diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 68d0b55..19781a6 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -881,6 +881,14 @@ dependencies = [
  "gpui",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "clipbin-media"
+version = "0.1.0"
+dependencies = [
+ "clipbin-core",
+ "ffmpeg-next",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "clipbin-obs"
 version = "0.1.0"
@@ -1680,6 +1688,31 @@ dependencies = [
  "simd-adler32",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "ffmpeg-next"
+version = "9.0.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "6380599799e175191eb7ffe82c97f36a2a90a36cbc54c738a903e5287d7f516a"
+dependencies = [
+ "bitflags 2.13.2",
+ "ffmpeg-sys-next",
+ "libc",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "ffmpeg-sys-next"
+version = "9.0.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "9b939bf79dd5949412a4b81cfe21a07f48ea21b47fcbb5f57816c8c2de5ae30b"
+dependencies = [
+ "bindgen 0.72.1",
+ "cc",
+ "libc",
+ "num_cpus",
+ "pkg-config",
+ "vcpkg",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "filedescriptor"
 version = "0.8.3"
@@ -5965,6 +5998,12 @@ dependencies = [
  "sval_serde",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "vcpkg"
+version = "0.2.15"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "accd4ea62f7bb7a82fe23066fb0957d48ef677f6eeb8215f372f52e48bb32426"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "version_check"
 version = "0.9.5"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 4b247a3..63378d6 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 members = [
     "crates/clipbin-core",
     "crates/clipbin-desktop",
+    "crates/clipbin-media",
     "crates/clipbin-obs",
     "crates/clipbin-probe",
     "crates/rig-pointer",
@@ -19,6 +20,7 @@ publish = false
 
 [workspace.dependencies]
 clipbin-core = { path = "crates/clipbin-core" }
+clipbin-media = { path = "crates/clipbin-media" }
 clipbin-obs = { path = "crates/clipbin-obs" }
 gpui = "=0.2.2"
 # The tested OBS set: the libobs crate's bundled headers are OBS 32.0.4, matching
diff --git a/crates/clipbin-media/Cargo.toml b/crates/clipbin-media/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..12934c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/clipbin-media/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+[package]
+name = "clipbin-media"
+description = "Reading recorded segments: clip export (remux) and playback decoding, via FFmpeg."
+version.workspace = true
+edition.workspace = true
+rust-version.workspace = true
+license.workspace = true
+repository.workspace = true
+publish.workspace = true
+
+[dependencies]
+clipbin-core.workspace = true
+ffmpeg-next = { version = "9", default-features = false, features = ["codec", "format", "software-scaling", "software-resampling"] }
+
+[lints]
+workspace = true
diff --git a/crates/clipbin-media/src/lib.rs b/crates/clipbin-media/src/lib.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f55d659
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/clipbin-media/src/lib.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+//! Reading recorded segments with FFmpeg: clip export (remuxing without
+//! re-encoding) and decoding for playback.
+//!
+//! FFmpeg is linked dynamically: the system's libraries on Linux (the OBS
+//! runtime already depends on them) and, on Windows, the FFmpeg DLLs shipped
+//! in the official OBS release that scripts/obs/assemble-windows.sh bundles.
+
+use std::{path::Path, sync::Once, time::Duration};
+
+pub use ffmpeg_next as ffmpeg;
+
+/// Initialises FFmpeg once per process.
+pub fn init() {
+    static INIT: Once = Once::new();
+    INIT.call_once(|| {
+        let _ = ffmpeg::init();
+        ffmpeg::log::set_level(ffmpeg::log::Level::Error);
+    });
+}
+
+/// Basic facts about a segment file.
+#[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq)]
+pub struct Probe {
+    pub duration: Duration,
+    pub video_codec: String,
+    pub width: u32,
+    pub height: u32,
+    pub audio_tracks: usize,
+}
+
+pub fn probe(path: &Path) -> Result<Probe, ffmpeg::Error> {
+    init();
+    let input = ffmpeg::format::input(path)?;
+    let video = input
+        .streams()
+        .best(ffmpeg::media::Type::Video)
+        .ok_or(ffmpeg::Error::StreamNotFound)?;
+    let decoder = ffmpeg::codec::context::Context::from_parameters(video.parameters())?
+        .decoder()
+        .video()?;
+    let micros = input.duration().max(0) as u64;
+    Ok(Probe {
+        duration: Duration::from_micros(micros),
+        video_codec: decoder.id().name().to_owned(),
+        width: decoder.width(),
+        height: decoder.height(),
+        audio_tracks: input
+            .streams()
+            .filter(|stream| stream.parameters().medium() == ffmpeg::media::Type::Audio)
+            .count(),
+    })
+}
+
+#[cfg(test)]
+mod tests {
+    use super::*;
+
+    /// Set CLIPBIN_TEST_SEGMENT to a recorded segment to run this.
+    #[test]
+    fn probes_a_recorded_segment() {
+        let Some(path) = std::env::var_os("CLIPBIN_TEST_SEGMENT") else {
+            return;
+        };
+        let probe = probe(Path::new(&path)).unwrap();
+        assert!(probe.duration > Duration::ZERO);
+        assert!(probe.width > 0 && probe.height > 0);
+        println!("{probe:?}");
+    }
+}