Difference of meta-data between mdls and mediainfo

Question

I was wondering what are the difference between the type of metadata returned by mdls and by mediainfo. Why are they different? For exemple why the creation date is different on the same file?

Thanks!

$ mediainfo PLOUF.MOV 
General
Complete name                            : PLOUF.MOV
Format                                   : MPEG-4
Format profile                           : QuickTime
Codec ID                                 : qt  
File size                                : 16.9 MiB
Duration                                 : 8s 232ms
Overall bit rate                         : 17.3 Mbps
Recorded date                            : 2015-01-24T16:59:18+0100
Encoded date                             : UTC 2015-01-24 15:59:19
Tagged date                              : UTC 2015-01-24 15:59:27
Writing application                      : 8.1.2
Writing library                          : Apple QuickTime
©xyz                                     : +48.6205-001.4969+007.673/
Model                                    : iPhone 6
Make                                     : Apple
com.apple.quicktime.creationdate         : 2015-01-24T16:59:18+0100
com.apple.quicktime.model                : iPhone 6
com.apple.quicktime.software             : 8.1.2
com.apple.quicktime.location.ISO6709     : +48.6205-001.4969+007.673/
com.apple.quicktime.make                 : Apple


$ mdls PLOUF.MOV 
_kMDItemOwnerUserID            = 501
kMDItemAudioBitRate            = 64
kMDItemAudioChannelCount       = 1
kMDItemCodecs                  = (
    "H.264",
    AAC
)
kMDItemContentCreationDate     = 2015-06-20 22:52:13 +0000
kMDItemContentModificationDate = 2015-06-20 22:52:13 +0000
kMDItemContentType             = "com.apple.quicktime-movie"
kMDItemContentTypeTree         = (
    "com.apple.quicktime-movie",
    "public.movie",
    "public.audiovisual-content",
    "public.data",
    "public.item",
    "public.content"
)
kMDItemDateAdded               = 2015-07-08 22:50:31 +0000
kMDItemDisplayName             = "PLOUF.MOV"
kMDItemDurationSeconds         = 8.231666666666667
kMDItemEncodingApplications    = (
    "8.1.2"
)
kMDItemFSContentChangeDate     = 2015-06-20 22:52:13 +0000
kMDItemFSCreationDate          = 2015-06-20 22:52:13 +0000
kMDItemFSCreatorCode           = ""
kMDItemFSFinderFlags           = 0
kMDItemFSHasCustomIcon         = (null)
kMDItemFSInvisible             = 0
kMDItemFSIsExtensionHidden     = 0
kMDItemFSIsStationery          = (null)
kMDItemFSLabel                 = 0
kMDItemFSName                  = "PLOUF.MOV"
kMDItemFSNodeCount             = (null)
kMDItemFSOwnerGroupID          = 20
kMDItemFSOwnerUserID           = 501
kMDItemFSSize                  = 17755428
kMDItemFSTypeCode              = ""
kMDItemKind                    = "QuickTime movie"
kMDItemLogicalSize             = 17755428
kMDItemMediaTypes              = (
    Video,
    Sound
)
kMDItemPhysicalSize            = 17756160
kMDItemPixelHeight             = 1080
kMDItemPixelWidth              = 1920
kMDItemProfileName             = "HD (1-1-1)"
kMDItemStreamable              = 0
kMDItemTotalBitRate            = 17248
kMDItemVideoBitRate            = 17183

Answer 1

For exemple why the creation date is different on the same file?

There is no creation date info from you MediaInfo output. You have "only" recorded date (when the source was recorded), encoded date (when someone encoded the source file to another format), the tagging date. None of them is the file creation date (the date when the file was created on your local fie system).

Beware of the meaning of each field.