guessit
GuessIt - a library for guessing information from video filenames.
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes. GuessIt is actively maintained, has low install friction, carries no known vulnerabilities, and solves a concrete problem for media-handling tools. The LGPL-3.0-or-later license is permissive for most use cases but requires attention if you are building a proprietary application. Install it if you need to parse video filenames; skip it if your filenames follow a rigid, custom format you can parse with simpler regex.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Python 3.10 or later.
- Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel and only three runtime dependencies.
- Actively maintained with a release 14 days old and recent commits; the project has 929 GitHub stars and supports current Python versions (3.10 through 3.14).
License · maintenance · safety
LGPL-3.0-or-later (copyleft) — Licensed under LGPL-3.0-or-later (copyleft). You may use and modify GuessIt freely, but any derivative work must also be distributed under a compatible copyleft license; proprietary applications cannot link it without legal review.
last release 2026-07-31 (14 days) · last repo commit 2026-08-09 · 929 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 164,370 downloads/mo, #10,550 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install guessit
from guessit import guessit
result = guessit('The.Matrix.1999.1080p.BluRay.x264-GROUP.mkv')
print(result['title'], result['year'], result['video_codec'])- Accuracy and coverage of filename patterns across different regional naming conventions and edge cases.
- Performance characteristics when processing large batches of filenames.
- Whether the library handles non-English or mixed-language filenames reliably.
What it is and what it does
GuessIt is a Python library that parses video filenames to extract structured metadata. Given a filename like 'Shameless.US.S05E10.720p.HDTV.x264-KILLERS.mkv', it returns a dictionary with title, season, episode, resolution, source, codec, release group, container, and media type. It works with both movie and TV episode filenames, handling a wide variety of naming conventions and abbreviations.
The library relies on pattern matching and rule-based extraction via its dependency on Rebulk. It is maintained actively, supports modern Python versions, and has no known security vulnerabilities. The three runtime dependencies (babelfish, python-dateutil, rebulk) are lightweight and add minimal installation overhead. GuessIt is useful for media center applications, download managers, and any tool that needs to organize or catalog video files by their filenames.
Use it for
- Organize downloaded TV episodes and movies into a media library by automatically extracting season/episode numbers and titles.
- Build a download manager that renames files consistently based on parsed metadata (title, year, resolution, codec).
- Populate a media database by bulk-parsing a folder of video files to extract and validate metadata.
- Filter or sort video files by properties like codec, resolution, or release group extracted from filenames.
- Validate that a video file's name matches expected metadata before processing or archiving it.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes.
GuessIt is actively maintained, has low install friction, carries no known vulnerabilities, and solves a concrete problem for media-handling tools. The LGPL-3.0-or-later license is permissive for most use cases but requires attention if you are building a proprietary application. Install it if you need to parse video filenames; skip it if your filenames follow a rigid, custom format you can parse with simpler regex.
Install
guessit on PyPI
Before you install
Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel and only three runtime dependencies. Actively maintained with a release 14 days old and recent commits; the project has 929 GitHub stars and supports current Python versions (3.10 through 3.14).
Requires Python 3.10 or later.
License in practice
Licensed under LGPL-3.0-or-later (copyleft). You may use and modify GuessIt freely, but any derivative work must also be distributed under a compatible copyleft license; proprietary applications cannot link it without legal review.
Quickstart
pip install guessit
from guessit import guessit
result = guessit('The.Matrix.1999.1080p.BluRay.x264-GROUP.mkv')
print(result['title'], result['year'], result['video_codec'])Verify before relying
- Accuracy and coverage of filename patterns across different regional naming conventions and edge cases.
- Performance characteristics when processing large batches of filenames.
- Whether the library handles non-English or mixed-language filenames reliably.
Package facts
| License | LGPL-3.0-or-later copyleft |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.10 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | 3 packagesbabelfishpython-dateutilrebulk |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 14 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 164,370 / month, #10,550 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Development Status :: 5 - Production/StableIntended Audience :: DevelopersOperating System :: OS IndependentProgramming Language :: Python :: 3Programming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14Topic :: MultimediaTopic :: Software Development :: Libraries :: Python Modules |
Evidence: guessit-4.4.0-py3-none-any.whl
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