'ExifTool Version Number' added to exif data after modifying

[btb64]

I can successfully modify and rewrite exif data, but the new file has a line added to the top of the exif data as follows

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ExifTool Version Number         : 12.50
Is it possible to edit exif without this new line being added?

Thank you

[FixEUser]

If you load your file into a an (hex-)editor, you will see that this information is NOT saved into your files. It is only displayed using ExifTool.

[btb64]

Thank you very much, that's really good to know.

[FixEUser]

BTW: The current version of ExifTool is 12.54 (Jan. 6, 2023)
Your 12.50 is the most recent production release.

[btb64]

Thanks for that, it's the latest version in the Arch Linux repo, so I'll wait for them to catch in due course. Nice to know the progress though.

[StarGeek]

If you use the command in FAQ #3 (which should be your default command), you will see that ExifToolVersion belongs to the ExifTool group, which isn't the name of any embedded tag group.

Other group names that you would across that are not embedded data, with a few exceptions, include the System, File, and Composite groups.  See the Extra tags page and Composite tags page for more details.

When writing XMP data, exiftool will put it's name in the XMP:XMPToolkit tag like this

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[XMP-x]        XMPToolkit                      : Image::ExifTool 12.54but this is standard and you'll find most programs will write this tag with the name of the XMP code used to write it.

You can tell exiftool not to write XMPToolkit by including
-XMPToolkit=
after all other assignments in the command line.

[Phil Harvey]

You can tell exiftool not to write XMPToolkit by including
-XMPToolkit=
after all other assignments in the command line.

I'm just wondering why you recommend putting it after all other assignments?  I thought it should work in any location.

- Phil

[StarGeek]

Ah yes.  A misunderstanding of note 4 of -TagsFromFile option.  I was thinking that if the source file had XMPToolkit and it was cleared before the -TagsFromFile, then it could get copied back in.  Something like
exiftool -XMPToolkit= -TagsFromFile @ -all:all file.jpg
would clear it and then copy it back in.  But I can see I was mistaken.

[Phil Harvey]

Yes.  XMPToolkit is "unsafe", so it isn't copied with "All".

- Phil

[btb64]

Thank you for the extra information around this, I missed the FAQ regarding writing  XMPToolkit.

There is a lot to take in for new users, thanks for the ongoing discussion.