          dwFlags;          //          the          ever-present          flags
DWORD          dwTotalFrames;          //          #          frames          in          file
DWORD          dwInitialFrames;
DWORD          dwStreams;
DWORD          dwSuggestedBufferSize;
DWORD          dwWidth;
DWORD          dwHeight;
DWORD          dwReserved[4];
}          MainAVIHeader;
 
booo said:
I worked with AVI files long time back but let me try to explain a little. AVI means Audio Video Interleave. basically chunks of audio and video are put together so that when they play, the stream has both audio and video data. The main avi header is below and obviously you can see There is no information about the author in it. but since its an interleave of audio and video data, audio formats such as mp3 usually have the author included into the id3 tags if the author chose it. you can try that if you want.

Code: 
typedef          struct
{
DWORD          dwMicroSecPerFrame;          //          frame          display          rate          (or          0)
DWORD          dwMaxBytesPerSec;          //          max.          transfer          rate
DWORD          dwPaddingGranularity;          //          pad          to          multiples          of          this
//          size;
DWORD          dwFlags;          //          the          ever-present          flags
DWORD          dwTotalFrames;          //          #          frames          in          file
DWORD          dwInitialFrames;
DWORD          dwStreams;
DWORD          dwSuggestedBufferSize;
DWORD          dwWidth;
DWORD          dwHeight;
DWORD          dwReserved[4];
}          MainAVIHeader;
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply, however, some time ago I read on google that a serial killer use to send CD's containing video recording and he was traced to its computer, it mentioned that .avi files have some information pertaining computer serial number, IP address, software built number etc in the encrypted form with the help of which he was traced (after decrypting), so I thought if there could be a possibility of tracing the author of .avi file.

Please refer to the below mentioned link for more information

http://forum.videohelp.com/threads/225195-Cam-Bitmap-Mpeg-or-avi-Video-files-be-traced

Regards
 
Last edited:
As I mentioned earlier, AVI is just a container. it supports multiple video and audio formats. it depends a lot on the individual streams present in that avi file. for example, mp3 id3 tags contain a lot of information about the creator if they chose to include it.
if you think of video stream as a sequence of jpeg images, most of the times jpeg images contain what is known as EXIF data which contains a lot of info such as camera, exposure etc... but most of the video formats chose to discard it since it takes a lot of storage space to include that type of data for every video frame.

short answer; it depends on what steams are put in the avi format. its a 50-50 chance to get those details because the encoder software may chose to discard those headers to decrease the file size. Now, in your avi file, what are the streams? did you manage to identify the audio and video stream headers?
 
booo said:
As I mentioned earlier, AVI is just a container. it supports multiple video and audio formats. it depends a lot on the individual streams present in that avi file. for example, mp3 id3 tags contain a lot of information about the creator if they chose to include it.
if you think of video stream as a sequence of jpeg images, most of the times jpeg images contain what is known as EXIF data which contains a lot of info such as camera, exposure etc... but most of the video formats chose to discard it since it takes a lot of storage space to include that type of data for every video frame.

short answer; it depends on what steams are put in the avi format. its a 50-50 chance to get those details because the encoder software may chose to discard those headers to decrease the file size. Now, in your avi file, what are the streams? did you manage to identify the audio and video stream headers?
Click to expand...

I do not have much knowledge about how to identify the audio and video stream headers, can you suggest some software or some method by which I can identify the audio and video stream headers.

Thanks
 
VLC->tools->stram information will give you basic info. from there you have to unpack the avi to get the stream and then unpack that stream to get its headers. tools depend on what type stream it is.
 
booo said:
VLC->tools->stram information will give you basic info. from there you have to unpack the avi to get the stream and then unpack that stream to get its headers. tools depend on what type stream it is.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your guidance, however, I wont be able to unpack the avi and then unpack the stream to get the headers as I don't have much knowledge about it, would you be able to do it for me if I send the avi file to you?
 
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