ExifTool is a free and open source software program for reading, writing, and manipulating image, audio, video, and PDFmetadata. As such, ExifTool classes as a tag editor. ExifTool can also be used as a metadata removal tool for supported file types, except for PDF, as old metadata is never actually deleted. (However, after running ExifTool the old metadata may be removed permanently using the "qpdf" utility)[2] It is platform independent, available as both a Perl library (Image::ExifTool) and a command-line application.
ExifTool supports many types of metadata including Exif, IPTC, XMP, JFIF, GeoTIFF, ICC Profile, Photoshop IRB, FlashPix, AFCP and ID3, as well as the manufacturer-specific metadata formats of many digital cameras.
ExifTool also implements its own open metadata format. It is designed to encapsulate metainformation from many sources, in binary or textual form, and bundle it together with any type of file. It can either be a single file, wrapping existing data, added as a trailer on other file types, or used as a sidecar file, carrying for example Exif or XMP metadata.
Some metadata-only files may be created from metadata input alone. Here is a list of files that ExifTool can create from scratch:
DR4 - Canon DPP version 4 Recipe
EXIF - Exchangeable Image File Format metadata (TIFF-based)
EXV - Exiv2 metadata file (JPEG-based)
ICC, ICM - International Color Consortium color profile
MIE - Meta Information Encapsulation (MIE specification)
VRD - Canon DPP Recipe Data
XMP - Extensible Metadata Platform sidecar file
Supported JPEG metadata
ExifTool can read, edit or create the following types of metadata in JPEG images:[22]
JPEG Meta Information
Can read?
Can edit?
Can create?
Description
APP0 - JFIF
Yes
Yes
Yes
JPEG File Interchange Format
APP0 - JFXX
Yes
No
No
Extended JFIF
APP0 - CIFF
Yes
Yes
No
Camera Image File Format (used by some Canon models)
APP0 - AVI1
Yes
No
No
JPEG AVI information
APP0 - Ocad
Yes
No
No
Photobucket Ocad segment
APP1 - EXIF
Yes
Yes
Yes
Exchangeable Image File Format (including maker notes)
APP1 - XMP
Yes
Yes
Yes
Extensible Metadata Platform (multi-segment)
APP1 - QVCI
Yes
No
No
Casio QV-7000SX QVCI information
APP1 - FLIR
Yes
No
No
FLIR thermal imaging data (multi-segment)
APP1 - RawThermalImage
Yes
No
No
Thermal image from Parrot Bebop-Pro Thermal drone
APP2 - ICC
Yes
Yes
Yes
International Color Consortium (multi-segment)
APP2 - FPXR
Yes
No
No
FlashPix Ready (multi-segment)
APP2 - MPF
Yes
No
No
Multi-Picture Format
APP2 - PreviewImage
Yes
No
No
Samsung APP2 preview image (multi-segment)
APP3 - Kodak Meta
Yes
Yes
No
Kodak Meta information (Exif-like)
APP3 - Stim
Yes
No
No
Stereo Still Image format
APP3 - PreviewImage
Yes
No
No
Samsung/HP preview image (multi-segment)
APP4 - Scalado
Yes
No
No
(presumably written by Scalado mobile software)
APP4 - FPXR
Yes
No
No
FlashPix Ready in non-standard location (multi-segment)
APP4 - PreviewImage
Yes
No
No
(continued from APP3)
APP5 - Ricoh RMETA
Yes
No
No
Ricoh custom fields
APP5 - Samsung UniqueID
Yes
No
No
Samsung Unique ID
APP5 - PreviewImage
Yes
No
No
(continued from APP4)
APP6 - EPPIM
Yes
No
No
Toshiba PrintIM
APP6 - NITF
Yes
No
No
National Imagery Transmission Format
APP6 - HP TDHD
Yes
No
No
Hewlett-Packard Photosmart R837 TDHD information
APP6 - GoPro
Yes
No
No
GoPro Metadata Format (GPMF) information
APP7 - Pentax
Yes
No
No
Pentax APP7 maker notes
APP7 - Qualcomm
Yes
No
No
Qualcomm Camera Attributes
APP8 - SPIFF
Yes
No
No
Still Picture Interchange File Format
APP9 - Media Jukebox
Yes
No
No
Media Jukebox XML information
APP10 - Comment
Yes
No
No
PhotoStudio Unicode Comment
APP11 - JPEG-HDR
Yes
No
No
JPEG-HDR compressed ratio image
APP12 - Picture Info
Yes
No
No
ASCII-based Picture Information
APP12 - Ducky
Yes
Yes
Yes
Photoshop "Save for Web"
APP13 - Photoshop IRB
Yes
Yes
Yes
Image Resource Block (multi-segment, includes IPTC)
APP13 - Adobe CM
Yes
No
No
Adobe Color Management
APP14 - Adobe
Yes
Yes
Yes
Adobe DCT filter
APP15 - GraphicConverter
Yes
No
No
GraphicConverter quality
COM
Yes
Yes
Yes
JPEG Comment (multi-segment)
DQT
Yes
No
No
(used to calculate the Extra:JPEGDigest tag value)
SOF
Yes
No
No
JPEG Start Of Frame
AFCP trailer
Yes
Yes
No
AXS File Concatenation Protocol (includes IPTC)
CanonVRD trailer
Yes
Yes
Yes
Canon DPP Recipe Data
FotoStation trailer
Yes
Yes
No
FotoWare FotoStation (includes IPTC)
PhotoMechanic trailer
Yes
Yes
No
Camera Bits Photo Mechanic
MIE trailer
Yes
Yes
No
Meta Information Encapsulation
Samsung trailer
Yes
No
No
Samsung Galaxy trailer
PreviewImage trailer
Yes
Yes
Yes
(preview image written after JPEG EOI)
EmbeddedVideo trailer
Yes
No
No
(extracted only with ExtractEmbedded option)
Programming libraries
ExifTool is available as the native Perl library Image::ExifTool.[23] The Python PyExifTool module provides a wrapper to the system version of ExifTool.[24] Further programming resources are given on the ExifTool project webpage.
See also
libsndfile – sndfile-info displays audio file info
