ExifTool Forum

ExifTool => The "exiftool" Application => Topic started by: Charlie_t on October 19, 2022, 05:57:32 PM

Title: Compressed/original photo
Post by: Charlie_t on October 19, 2022, 05:57:32 PM
Hello,
can I find out in the exiftool if the photo was compressed/or if it's the original?
For example the original would be 3000x4000 15 MB vs. 3000x4000 6 MB as a compressed version.

Thank you
Title: Re: Compressed/original photo
Post by: StarGeek on October 19, 2022, 06:05:26 PM
No.  Exiftool only deals with the metadata, not the actual image data.

I'm not sure if there is any practical way to easily tell which file might be original.  You could load a jpg and resave it with the highest/best quality level and could end up with an image that has a larger file size due to all the re-compression artifacts introduced.
Title: Re: Compressed/original photo
Post by: Charlie_t on November 03, 2022, 06:48:48 AM
Alright, thank you!
Title: Re: Compressed/original photo
Post by: Phil Harvey on November 03, 2022, 07:37:15 AM
You could look at the JpegDigest value reported by ExifTool.  This should be the same for all originals from a given device written at the same quality, but will change if the image is recompressed.

- Phil
Title: Re: Compressed/original photo
Post by: Charlie_t on November 05, 2022, 08:46:14 AM
Great idea, thank you!!
Title: Re: Compressed/original photo
Post by: bugmenot on November 09, 2024, 04:14:46 AM
Phil's suggestion about checking the JpegDigest value is really useful. And if you're working with large images and need to compress them without losing quality, you can also use online image compressor tool.

Edit: PH removed possibly commercial link