QuickTime:CreationDate can be written without timezone

Started by RhetTbull, December 12, 2020, 03:11:28 PM

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RhetTbull

December 12, 2020, 03:11:28 PM Last Edit: December 12, 2020, 05:26:06 PM by Phil Harvey
Not sure if this is a bug in exiftool or if it's in Apple Photos but after spending a lot of hours trying to debug a weird issue with QuickTime dates, I figured out that 1) exiftool allows me to write QuickTime:CreationDate without a timezone and 2) if a video is imported into Photos with such a value written to CreationDate, Photos shows a wildly incorrect date for the video.  I was using exiftool to set QuickTime:CreateDate, QuickTime:ModifyDate, and QuickTime:CreationDate using UTC values for all. 


$ exiftool -ver
12.00


MacOS 10.15.7

Test file: test.mp4
Code Select

exiftool -time:all -G1 -a -s test.mp4
[System]        FileModifyDate                  : 2020:12:12 08:50:11-08:00
[System]        FileAccessDate                  : 2020:12:12 08:50:33-08:00
[System]        FileInodeChangeDate             : 2020:12:12 08:50:56-08:00
[QuickTime]     CreateDate                      : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[QuickTime]     ModifyDate                      : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track1]        TrackCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track1]        TrackModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track1]        MediaCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track1]        MediaModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track2]        TrackCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track2]        TrackModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track2]        MediaCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track2]        MediaModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track3]        TrackCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track3]        TrackModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track3]        MediaCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track3]        MediaModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track4]        TrackCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track4]        TrackModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track4]        MediaCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track4]        MediaModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track5]        TrackCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track5]        TrackModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track5]        MediaCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track5]        MediaModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49


Imported into Photos:


Set QuickTime:CreateDate
Code Select

$ exiftool -QuickTime:CreateDate="2020:12:12 08:45:00" test2.mp4
    1 image files updated
$ exiftool -time:all -G1 -a -s test2.mp4
[System]        FileModifyDate                  : 2020:12:12 11:49:22-08:00
[System]        FileAccessDate                  : 2020:12:12 11:49:20-08:00
[System]        FileInodeChangeDate             : 2020:12:12 11:49:23-08:00
[QuickTime]     CreateDate                      : 2020:12:12 08:45:00
[QuickTime]     ModifyDate                      : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track1]        TrackCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track1]        TrackModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track1]        MediaCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track1]        MediaModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track2]        TrackCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track2]        TrackModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track2]        MediaCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track2]        MediaModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track3]        TrackCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track3]        TrackModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track3]        MediaCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track3]        MediaModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track4]        TrackCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track4]        TrackModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track4]        MediaCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track4]        MediaModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track5]        TrackCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track5]        TrackModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track5]        MediaCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track5]        MediaModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49


Imported into Photos shows date correctly:


Set QuickTime:CreationDate (with no timezone as I assumed it was UTC like other QuickTime tags)
Code Select

$ exiftool -QuickTime:CreationDate="2020:12:12 08:45" test3.mp4
    1 image files updated
$ exiftool -time:all -G1 -a -s test3.mp4
[System]        FileModifyDate                  : 2020:12:12 11:52:14-08:00
[System]        FileAccessDate                  : 2020:12:12 11:52:12-08:00
[System]        FileInodeChangeDate             : 2020:12:12 11:52:15-08:00
[QuickTime]     CreateDate                      : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[QuickTime]     ModifyDate                      : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track1]        TrackCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track1]        TrackModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track1]        MediaCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track1]        MediaModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track2]        TrackCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track2]        TrackModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track2]        MediaCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track2]        MediaModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track3]        TrackCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track3]        TrackModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track3]        MediaCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track3]        MediaModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track4]        TrackCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track4]        TrackModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track4]        MediaCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track4]        MediaModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track5]        TrackCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track5]        TrackModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track5]        MediaCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track5]        MediaModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Keys]          CreationDate                    : 2020:12:12 08:45:00


But when imported into Photos, the date shows as a nonsensical 16 Nov 172401


But if I include timezone offset on CreationDate, the date shows correctly when imported into Photos:

Code Select

$ exiftool -QuickTime:CreationDate="2020:12:12 08:45-00:00" test4.mp4
    1 image files updated
$ exiftool -time:all -G1 -a -s test4.mp4
[System]        FileModifyDate                  : 2020:12:12 11:57:17-08:00
[System]        FileAccessDate                  : 2020:12:12 11:57:24-08:00
[System]        FileInodeChangeDate             : 2020:12:12 11:57:23-08:00
[QuickTime]     CreateDate                      : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[QuickTime]     ModifyDate                      : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track1]        TrackCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track1]        TrackModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track1]        MediaCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track1]        MediaModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track2]        TrackCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track2]        TrackModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track2]        MediaCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track2]        MediaModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track3]        TrackCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track3]        TrackModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track3]        MediaCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track3]        MediaModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track4]        TrackCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track4]        TrackModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track4]        MediaCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track4]        MediaModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track5]        TrackCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track5]        TrackModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track5]        MediaCreateDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Track5]        MediaModifyDate                 : 2015:01:07 22:40:49
[Keys]          CreationDate                    : 2020:12:12 08:45:00-00:00




I had assumed that all QuickTime times were in UTC as the spec seems to indicate but it appears CreationDate must include timezone offset or Apple Photos interprets it incorrectly.  exiftool appears to show the date correctly and it doesn't complain when setting CreationDate with no timezone offset.  So is this an exiftool bug, a Photos bug, or just an ambiguous spec? 

The only reference I can find to CreationDate in the QuickTime spec is:
com.apple.quicktime.creationdate: A UTF-8 string (value type 1). Can have multiple values with different language and country code designations.

Here's the difference if I use -v2:
Code Select

$ exiftool -v2 -QuickTime:CreationDate="2020:12:12 08:45:00" test3.mp4
...
  Rewriting ItemList
    - Keys:CreationDate-und = '2020-12-12T08:45:00'
    + Keys:CreationDate-und = '2020-12-12T08:45:00'
    1 image files updated


Code Select

$ exiftool -v2 -QuickTime:CreationDate="2020:12:12 08:45:00-00:00" test4.mp4
...
  Rewriting ItemList
    - Keys:CreationDate-und = '2020-12-12T08:45:00-0000'
    + Keys:CreationDate-und = '2020-12-12T08:45:00-0000'
    1 image files updated


PH Edit: Fixed img links.

RhetTbull

#1
December 12, 2020, 03:12:45 PM
I tried to include image links to screenshots of what Photos shows but apparently I messed that up--the screenshots are also attached to the OP.

Phil Harvey

#2
December 12, 2020, 05:19:55 PM
I fixed your screenshot links.

We have known for a while that Photos shows crazy value if QuickTime:DateTimeOriginal written without a time zone.  I don't know if we knew about CreationDate, but I guess that makes sense.  I would have to do some research to see if I can find what the specification says about this.  Also, I need to get a complete list of the tags that have this problem.  But given the incompatibility with Photos, I should probably give a warning and add the system time zone to these tags if one isn't specified when writing.  This will take some work.

- Phil
...where DIR is the name of a directory/folder containing the images.  On Mac/Linux/PowerShell, use single quotes (') instead of double quotes (") around arguments containing a dollar sign ($).

RhetTbull

#3
December 12, 2020, 05:23:18 PM
Thanks for the reply (and for fixing the links...I tried to use the img tag but apparently dorked that up).  For now I can get around this by including the timezone offset for QuickTime:CreationDate.

Phil Harvey

#4
December 12, 2020, 05:25:31 PM
You didn't dork it up.  Imgur apparently doesn't allow their images to be embedded in other web pages.  So instead I linked to your attachments here.

- Phil
...where DIR is the name of a directory/folder containing the images.  On Mac/Linux/PowerShell, use single quotes (') instead of double quotes (") around arguments containing a dollar sign ($).

StarGeek

#5
December 12, 2020, 06:40:09 PM
Quote from: Phil Harvey on December 12, 2020, 05:25:31 PM
Imgur apparently doesn't allow their images to be embedded in other web pages.

Nearly all images I've embedded here are from imgur.  For example.

But you need to make sure you get the image URL and not the post URL.
"It didn't work" isn't helpful. What was the exact command used and the output.
Read FAQ #3 and use that cmd
Please use the Code button for exiftool output

Please include your OS/Exiftool version/filetype

jotzet79

#6
April 25, 2021, 11:28:49 AM Last Edit: April 25, 2021, 11:47:24 AM by jotzet79
Hello,

Glad I bumped into this thread and having observed that other had similar issues using QuickTime:CreationDate and issues when trying to set it amongst other Tags (like (Media/Track)CreateDate, GPSDateTime).

Especially when I'm using the following command I'm getting weird behaviour
Code Select

exiftool '-API' 'QuickTimeUTC' '-a' '-u' '-U' '-ee' '-d' '%Y:%m:%d %H:%M:%S%z' '-c' '%+.6f' -v3 -Quicktime:CreationDate="2014:09:28 12:46:56-0000" file
.
.
.
  Creating Meta with mdta Handler and Keys
  Rewriting Meta
  Rewriting Keys
  [adding Keys entry 1 'creationdate']
  Creating ItemList
    + Keys:CreationDate = '2014-09-28T12:46:56+0200'
    1 image files updated


Other tag values seem to be written just OK.

If I leave out the date format, it's written properly. Is it "wrong" to use the -d option when writing?

Code Select

exiftool '-API' 'QuickTimeUTC' '-a' '-u' '-U' '-ee' '-c' '%+.6f' -v3 -Quicktime:CreationDate="2014:09:28 12:46:56-0000" file
.
.
.
  Creating Meta with mdta Handler and Keys
  Rewriting Meta
  Rewriting Keys
  [adding Keys entry 1 'creationdate']
  Creating ItemList
    + Keys:CreationDate = '2014-09-28T12:46:56-0000'
    1 image files updated


Thank you,
Joachim

Phil Harvey

#7
April 25, 2021, 11:36:43 AM
Hi Joachim,

Note that it is the format that you see, not what is stored in the file.  I'm not sure why you think you need to use -d at all.

- Phil
...where DIR is the name of a directory/folder containing the images.  On Mac/Linux/PowerShell, use single quotes (') instead of double quotes (") around arguments containing a dollar sign ($).

jotzet79

#8
April 25, 2021, 12:14:27 PM
Hi Phil,

Wow, thanks for the immediate answer!

Hmm, excellent question... :) I'm using ExifTool in stay_open mode and used the -d option in the common args for all read and write operations. Basically I'm trying to geotag my whole archive of pictures and videos and harmonising DateTimeStamps based on the location within the pic / manually tagged. I do this by storing the Metadata in JSON to disk, then process the JSONs and write it back to the media files (to stay fail-safe).

In the example below I just copied the commands from the batch-mode (stay-open) to compare the results properly. I'm now changing my code, and use -d only for reading (and output to JSON), removing the option when writing...

Thank you & kind regards,
Joachim



JohnJackson

#9
January 09, 2022, 08:07:19 PM
Hi to all,

The description in the Apple Quicktime reference guide of the key com.apple.quicktime.creationdate is indeed quite weird. In short, as you quoted, "A UTF-8 string (value type 1)", and as example they give: "4/21/2012". I don't think that will work...
A few pages further they describe the key com.apple.quicktime.location.date: "A date and time, stored using the extended format defined in ISO 8601:2004- Data elements and interchange format." Example: "2012-02-24T17:56Z" for a date of February 24, 2012, time of 17:56, UTC." .
My thought is that this standard should be used for the creationdate as well.

Greetings, John

Phil Harvey

#10
January 09, 2022, 09:23:03 PM
Yes, that is the format that ExifTool uses for storing CreationDate.

- Phil
...where DIR is the name of a directory/folder containing the images.  On Mac/Linux/PowerShell, use single quotes (') instead of double quotes (") around arguments containing a dollar sign ($).

Phil Harvey

#11
July 31, 2024, 07:27:37 AM
Quote from: RhetTbull on December 12, 2020, 03:11:28 PM1) exiftool allows me to write QuickTime:CreationDate without a timezone and 2) if a video is imported into Photos with such a value written to CreationDate, Photos shows a wildly incorrect date for the video.

Apparently this was fixed in MacOS 13 Ventura.

- Phil
...where DIR is the name of a directory/folder containing the images.  On Mac/Linux/PowerShell, use single quotes (') instead of double quotes (") around arguments containing a dollar sign ($).
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