ExifTool by Phil Harvey

Read, Write and Edit Meta Information!

Also available --> Utility to fix Nikon NEF images corrupted by Nikon software

Note: IP's that agressively download multiple copies of the distribution files or access web pages too quickly will be blocked.

Features
User Comments
Supported File Types
System Requirements
Running ExifTool
Example Output
Tag Names Explained
Tag Groups
Writing Information
Writer Limitations
Known Problems
Security Issues
Date/Time Shift
Renaming Files
Performance
ExifTool Library
Additional Resources
New Discoveries
Acknowledgements
License
Donate
Background
Contact Me
Download Version 12.97 (7.1 MB) - Sept. 25, 2024

ExifTool is a platform-independent Perl library plus a command-line application for reading, writing and editing meta information in a wide variety of files. ExifTool supports many different metadata formats including EXIF, GPS, IPTC, XMP, JFIF, GeoTIFF, ICC Profile, Photoshop IRB, FlashPix, AFCP and ID3, Lyrics3, as well as the maker notes of many digital cameras by Canon, Casio, DJI, FLIR, FujiFilm, GE, GoPro, HP, JVC/Victor, Kodak, Leaf, Minolta/Konica-Minolta, Motorola, Nikon, Nintendo, Olympus/Epson, Panasonic/Leica, Pentax/Asahi, Phase One, Reconyx, Ricoh, Samsung, Sanyo, Sigma/Foveon and Sony.

ExifTool is also available as a Windows executable and a MacOS package: (Note that these versions contain the executable only, and do not include the HTML documentation or other files of the full distribution above.)

Windows 32-bit: exiftool-12.97_32.zip (10.8 MB)
64-bit: exiftool-12.97_64.zip (10.6 MB)

The Windows executable archives include Perl. Just download and un-zip the appropriate archive then double-click on "exiftool(-k).exe" to read the application documentation, drag-and-drop files and folders to view meta information, or rename to "exiftool.exe" for command-line use. Note that if you move the .exe to another folder, you must also move the "exiftool_files" folder to the same location.

(The Windows packages are based on work by Oliver Betz, and use his launcher. Oliver also provides self-installing versions of these executables. See this forum post if you have any problems/comments with these versions.)

MacOS Package: ExifTool-12.97.pkg (5.1 MB)

The MacOS package installs the ExifTool command-line application and libraries in /usr/local/bin. After installing, type "exiftool" in a Terminal window to run exiftool and read the application documentation.

Read the installation instructions for help installing ExifTool on Windows, MacOS and Unix systems.

Features

A Note to Unix Power-Users

If you feel the need to use "find" or "awk" in conjunction with ExifTool, then you probably haven't discovered the full power of ExifTool. Read about the -ext, -if, -p and -tagsFromFile options in the application documentation. (This is common mistake number 3.)

What People are Saying about ExifTool

"In my experience, nothing but nothing is as complete, powerful, and flexible as Phil Harvey's exiftool ... I've never seen anything that's in the same ballpark for power." - dpreview forum
"While there are a lot of image tools available, nothing comes close for accessing/updating the metadata like ExifTool" - merg's blog
"Fast, reliable and amazingly comprehensive ..." - CPAN ratings
"... the one piece of free software that gets the most detailed exif data of /any/ tool I've found." - gnome mail archives
"ExifTool makes every other EXIF reader (and writer) than I've seen, including the camera manufacturers' readers, look lame." - photo.net Nikon forum
"Insanely great tool with a long learning curve ..." - Adobe Forums
"ExifTool has been outstanding in our custom used Tesla image gallery build. We are able to aggregate image meta from our user base and incorporate this into development iterations to continually optimize our platform..." - Find My Electric
"... it's super awesome, it's super reliable and after many years of development it's still being updated!" - P_W999 blog
"... it is the mother of all EXIF utilities; the BFG of meta-data extraction; the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster of EXIF tools ... This thing will suck the last bit of metadata out of whatever image file you throw at it!" - Open Photography Forums
"... it is total fucking gibberish to me." - Reddit Linux Questions

Supported File Types

ExifTool can Read, Write and/or Create files in the following formats. Also listed are the support levels for EXIF, IPTC (IIM), XMP, ICC_Profile, C2PA (JUMBF) and other metadata types for each file format. C2PA metadata is not currently Writable, but may be Deleted from some file types by deleting the JUMBF group (ie. -JUMBF:all=).

File TypeSupportDescriptionEXIFIPTCXMPICC1C2PAOther
3FRRHasselblad RAW (TIFF-based)RRRRR-
3G2, 3GP2R/W3rd Gen. Partnership Project 2 a/v (QuickTime-based)R/W3R/W3R/W/C-R/DR/W/C QuickTime
3GP, 3GPPR/W3rd Gen. Partnership Project a/v (QuickTime-based)R/W3R/W3R/W/C-R/DR/W/C QuickTime
7zR7z Archive-----R ZIP
ARUnix static library code Archive-----R EXE
AARAudible Audiobook-----R Audible
AACRAdvanced Audio Codec-----R AAC
AAERApple edit information (XML PLIST-based)-----R PLIST
AAXR/WAudible Enhanced Audiobook (QuickTime-based)R/W3R/W3R/W/C-R/DR/W/C QuickTime
ACRRAmerican College of Radiology ACR-NEMA (DICOM-like)-----R DICOM
AFM, ACFM, AMFMRAdobe [Composite/Multiple Master] Font Metrics-----R Font
AI, AITR/WAdobe Illustrator [Template] (PS or PDF)R/W/C4R/W/C4R/W/C5R/W/C4-R/W/C PDF PostScript, R Photoshop
AIFF, AIF, AIFCRAudio Interchange File Format [Compressed]----RR AIFF ID3 Lyrics3
APERMonkey's Audio----RR APE ID3 Lyrics3
ARQR/WSony Alpha Pixel-Shift RAW (TIFF-based)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/DR/W Sony SonyIDC
ARWR/WSony Alpha RAW (TIFF-based)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/DR/W Sony SonyIDC
ASFRMicrosoft Advanced Systems Format--R--R ASF
AVIRAudio Video Interleaved (RIFF-based)R3-R-RR RIFF
AVIFR/WAV1 Image File Format (QuickTime-based)R/W/C-R/W/CR/WR/DR/W QuickTime
BMP, DIBRWindows BitMaP / Device Independent Bitmap-----R BMP
BPGRBetter Portable GraphicsR-RR-R BPG
BTFRBigTIFF (64-bit Tagged Image File Format)RRRRR-
C2PA, JUMBFRC2PA JPEG Universal Metadata Box Format----RR Jpeg2000
CHMRMicrosoft Compiled HTML format-----R EXE
COSRCapture One Settings (XML-based)-----R XML
CR2R/WCanon RAW 2 (TIFF-based) (CR2 spec)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/DR/W Canon, R/W/C CanonVRD2
CR3R/WCanon RAW 3 (QuickTime-based) (CR3 spec)R/W/C-R/W/C-R/DR/W Canon QuickTime, R/W/C CanonVRD2
CRMR/WCanon RAW Movie (QuickTime-based)R/W/C-R/W/C-R/DR/W Canon QuickTime
CRW, CIFFR/WCanon RAW Camera Image File Format (CRW spec)--R/W/C--R/W CanonRaw, R/W/C CanonVRD2
CS1R/WSinar CaptureShop 1-shot RAW (PSD-based)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/C-R Photoshop
CSVRComma-Separated Values-----R Text
CZIRZeiss Integrated Software RAW (ZISRAW)-----R ZISRAW, R XML
DCM, DC3, DIC, DICMRDICOM - Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine-----R DICOM
DCPR/WDNG Camera Profile (DNG-like)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/D-
DCRRKodak Digital Camera RAW (TIFF-based)RRRRR-
DFONTRMacintosh Data Fork Font-----R Font
DIVXRDivX media format (ASF-based)--R--R ASF
DJVU, DJVRDjVu image (AIFF-like)--R--R DJVU
DNGR/WDigital Negative (TIFF-based)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/D-
DOC, DOTRMicrosoft Word Document/Template (FPX-like)--RR-R FlashPix
DOCX, DOCMROffice Open XML Document [Macro-enabled]-----R XML ZIP
DOTX, DOTMROffice Open XML Document Template [Macro-enabled]-----R XML ZIP
DPXRDigital Picture Exchange-----R DPX
DR4R/W/C2Canon DPP version 4 Recipe-----R/W/C CanonVRD2
DSS, DS2RDigital Speech Standard [2]-----R Olympus
DYLIBRMacOS Mach-O executable and library files-----R EXE
DVRDigital Video-----R DV
DVBR/WDigital Video Broadcasting (QuickTime-based)R/W3R/W3R/W/C-R/DR/W/C QuickTime
DVR-MSRMicrosoft Digital Video Recording (ASF-based)--R--R ASF
EIPRCapture One Enhanced Image Package (ZIP-based)R----R XML ZIP
EPS, EPSF, PSR/W[Encapsulated] PostScript FormatR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/C-R/W/C PostScript, R Photoshop
EPUBRElectronic Publication (ZIP/XML-based)-----R XML ZIP
ERFR/WEpson RAW Format (TIFF-based)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/DR/W Olympus
EXE, DLLRDOS/Windows executable and library files-----R EXE
EXIFR/W/CExchangeable Image File Format metadata (TIFF-based)R/W/C---R/D-
EXRROpen EXR (Extended Range)R-R--R OpenEXR
EXVR/W/CExiv2 metadata file (JPEG-based)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/DSupported JPEG Meta Information
F4A, F4B, F4P, F4VR/WAdobe Flash Player 9+ Audio/Video (QuickTime-based)R/W3R/W3R/W/C-R/DR/W/C QuickTime
FFFR/W6Hasselblad Flexible File Format (TIFF-based)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/D-
FFFRFLIR Systems thermal image File Format-----R FLIR
FITSRFlexible Image Transport System-----R FITS
FLARMacromedia/Adobe Flash project (FPX-like)--RR-R FlashPix
FLACRFree Lossless Audio Codec----RR FLAC ID3 Lyrics3
FLIFR/WFree Lossless Image FormatR/W/C-R/W/CR/W/C-R FLIF
FLVRFlash Video--R--R Flash
FPFRFLIR Public image Format-----R FLIR
FPXRFlashPix image--RR-R FlashPix
GIFR/WCompuserve Graphics Interchange Format--R/W/CR/W/CR/DR/W/C GIF
GLVR/WGarmin Low-resolution Video (QuickTime-based)R/W3R/W3R/W/C-R/DR/W/C QuickTime
GPRR/WGoPro RAW (DNG-based)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/D-
GZ, GZIPRGNU ZIP compressed archive-----R ZIP
HDP, WDP, JXRR/WWindows HD Photo / Media Photo / JPEG XR (TIFF-based)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/D-
HDRRRadiance RGBE High Dynamic-Range-----R Radiance
HEIC, HEIF, HIFR/WHigh Efficiency Image Format (QuickTime-based)R/W/C-R/W/CR/WR/DR/W QuickTime
HTML, HTM, XHTMLR[Extensible] HyperText Markup Language-----R HTML
ICC, ICMR/W/C1International Color Consortium color profile---R/W/C--
ICO, CURRWindows Icon / Cursor-----R ICO
ICS, ICALRiCalendar Schedule-----R VCalendar
IDMLRAdobe InDesign Markup Language (ZIP/XML-based)-----R XML ZIP
IIQR/WPhase One Intelligent Image Quality RAW (TIFF-based)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/DR/W PhaseOne
IND, INDD, INDTR/WAdobe InDesign Document/Template--R/W/C---
INSPR/WInsta360 Picture (JPEG-based)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/DSupported JPEG Meta Information
INSVRInsta360 Video (QuickTime-based)--R-RR QuickTime
INXRAdobe InDesign Interchange (XML-based)--R---
ISORISO 9660 disk image-----R ISO
ITCRiTunes Cover Flow artwork-----R ITC
J2C, J2K, JPCRJPEG 2000 codestreamR3R3RR-R Jpeg2000 Photoshop3
JP2, JPF, JPM,
JPX, JPH
R/WJPEG 2000 image [Compound/Extended/High-throughput]R/W/C3R/W/C3R/W/CR-R/W/C Jpeg2000, R Photoshop3
JPEG, JPG, JPER/WJoint Photographic Experts Group imageR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/DSupported JPEG Meta Information
JSONRJavaScript Object Notation-----R JSON
JXLR/WJPEG XL (codestream and ISO BMFF) (Jpeg2000-based)R/W/C-R/W/C---
K25RKodak DC25 RAW (TIFF-based)RRRRR-
KDCRKodak Digital Camera RAW (TIFF-based)RRRRRR Kodak
KEY, KTHRApple iWork '09 Keynote presentation/Theme-----R XML ZIP
LARLossless Audio (RIFF-based)R3-R-RR RIFF
LFP, LFRRLytro Light Field Picture-----R Lytro
LIFRLeica Image File-----R LIF
LNKRMicrosoft Shell Link (Windows shortcut)-----R LNK
LRVR/WLow-Resolution Video (QuickTime-based)R/W3R/W3R/W/C--R/W/C QuickTime
M2TS, MTS, M2T, TSRMPEG-2 Transport Stream (used for AVCHD video)-----R M2TS H264 MISB
M4A, M4B, M4P, M4VR/WMPEG-4 Audio/Video (QuickTime-based)R/W3R/W3R/W/C-R/DR/W/C QuickTime
MACOSRMacOS "._" sidecar file (may have any extension)-----R XAttr RSRC
MAXR3D Studio MAX (FPX-like)--RR-R FlashPix
MEFR/WMamiya (RAW) Electronic Format (TIFF-based)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/D-
MIER/W/CMeta Information Encapsulation (MIE specification)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/DR/W/C MIE
MIFF, MIFRMagick Image File FormatRRRR-R MIFF Photoshop
MKA, MKV, MKSRMatroska Audio/Video/Subtitle-----R Matroska
MOBI, AZW, AZW3RMobipocket electronic book (Palm-based)-----R Palm MOBI
MODDRSony Picture Motion metadata (XML PLIST-based)-----R PLIST
MOIRMOD Information file-----R MOI
MOSR/WCreo Leaf Mosaic (TIFF-based)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/DR Leaf
MOV, QTR/WApple QuickTime MovieR/W3R/W3R/W/C-R/DR/W/C QuickTime
MP3RMPEG-1 layer 3 audio----RR MPEG ID3 Lyrics3 APE
MP4R/WMotion Picture Experts Group version 4 (QuickTime-based)R/W3R/W3R/W/C-R/DR/W/C QuickTime
MPCRMusepack Audio----RR MPC ID3 Lyrics3 APE
MPEG, MPG, M2VRMotion Picture Experts Group version 1 or 2----RR MPEG ID3 Lyrics3
MPOR/WExtended Multi-Picture format (JPEG with MPF extensions)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/DSupported JPEG Meta Information
MQVR/WSony Mobile QuickTime VideoR/W3R/W3R/W/C-R/DR/W/C QuickTime
MRWR/WMinolta RAWR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/DR/W MinoltaRaw Minolta
MRCRMedical Research Council-----R MRC
MXFRMaterial Exchange Format-----R MXF
NEFR/WNikon (RAW) Electronic Format (TIFF-based)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/DR/W Nikon NikonCapture
NKARNikon NX Studio Adjustments-----R XML
NKSCR/WNikon Sidecar (XMP-based)--R/W/C---
NMBTEMPLATERApple iWork '09 Numbers Template-----R XML ZIP
NRWR/WNikon RAW (2) (TIFF-based)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/DR/W Nikon NikonCapture
NXDRNikon Capture NX-D adjustments (XMP-based)--R---
NUMBERSRApple iWork '09 Numbers spreadsheet-----R XML ZIP
ORUnix compiled code Object-----R EXE
ODB, ODC, ODF, ODG,
ODI, ODP, ODS, ODT
ROpen Document Database/Chart/Formula/Graphics/
Image/Presentation/Spreadsheet/Text (ZIP/XML-based)
-----R XML ZIP
OFRROptimFROG audio (RIFF-based)R3-R-RR RIFF
OGG, OGVROgg bitstream container----RR FLAC ID3 Lyrics3 Theora Vorbis
ONPRON1 Presets-----R JSON PLIST
OPUSROgg Opus audio----RR FLAC ID3 Lyrics3 Opus Vorbis
ORF, ORIR/WOlympus RAW Format (TIFF-based)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/DR/W Olympus
OTFROpen Type Font----RR Font
PACRLossless Predictive Audio Compression (RIFF-based)R3-R-RR RIFF
PAGESRApple iWork '09 Pages document-----R XML ZIP
PCDRKodak Photo CD Image Pac-----R PhotoCD
PCXRPC Paintbrush-----R PCX
PDB, PRCRPalm Database-----R Palm
PDFR/W7Adobe Portable Document FormatR3R3R/W/CR3RR/W/C PDF, R Photoshop
PEFR/WPentax (RAW) Electronic Format (TIFF-based)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/DR/W Pentax
PFA, PFBRPostScript Font ASCII/Binary-----R Font
PFMRPrinter Font Metrics-----R Font
PFMRPortable FloatMap-----R PFM
PGFRProgressive Graphics File-----R PGF PNG
PICT, PCTRApple Picture file---R-R PICT Photoshop
PLISTRApple Property List (binary and XML formats)-----R PLIST
PMPRSony DSC-F1 Cyber-Shot image-----R Sony
PNG, JNG, MNGR/WPortable/JPEG/Multiple-image Network GraphicsR/W/C3R/W/C3R/W/CR/W/CR/DR/W/C PNG
PPM, PBM, PGMR/WPortable Pixel/Bit/Gray Map-----R PPM, R/W/C Comment
PPT, PPS, POTRPowerPoint Presentation/Slideshow/Template (FPX-like)--RR-R FlashPix
POTX, POTMROffice Open XML Presentation Template [Macro-enabled]-----R XML ZIP
PPAX, PPAMROffice Open XML Presentation Addin [Macro-enabled]-----R XML ZIP
PPSX, PPSMROffice Open XML Presentation Slideshow [Macro-enabled]-----R XML ZIP
PPTX, PPTMROffice Open XML Presentation [Macro-enabled]-----R XML ZIP
PSD, PSB, PSDTR/WPhotoShop Document / Large Document / TemplateR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/C-R Photoshop
PSP, PSPIMAGERPaint Shop ProR----R PSP
QTIF, QTI, QIFR/WQuickTime Image FileR/W3R/W3R/W/C-R/DR/W/C QuickTime
R3DRRedcode RAW video-----R Red
RARReal Audio----RR Real ID3 Lyrics3
RAFR/WFujiFilm RAW FormatR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/DR/W FujiFilm
RAM, RPMRReal Audio/Plug-in Metafile-----R Real
RARRRAR Archive-----R ZIP
RAWRKyocera Contax N Digital RAW-----R KyoceraRaw
RAWR/WPanasonic RAW (TIFF-based)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/DR/W PanasonicRaw Panasonic
RIFF, RIFRResource Interchange File FormatR3-R-RR RIFF
RM, RV, RMVBRReal Media/Video [Variable Bitrate]-----R Real
RSRCRMac OS Resource-----R RSRC Photoshop PostScript Font
RTFRRich Text Format-----R RTF
RW2R/WPanasonic RAW 2 (TIFF-based)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/DR/W PanasonicRaw Panasonic
RWLR/WLeica RAW (TIFF-based)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/DR/W PanasonicRaw Panasonic
RWZRRawzor compressed imageRRRR-R Rawzor
SEQRFLIR Systems image Sequence-----R FLIR
SKETCHRSketch design file-----R JSON ZIP
SORUnix ELF executable and Shared Object files-----R EXE
SR2R/WSony RAW 2 (TIFF-based)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/DR/W Sony
SRFRSony RAW Format (TIFF-based)RRRRRR Sony
SRWR/WSamsung RAW format (TIFF-based)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/DR/W Samsung
SVGRScalable Vector Graphics (XML-based)----RR SVG
SWFRShockwave Flash--R--R Flash
THMR/WThumbnail image (JPEG)R/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/DSupported JPEG Meta Information
THMXROffice Open XML Theme-----R XML ZIP
TIFF, TIFR/WTagged Image File FormatR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/DR/W/C GeoTIFF1, R/W Trailers
TTF, TTCRTrue Type Font/Collection----RR Font
TORRENTRBitTorrent description file-----R Torrent
TXTRText files-----R Text
VCF, VCARDRVirtual Card-----R VCard
VNTRScene7 Vignette (FPX-like)---R-R FlashPix
VNTRV-Note document-----R VNote
VOBRVideo Object (MPEG-based)-----R MPEG
VRDR/W/C2Canon DPP Recipe Data--R/W/C--R/W/C CanonVRD2
VSDRMicrosoft Visio Drawing (FPX-like)--RR-R FlashPix
WAVRWindows digital audio WAVeform (RIFF-based)R3-R-RR RIFF
WEBMRGoogle Web Movie (Matroska-based)-----R Matroska
WEBPR/WGoogle Web Picture (RIFF-based)R/W/C-R/W/CR/W/CR/DR RIFF
WMA, WMVRWindows Media Audio/Video (ASF-based)--R--R ASF
WPGRWordPerfect Graphics-----R WPG
WTVRWindows recorded TV show-----R WTV
WVRWavePack lossless audio (RIFF-based)R3-R-RR RIFF
X3FR/WSigma/Foveon RAWR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/W/CR/DR/W Sigma, R SigmaRaw
XCFRGIMP native image formatRRRR-R GIMP
XISFRExtensible Image Serialization Format-----R XISF
XLS, XLTRMicrosoft Excel Spreadsheet/Template (FPX-like)--RR-R FlashPix
XLSX, XLSM, XLSBROffice Open XML Spreadsheet [Macro-enabled/Binary]-----R XML ZIP
XLTX, XLTMROffice Open XML Spreadsheet Template [Macro-enabled]-----R XML ZIP
XMPR/W/CExtensible Metadata Platform sidecar file--R/W/C---
ZIPRZIP archive-----R ZIP
1 Block write only, 2 Block create only, 3 Non-standard format, 4 Only writable for PostScript-format file type, 5 Only writable for PDF-format file type, 6 Only writable when ignoring minor errors due to Phocus incompatibility, 7 Old metdata is never actually deleted

Supported JPEG Meta Information

ExifTool can Read, Write and/or Create the following types of meta information in JPEG images:

JPEG Meta InformationSupportDescription
APP0 - JFIFR/W/CJPEG File Interchange Format
APP0 - JFXXRExtended JFIF
APP0 - CIFFR/WCamera Image File Format (used by some Canon models)
APP0 - AVI1RJPEG AVI information
APP0 - OcadRPhotobucket Ocad segment
APP1 - EXIFR/W/CExchangeable Image File Format (multi-segment)
APP1 - XMPR/W/CExtensible Metadata Platform (multi-segment)
APP1 - QVCIRCasio QV-7000SX QVCI information
APP1 - FLIRRFLIR thermal imaging data (multi-segment)
APP1 - RawThermalImageRThermal image from Parrot Bebop-Pro Thermal drone
APP2 - ICCR/W/CInternational Color Consortium (multi-segment)
APP2 - FPXRRFlashPix Ready (multi-segment)
APP2 - MPFRMulti-Picture Format
APP2 - InfiRay VersionRInfiRay IJPEG Version header
APP2 - PreviewImageRSamsung/GE APP2 preview image (multi-segment)
APP3 - Kodak MetaR/WKodak Meta information (EXIF-like)
APP3 - StimRStereo Still Image format
APP3 - JPSRJPEG Stereo image
APP3 - ThermalDataRDJI RJPEG thermal data (multi-segment)
APP3 - ImagingDataRInfiRay IJPEG IR+thermal+visible data (multi-segment)
APP3 - PreviewImageRSamsung/HP preview image (multi-segment)
APP4 - ScaladoR(presumably written by Scalado mobile software)
APP4 - ThermalParamsRThermal parameters from DJI RJPEG file
APP4 - ThermalParams2RDJI thermal parameters type 2
APP4 - ThermalParams3RDJI thermal parameters type 3
APP4 - FPXRRFlashPix Ready in non-standard location (multi-segment)
APP4 - InfiRay FactoryRInfiRay IJPEG Factory Temperature
APP4 - PreviewImageR(continued from APP3)
APP5 - Ricoh RMETARRicoh custom fields
APP5 - Samsung UniqueIDRSamsung Unique ID
APP5 - ThermalCalibrationRThermal calibration data from DJI RJPEG file
APP5 - InfiRay PictureRInfiRay IJPEG Picture Temperature
APP5 - PreviewImageR(continued from APP4)
APP6 - EPPIMRToshiba PrintIM
APP6 - NITFRNational Imagery Transmission Format
APP6 - HP TDHDRHewlett-Packard Photosmart R837 TDHD information
APP6 - GoProRGoPro Metadata Format (GPMF) information
APP6 - DJI DTATRDJI Thermal Analysis Tool record (JSON format)
APP6 - InfiRay MixModeRInfiRay IJPEG Mix Mode
APP7 - PentaxRPentax APP7 maker notes
APP7 - QualcommRQualcomm Camera Attributes
APP7 - HuaweiRHuawei APP7 maker notes (extract with Unknown option)
APP7 - InfiRay OpModeRInfiRay IJPEG Operation Mode
APP6 - DJI InfoRDJI debug information
APP8 - SPIFFRStill Picture Interchange File Format
APP8 - InfiRay IsothermalRInfiRay IJPEG Isothermal
APP9 - Media JukeboxRMedia Jukebox XML information
APP9 - InfiRay SensorRInfiRay IJPEG Sensor Information
APP10 - CommentRPhotoStudio Unicode Comment
APP11 - JPEG-HDRRJPEG-HDR compressed ratio image
APP11 - JUMBF (C2PA)RJpeg Universal Metadata Box Format (multi-segment)
APP12 - Picture InfoRASCII-based Picture Information
APP12 - DuckyR/W/CPhotoshop "Save for Web"
APP13 - Photoshop IRBR/W/CImage Resource Block (multi-segment, includes IPTC)
APP13 - Adobe CMRAdobe Color Management
APP14 - AdobeR/W/CAdobe DCT filter
APP15 - GraphicConverterRGraphicConverter quality
COMR/W/CJPEG Comment (multi-segment)
DQTR(used to calculate the Extra:JPEGDigest tag value)
SOFRJPEG Start Of Frame
JPEG Trailer 1SupportDescription
AFCP trailerR/WAXS File Concatenation Protocol (includes IPTC)
CanonVRD trailerR/W/CCanon DPP Recipe Data (includes DR4)
FotoStation trailerR/WFotoWare FotoStation (includes IPTC)
PhotoMechanic trailerR/WCamera Bits Photo Mechanic
MIE trailerR/WMeta Information Encapsulation
Samsung trailerRSamsung Galaxy trailer
Insta360 trailerRInsta360 trailer found in INSP files
NikonApp trailerRNikon trailer added by NX Studio to NEF/NRW files
Sony HiddenData trailerRHidden data written by some Sony models
PreviewImage trailerR/W/C(preview image written after JPEG EOI)
EmbeddedVideo trailerR(extracted only with ExtractEmbedded option)
1 All trailers except Samsung, Insta360, PreviewImage and EmbeddedVideo also have R/W support in TIFF images, and the NikonApp trailer is used in NEF/NRW files.

System Requirements

Requires Perl 5.004 or later. No other libraries or software required, but some optional Perl modules may be added to enable certain ExifTool features (for details, see the DEPENDENCIES section of the README file included in the full distribution).

Windows users: A Windows executable version of ExifTool is available which doesn't require Perl. You can also use the pure Perl version if you already have Perl installed. (You can get a good, free Perl interpreter from activeperl.com or strawberryperl.com.)

Everyone else (Mac, Unix, etc): Don't worry, you already have Perl installed.

Running ExifTool

The exiftool application provides a convenient command-line interface for the Image::ExifTool Perl package (both included in the full distribution). Once you have downloaded and extracted the distribution, you can immediately run exiftool (without building or installing) by typing "DIR/exiftool FILE" (or "perl DIR/exiftool FILE" in Windows), where DIR is the exiftool directory and FILE is the name of an image file, including directory name. Read the installation instructions or the README file included in the full distribution for help installing ExifTool.

Many command-line options are available to allow you to access a wide range of features. Run exiftool with no arguments for a complete list of available options with examples.

Running in Windows

i) From the command line:

The Perl application ("exiftool") is run by typing "perl exiftool". Alternately, you may be able to rename it to "exiftool.pl" and type "exiftool.pl", but this requires that the proper Windows associations have been made for the ".pl" extension.

The ExifTool .exe file ("exiftool(-k).exe") should be renamed to "exiftool.exe" to allow it to be run by typing "exiftool" at the command line.

If the exiftool executable ("exiftool.pl" or "exiftool.exe") is not in the current directory or your system PATH, then its directory must be specified on the command line (eg. by typing "c:\path_to_exiftool\exiftool.pl" or "c:\path_to_exiftool\exiftool").

Note that when typing commands in the "cmd.exe" shell, you should use double quotes instead of single quotes as shown in some examples.

ii) Running in the Windows GUI (not from command line):

Double-click on "exiftool(-k).exe" to read the application documentation, or drag-and-drop files and folders to run exiftool on the selected files.

Simple options may be added inside brackets in the name of the .exe file. (But note that the characters /\?*:|"<> may not be used because they are invalid in Windows file names.) In this way, the behaviour of the drag-and-drop application can be customized. For example:

Executable NameOperation
exiftool(-k).exe
Print meta information in window and pause before terminating.
exiftool(-k -a -u -g1 -w txt).exe
Generate output ".txt" files with detailed meta information.
exiftool(-k -o %d%f.xmp).exe
Generate sidecar ".xmp" files.
exiftool(-copyright='Phil Harvey').exe
Add copyright information (and don't pause before terminating).

Hint: Options may also be added to the "Target" property of a Windows shortcut for the executable. Using a shortcut has 3 advantages over adding options in the file name: 1) different shortcuts may be created without requiring multiple copies of the executable, 2) characters which are invalid in file names may be used, and 3) the shortcuts can be given more meaningful (and convenient) file names.

As well, it may be useful to increase the window and buffer sizes to display more information: Right-click on the window's title bar then select "Properties" from the menu and change the window layout settings.

Example Output

> exiftool -h -canon t/images/Canon.jpg
 
File NameCanon.jpg
Camera Model NameCanon EOS DIGITAL REBEL
Date/Time Original2003:12:04 06:46:52
Shooting ModeBulb
Shutter Speed4
Aperture14.0
Metering ModeCenter-weighted average
Exposure Compensation0
ISO100
Lens18.0 - 55.0 mm
Focal Length34.0 mm
Image Size8x8
QualityRAW
FlashNo Flash
White BalanceAuto
Focus ModeManual Focus (3)
Contrast+1
Sharpness+1
Saturation+1
Color ToneNormal
Color SpacesRGB
File Size2.6 kB
File Number118-1861
Drive ModeContinuous Shooting
Owner NamePhil Harvey
Serial Number0560018150
> exiftool -lang de -h -canon t/images/Canon.jpg
 
DateinameCanon.jpg
KameramodellCanon EOS DIGITAL REBEL
Erstellungsdatum/-uhrzeit2003:12:04 06:46:52
AufnahmemodusBulb
Belichtungsdauer4
Blende14.0
BelichtungsmessmethodeMittenbetont
Belichtungskorrektur0
ISO-Empfindlichkeit100
Objektiv18.0 - 55.0 mm
Brennweite34.0 mm
Bildgröße8x8
QualitätRAW
BlitzmodusBlitz wurde nicht ausgelöst
WeißabgleichAutomatisch
Fokus-ModusManueller Fokus (3)
Kontrast+1
Schärfe+1
Farbsättigung+1
FarbtonNormal
FarbraumsRGB
Dateigröße2.6 kB
Dateinummer118-1861
AufnahmeartSerienaufnahme
Name des BesitzersPhil Harvey
Seriennummer0560018150

Verbose and HtmlDump Output

The Verbose (-v) and HtmlDump (-htmlDump) options print additional information that can be very useful for debugging or when decoding new tags.

Tag Names Explained

A tag name is a "handle" that is used to refer to a specific piece of meta information. Tag names are entered on the command line with a leading '-', in the order you want them displayed. Valid characters in a tag name are A-Z (case is not significant), 0-9, hyphen (-) and underline (_). The tag name may be prefixed by a group name (separated by a colon) to identify a specific information type or location. A special tag name of "All" may be used to represent all tags, or all tags in a specified group. For example:

exiftool -filename -imagesize -exif:fnumber -xmp:all image.jpg

A complete list of ExifTool Tag Names accompanies this documentation. As well, current lists of available tag names and writable tag names may be obtained using the exiftool -list and -listw options. But perhaps the easiest way to determine a tag name is to use the -s option to print the tag names instead of descriptions for all information in a file. It may also be helpful to use the -G option to display the group names, and the -H or -D option to print the numerical tag ID's for reference.

Notes:

  1. Tag names sometimes differ from their descriptions. Use the -s command-line option to see the actual tag names instead of the descriptions shown when extracting information.
  2. When extracting information, tags will not appear in the output unless they exist in the file, even if they are specified on the command line. The -f option may be used to force all specified tags to be displayed (not including tags specified with wildcards or by -GROUP:all).
  3. Information for a given tag name may occur in multiple locations within a single file. By default these duplicate tags are suppressed, but the -a option may be used to extract all tags.
  4. Tag names may be suffixed by a '#' character to disable the print conversion on a per-tag basis. See the -n option in the application documentation for more information.

Shortcut Tags

Shortcut tags represent one or more other tags, and are used like any other tag when reading, writing or copying information.

ExifTool defines a few shortcut tags in the Image::ExifTool::Shortcuts module, and allows users to define their own shortcuts in a configuration file called ".ExifTool_config" in their home directory or exiftool application directory. Here is a simple example that defines two shortcuts:

%Image::ExifTool::UserDefined::Shortcuts = (
    MyShortcut => ['createdate','exposuretime','aperture'],
    MyAlias => 'FocalLengthIn35mmFormat',
);

In this example, MyShortcut is a shortcut for the CreateDate, ExposureTime and Aperture tags, and MyAlias is a shortcut for FocalLengthIn35mmFormat.

The current shortcuts may be listed with the -list option.

The ~/.ExifTool_config file may also be used to define new tags. For more information about the configuration file, see the sample configuration file included with the ExifTool distribution.

Windows tip: You may have difficulty generating a filename beginning with a '.' in the Windows GUI, but it can be done with the "rename" command at the cmd.exe prompt.

Tag Groups

ExifTool classifies tags into groups in various families. Here is a list of the group names in each family:

FamilyGroup Names
0 (Information Type) AAC, AFCP, AIFF, APE, APP0, APP1, APP11, APP12, APP13, APP14, APP15, APP2, APP3, APP4, APP5, APP6, APP7, APP8, APP9, ASF, Audible, Canon, CanonVRD, Composite, DICOM, DNG, DV, DjVu, Ducky, EXE, EXIF, ExifTool, FITS, FLAC, FLIR, File, Flash, FlashPix, Font, FotoStation, GIF, GIMP, GM, GeoTiff, GoPro, H264, HTML, ICC_Profile, ID3, IPTC, ISO, ITC, JFIF, JPEG, JSON, JUMBF, Jpeg2000, LNK, Leaf, Lytro, M2TS, MIE, MIFF, MISB, MNG, MOI, MPC, MPEG, MPF, MXF, MakerNotes, Matroska, Meta, Ogg, OpenEXR, Opus, PDF, PICT, PLIST, PNG, PSP, Palm, PanasonicRaw, Parrot, PhotoCD, PhotoMechanic, Photoshop, PostScript, PrintIM, QuickTime, RAF, RIFF, RSRC, RTF, Radiance, Rawzor, Real, Red, SVG, SigmaRaw, Sony, Stim, Theora, Torrent, Trailer, VCard, Vorbis, WTV, XML, XMP, ZIP
1 (Specific Location) AAC, AC3, AFCP, AIFF, APE, ASF, AVI1, Adobe, AdobeCM, AdobeDNG, Apple, Audible, CBOR, CIFF, CameraIFD, Canon, CanonCustom, CanonDR4, CanonRaw, CanonVRD, Casio, Chapter#, Composite, DICOM, DJI, DNG, DV, DjVu, DjVu-Meta, Ducky, EPPIM, EXE, EXIF, ExifIFD, ExifTool, FITS, FLAC, FLIR, File, Flash, FlashPix, Font, FotoStation, FujiFilm, FujiIFD, GE, GIF, GIMP, GM, GPS, GSpherical, Garmin, GeoTiff, GlobParamIFD, GoPro, GraphConv, H264, HP, HTC, HTML, HTML-dc, HTML-ncc, HTML-office, HTML-prod, HTML-vw96, HTTP-equiv, ICC-chrm, ICC-clrt, ICC-header, ICC-meas, ICC-meta, ICC-view, ICC_Profile, ICC_Profile#, ID3, ID3v1, ID3v1_Enh, ID3v2_2, ID3v2_3, ID3v2_4, IFD0, IFD1, IPTC, IPTC#, ISO, ITC, InfiRay, Insta360, InteropIFD, ItemList, JFIF, JFXX, JPEG, JPEG-HDR, JPS, JSON, JUMBF, JVC, Jpeg2000, KDC_IFD, Keys, Kodak, KodakBordersIFD, KodakEffectsIFD, KodakIFD, KyoceraRaw, LNK, Leaf, LeafSubIFD, Leica, Lyrics3, Lytro, M-RAW, M2TS, MAC, MIE-Audio, MIE-Camera, MIE-Canon, MIE-Doc, MIE-Extender, MIE-Flash, MIE-GPS, MIE-Geo, MIE-Image, MIE-Lens, MIE-Main, MIE-MakerNotes, MIE-Meta, MIE-Orient, MIE-Preview, MIE-Thumbnail, MIE-UTM, MIE-Unknown, MIE-Video, MIFF, MISB, MNG, MOBI, MOI, MPC, MPEG, MPF0, MPImage, MS-DOC, MXF, MacOS, MakerNotes, MakerUnknown, Matroska, MediaJukebox, Meta, MetaIFD, Microsoft, Minolta, MinoltaRaw, Motorola, NITF, Nextbase, Nikon, NikonCapture, NikonCustom, NikonScan, NikonSettings, NineEdits, Nintendo, Ocad, Ogg, Olympus, OpenEXR, Opus, PDF, PICT, PNG, PNG-cICP, PNG-pHYs, PSP, Palm, Panasonic, PanasonicRaw, Parrot, Pentax, PhaseOne, PhotoCD, PhotoMechanic, Photoshop, PictureInfo, PostScript, PreviewIFD, PrintIM, ProfileIFD, Qualcomm, QuickTime, RAF, RAF2, RIFF, RMETA, RSRC, RTF, Radiance, Rawzor, Real, Real-CONT, Real-MDPR, Real-PROP, Real-RA3, Real-RA4, Real-RA5, Real-RJMD, Reconyx, Red, Ricoh, SPIFF, SR2, SR2DataIFD, SR2SubIFD, SRF#, SVG, Samsung, Sanyo, Scalado, Sigma, SigmaRaw, Sony, SonyIDC, Stim, SubIFD, System, Theora, Torrent, Track#, UserData, VCalendar, VCard, VNote, Version0, Vorbis, WTV, XML, XMP, XMP-DICOM, XMP-Device, XMP-GAudio, XMP-GCamera, XMP-GCreations, XMP-GDepth, XMP-GFocus, XMP-GImage, XMP-GPano, XMP-GSpherical, XMP-LImage, XMP-MP, XMP-MP1, XMP-PixelLive, XMP-aas, XMP-acdsee, XMP-album, XMP-apple-fi, XMP-ast, XMP-aux, XMP-cc, XMP-cell, XMP-crd, XMP-creatorAtom, XMP-crs, XMP-dc, XMP-dex, XMP-digiKam, XMP-drone-dji, XMP-dwc, XMP-et, XMP-exif, XMP-exifEX, XMP-expressionmedia, XMP-extensis, XMP-fpv, XMP-getty, XMP-hdr, XMP-hdrgm, XMP-ics, XMP-iptcCore, XMP-iptcExt, XMP-lr, XMP-mediapro, XMP-microsoft, XMP-mwg-coll, XMP-mwg-kw, XMP-mwg-rs, XMP-nine, XMP-panorama, XMP-pdf, XMP-pdfx, XMP-photomech, XMP-photoshop, XMP-plus, XMP-pmi, XMP-prism, XMP-prl, XMP-prm, XMP-pur, XMP-rdf, XMP-sdc, XMP-swf, XMP-tiff, XMP-x, XMP-xmp, XMP-xmpBJ, XMP-xmpDM, XMP-xmpDSA, XMP-xmpMM, XMP-xmpNote, XMP-xmpPLUS, XMP-xmpRights, XMP-xmpTPg, ZIP, iTunes
2 (Category) Audio, Author, Camera, Device, Document, ExifTool, Image, Location, Other, Preview, Printing, Time, Unknown, Video
3 (Document Number) Doc#, Main
4 (Instance Number) Copy#
5 (Metadata Path) eg. JPEG-APP1-IFD0-ExifIFD
6 (EXIF/TIFF Format) int8u, string, int16u, int32u, rational64u, int8s, undef, int16s, int32s, rational64s, float, double, ifd, unicode, complex, int64u, int64s, ifd64
7 (Tag ID) ID-xxx (where xxx is the tag ID. Numerical ID's are given in hex with a leading "0x" if the HexTagIDs API option is set, as are characters in non-numerical ID's which are not valid in a group name. Either decimal or hexadecimal ID's may be used when writing. Note that unlike other group names, family 7 group names are case sensitive.)
8 (File Number) File# (for files loaded via -fileNUM option)

The exiftool output can be organized based on these groups using the -g or -G option (ie. -g1 to see family 1 groups, or -g3:1 to see both family 3 and family 1 group names in the output. See the -g option in the exiftool application documentation for more details, and the GetGroup function in the ExifTool library for a description of the group families. Note that when writing, only family 0, 1, 2 and 7 group names may be used.

Writing Meta Information

When writing information, ExifTool preserves the original file by adding "_original" to the file name. Be sure to keep a copy of the original, or thoroughly validate the new file before erasing the original. (Read here for some ramblings on the subject of writing meta information.)

Syntax

Tag values are written rather than being extracted if any tag name ends with a '=' symbol (or if the -tagsFromFile or -geotag options are used). The '=' may be prefixed by '+', '-' or '<' to add a value, remove a value or set a value from file. The following table outlines the different write syntaxes:

SyntaxResult
-TAG=Deletes all occurrences of TAG
-all=Deletes all meta information!
-GROUP:TAG=Deletes TAG only in specified group
-GROUP:all=Deletes all information in specified group
-[GROUP:]TAG=VALUESets value of TAG (only in GROUP if specified)
-[GROUP:]TAG+=VALUEAdds item to a list, shifts a date/time, or increments a number
-[GROUP:]TAG-=VALUERemoves item from a list, shifts a date/time, or deletes TAG if it has the specified value
-[GROUP:]TAG<=FILESets tag value from contents of specified file
See the Writer Limitations for some limitations of this feature.

Quotes are required around VALUE if it contains spaces or other special characters, and around the whole argument if the '<=' syntax is used (to prevent shell redirection).

A special feature allows the print conversion to be disabled on a per-tag basis by suffixing any tag name (including 'all') with the '#' character. This has the same effect as the -n option, but for a single tag. See the -n option in the application documentation for more details.

Note: Changes to PDF files are reversible because the original metadata is never actually deleted from these files. See the PDF Tags documentation for details.

Group Priorities

ExifTool prioritizes the following types of meta information when writing:

1) EXIF,   2) IPTC,   3) XMP

Many tag names are valid for more than one of these groups. If a group name is not specified when writing information, then the information is added only to the highest priority group for which the tag name is valid (however, the information is updated in all groups where the tag already existed). The priority of the groups is given by the list above. Specifically, this means that new information is added preferentially to the EXIF group, or to the IPTC group if no corresponding EXIF tag exists, or finally to the XMP group.

Alternatively, information may be written to a specific group only, bypassing these priorities, by providing a group name for the tag. The "Writing Meta Information" section above gave the syntax rules for exiftool command-line arguments to do this. Any family 0, 1, 2 or 7 group name may be used when writing information, although not all groups are writable.

The "-tagsFromFile" Option

A special ExifTool option allows copying tags from one file to another. The command-line syntax for doing this is "-tagsFromFile SRCFILE". Any tags specified after this option on the command line are extracted from source file and written to the destination file. If no tags are specified, then all writable tags are copied. This option is very simple, yet very powerful. Depending on the formats of the source and destination files, some of tags read may not be valid in the destination file, in which case they aren't written.

This option may also be used to transfer information between different tags within a single image or between different images. See the -tagsFromFile option in the application documentation for more details.

Writer Limitations

Known Problems

Security Issues

Some ExifTool options (-config, -if, -p, -fileNUM, -api filter, -api filterw and copying arguments like "-DSTTAG<STR") have the ability to execute Perl code from external files or within command-line arguments. This may be a security problem if ExifTool is executed from another application that blindly passes untrusted file names on the command line (since they may be interpreted as ExifTool options if they begin with a dash). To be secure the calling application must either place file names after the "--" option, or ensure that input file names do not start with a dash (U+002D) or a Unicode minus sign (U+2212). One way to accomplish this is to prefix input file names with a known directory name, eg.) "./FILENAME".

On startup, ExifTool executes user-defined code from the .ExifTool_config file located in the ExifTool directory, the directory specified by the EXIFTOOL_HOME, HOME or HOMEDRIVE+HOMEPATH environment variables, or the current working directory. So care must be taken to make sure that any such file contains only trusted code.

As well, untrusted window title strings should not be used with the -progress:TITLE option.

Date/Time Shift Feature

Have you ever forgotten to set the date/time on your digital camera before taking a bunch of pictures? ExifTool has a time shift feature that makes it easy to apply a batch fix to the timestamps of the images (eg. change the "Date Picture Taken" reported by Windows Explorer). Say for example that your camera clock was reset to 2000:01:01 00:00:00 when you put in a new battery at 2005:11:03 10:48:00. Then all of the pictures you took subsequently have timestamps that are wrong by 5 years, 10 months, 2 days, 10 hours and 48 minutes. To fix this, put all of the images in the same directory ("DIR") and run exiftool:

exiftool "-DateTimeOriginal+=5:10:2 10:48:0" DIR

The example above changes only the DateTimeOriginal tag, but any writable date or time tag can be shifted, and multiple tags may be written with a single command line. Commonly, in JPEG images, the DateTimeOriginal, CreateDate and ModifyDate values must all be changed. For convenience, a Shortcut tag called AllDates has been defined to represent these three tags. So, for example, if you forgot to set your camera clock back 1 hour at the end of daylight savings time in the fall, you can fix the images with:

exiftool -AllDates-=1 DIR

See Image::ExifTool::Shift.pl (download in PDF format) for details about the syntax of the time shift string.

Note: Not all date/time information is covered by the AllDates shortcut. Specifically, the filesystem date/time tags are not included, and this command will reset FileModifyDate to the current date/time as it should when the file is modified, unless either the -P option is used, or FileModifyDate is set to something else. To shift FileModifyDate along with the other tags, add -FileModifyDate-=1 to the command above.

Renaming and/or Moving Files

By writing a new value to the FileName and/or Directory tags, files can be renamed and/or moved to different directories. This can be a very powerful tool in combination with the -d (date format) option for organizing images by date/time. For example, the following command renames all images in directory "DIR" according to the individual file's creation date in the form "YYYYmmdd_HHMMSS.ext".

exiftool "-FileName<CreateDate" -d "%Y%m%d_%H%M%S.%%e" DIR

Or a new directory can be specified by setting the value of the Directory tag. For example, the following command moves all images originally in directory "DIR" into a directory hierarchy organized by year/month/day:

exiftool "-Directory<DateTimeOriginal" -d "%Y/%m/%d" DIR

Read here for more details about this powerful feature.

Improving Performance

There is a significant overhead in loading ExifTool, so performance may be greatly improved by taking advantage of ExifTool's batch processing capabilities (the ability to process multiple files or entire directories with a single command) to reduce the number of executed commands when performing complex operations or processing multiple files. [One exiftool user documented a 60x speed increase by processing a large number of files with a single command instead of running exiftool separately on each file.] Also, the -execute option may be used to perform multiple independent operations with a single invocation of exiftool, and together with the -stay_open option provides a method for calling applications to avoid this startup overhead.

It has also been observed that the loading time of ExifTool for Windows increases significantly when Windows Defender is active. Disabling Windows Defender may speed things up significantly.

The processing speed of ExifTool can be improved when extracting information by reducing the amount of work that it must do. Decrease the number of extracted tags by specifying desired tags individually (-TAG) or by group (-GROUP:all), and disable the composite tags (-e) and the print conversions (-n) if these features aren't required. Note that the exclude options (-x or --TAG) are not very efficient, and may have a negative impact on performance if a large number of tags are excluded individually. The exception is XMP groups, which are bypassed in processing so they are never even extracted -- specifying --XMP-crs:all and -XMP-crd:all may speed processing significantly by avoiding processing of bulky Adobe image-editing information. The API IgnoreTags option (added in ExifTool 12.43) may also be used for significant speed benefits in some cases, especially when memory usage is significant because this may significantly reduced the required memory.

The -fast option can significantly increase speed when extracting information from JPEG images which are piped across a slow network connection. However, with this option any information in a JPEG trailer is not extracted. For more substantial speed benefits, -fast2 may be used to also avoid extracting MakerNote information if this is not required, or -fast4 if only pseudo System tags are required.

When writing, avoid copying tags (with -tagsFromFile) or using the -if or -fileOrder option because these will add the extra step of extracting tags from the file. Without these the write operation is accomplished with a single pass of each file.

However, note that when the -csv option is used, information from all files is buffered in memory before the CSV output is written. This may be very memory intensive and result in poor performance when reading a large number of files in a single command.

The Image::ExifTool Perl Library Module

The "exiftool" script provides a command-line interface to the Image::ExifTool Perl library module which is part of the ExifTool distribution. The Image::ExifTool module can be used in any Perl script to provide easy access to meta information. Here is an example of a very simple script that uses Image::ExifTool to print out all recognized meta information in a file:

#!/usr/bin/env perl
use Image::ExifTool ':Public';
my $file = shift or die "Please specify filename";
my $info = ImageInfo($file);
foreach (keys %$info) {
    print "$_ : $info->{$_}\n";
}

Note that some tag values may be returned as SCALAR references indicating binary data. The simple script above does not handle this case.

See the Image::ExifTool Documentation for more details.

Additional Documentation and Resources

User-contributed Documentation

Related Utilities

Below are some free utilities which take advantage of the ExifTool engine:

Windows

MacOS

Linux

Android

Multi-Platform

Online

Lightroom Plugins

Programming

Other Links

Boldly Go where No Man has Gone Before...

There is still much unknown information in the maker notes for many camera models. (To see this information, run exiftool with the -U option.) In this area, ExifTool is very much a collaborative effort, and development relies heavily on the input from camera owners to help decode new meta information. If you manage to figure out what any of it means, send me an e-mail (philharvey66 at gmail.com) and I'll add your new discoveries to ExifTool. Many thanks to all who have helped so far...

Acknowledgements

Thanks to everyone who has sent in bug reports, comments, or suggestions, and special thanks to the following people for their valuable input and/or additions to the code:

License

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

Donate

ExifTool is free, but due to popular request I am providing a way for those who feel the need to send me some money. It is really not necessary, but thank you very much if you decide to make a contribution:

$

(Your generous donations have provided the funds used to register exiftool.org and pay for web site hosting, and for the Mac Mini used to generate distribution files, run the necessary Windows virtual machine, and maintain source-code and forum backups.)

Phil's Background

Phil has a master's degree in nuclear physics and is now officially retired from his position at Queen's University where he worked with the Nobel-prize-winning Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) team and other SNOLab experiments from 1990 to 2020. For SNO he wrote the software to aquire, format, store and display all of the hundreds of terabytes of data generated by the detector; software that continues to be used by SNO+ for their even greater data volume.

ExifTool started as a simple utility used to display metadata from images hosted on the SNO web site, but quickly expanded in scope as Phil got involved with digital photography beginning in 2001. During retirement Phil continues to enjoy digital photography, a hobby which he now applies to bird watching. A selection of his birding pictures may be found in his recent Birds of Kingston book.

Contact Me

If you have any comments, suggestions or questions, please post to the ExifTool Forum so other people may benefit from your experiences. (I will respond in the forum more quickly than by email.) Otherwise, if you must contact me directly, my e-mail address is on the first line of the README file in the full distribution. Thanks.   - Phil Harvey