Download Version 6.98 (1.4 MB) - Sept. 23, 2007
ExifTool is a platform-independent Perl library plus a command-line application for reading, writing and editing meta information in image, audio and video files. ExifTool supports many different types of metadata including EXIF, GPS, IPTC, XMP, JFIF, GeoTIFF, ICC Profile, Photoshop IRB, FlashPix, AFCP and ID3, as well as the maker notes of many digital cameras by Canon, Casio, FujiFilm, HP, JVC/Victor, Kodak, Leaf, Minolta/Konica-Minolta, Nikon, Olympus/Epson, Panasonic/Leica, Pentax/Asahi, Ricoh, Sanyo, Sigma/Foveon and Sony.
ExifTool is also available as a stand-alone Windows executable and a Macintosh OS X package. Note that these versions contain the executable only, and do not include the HTML documentation or other files of the full distribution:
Windows Executable: exiftool-6.98.zip (1.8 MB)
The stand-alone Windows executable does not require Perl. Just
download and un-zip the 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.
Mac OS X Package: ExifTool-6.98.dmg (0.8 MB)
The OS X package installs the ExifTool command-line application and
libraries in /usr/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, Mac OS X and Unix systems.
"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
"exiftool is an amazingly powerful Perl module and script" - Brett's Place on the Web
"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
"... 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
ExifTool can Read, Write and/or Create files in the following formats:
File Type Support Description ACR R American College of Radiology ACR-NEMA (DICOM-like) AI R Adobe Illustrator (EPS or PDF) AIFF, AIF, AIFC R Audio Interchange File Format APE R Monkey's Audio format ARW R Sony Alpha RAW format (TIFF-based) ASF R Microsoft Advanced Systems Format AVI R Audio Video Interleaved (RIFF-based) BMP, DIB R Windows BitMaP / Device Independent Bitmap BTF, TIFF, TIF R BigTIFF (64-bit Tagged Image File Format) CR2 R/W Canon RAW 2 format (TIFF-based) CRW, CIFF R/W Canon RAW Camera Image File Format (CRW specification) CS1 R/W Sinar CaptureShop 1-Shot RAW (PSD-based) DCM, DC3, DIC, DICM R DICOM - Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine DCR R Kodak Digital Camera RAW (TIFF-based) DNG R/W Digital Negative (TIFF-based) DOC R Microsoft Word Document (FPX-like) EPS, EPSF, PS R/W [Encapsulated] PostScript Format ERF R/W Epson RAW Format (TIFF-based) FLAC R Free Lossless Audio Codec FLV R Flash Video FPX R FlashPix image GIF R/W Compuserve Graphics Interchange Format HTML, HTM, XHTML R [Extensible] HyperText Markup Language ICC, ICM R/W/C International Color Consortium color profile JP2, JPX R/W JPEG 2000 image JPEG, JPG R/W Joint Photographic Experts Group image (see table below) K25 R Kodak DC25 RAW (TIFF-based) M4A R MPEG 4 Audio MEF R/W Mamiya (RAW) Electronic Format (TIFF-based) MIE R/W/C Meta Information Encapsulation format (MIE specification) MIFF, MIF R Magick Image File Format MOS R/W Creo Leaf Mosaic (TIFF-based) MOV, QT R Apple QuickTime Movie MP3 R MPEG Layer 3 audio (uses ID3 information) MP4 R Motion Picture Experts Group version 4 MPC R Musepack Audio MPEG, MPG R Motion Picture Experts Group version 1 or 2 MRW R/W Minolta RAW format NEF R/W Nikon (RAW) Electronic Format (TIFF-based) OGG R Ogg Vorbis and Ogg FLAC audio ORF R/W Olympus RAW Format (TIFF-based) R Adobe Portable Document Format PEF R/W Pentax (RAW) Electronic Format (TIFF-based) PICT, PCT R Apple Picture file PNG, JNG, MNG R/W Portable/JPEG/Multiple-image Network Graphics PPM, PBM, PGM R/W Portable Pixel/Bit/Gray Map PPT R Microsoft PowerPoint presentation (FPX-like) PSD R/W PhotoShop Drawing QTIF, QTI, QIF R QuickTime Image File RA R Real Audio RAF R FujiFilm RAW Format (TIFF-based) RAM, RPM R Real Audio/Plug-in Metafile RAW R Kyocera Contax N Digital RAW format RAW R/W Panasonic RAW format (TIFF-based) RIFF, RIF R Resource Interchange File Format RM, RV, RMVB R Real Media/Video [Variable Bitrate] SR2 R Sony RAW 2 format (TIFF-based) SRF R Sony RAW Format (TIFF-based) SWF R Shockwave Flash THM R/W Canon Thumbnail (JPEG) TIFF, TIF R/W Tagged Image File Format VRD R/W Canon DPP Virtual? Recipe Data WAV R Windows digital audio WAVeform (RIFF-based) WDP R/W Windows Media Photo (TIFF-based) WMA, WMV R Windows Media Audio/Video (ASF-based) X3F R Sigma/Foveon RAW format XLS R Microsoft Excel worksheet (FPX-like) XMP R/W/C Extensible Metadata Platform sidecar file
ExifTool can Read, Write and/or Create the following types of meta information in JPEG images:
JPEG Meta Information Support Description APP0 - JFIF R/W/C JPEG File Interchange Format APP0 - JFXX R Extended JFIF APP0 - CIFF R/W Camera Image File Format (used by some Canon models) APP1 - EXIF R/W/C Exchangeable Image File Format (including maker notes) APP1 - XMP R/W/C Extensible Metadata Platform APP2 - ICC R/W/C International Color Consortium (multi-segment) APP2 - FPXR R FlashPix Ready (multi-segment) APP3 - Kodak Meta R EXIF-like Kodak information APP5 - Ricoh RMETA R Ricoh custom fields APP6 - EPPIM R Toshiba PrintIM information APP8 - SPIFF R Still Picture Interchange File Format APP10 - Comment R PhotoStudio Unicode Comment APP12 - Picture Info R ASCII-based Picture Information APP12 - Ducky R/W/C Photoshop "Save for Web" information APP13 - Photoshop IRB R/W/C Image Resource Block (multi-segment, includes IPTC) APP14 - Adobe R Adobe DCT filter information APP15 - GraphicConverter R GraphicConverter quality information COM R/W/C JPEG Comment (multi-segment) SOF R JPEG Start Of Frame AFCP trailer R/W AXS File Concatenation Protocol (includes IPTC) CanonVRD trailer R/W Canon DPP Virtual? Recipe Data FotoStation trailer R/W FotoWare FotoStation edit information (includes IPTC) PhotoMechanic trailer R/W Camera Bits Photo Mechanic edit information MIE trailer R/W Meta Information Encapsulation PreviewImage trailer R/W/C (preview image written after JPEG EOI)
Requires Perl 5.004 or later. No other libraries or software required.
Windows users: You can get a good, free Perl interpreter from activeperl.com. Alternatively, a stand-alone exiftool Windows executable is now available (this version does not require Perl).
Everyone else (Mac, Unix, etc): Don't worry, you should already have Perl installed.
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.
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 the
".pl" extension.
The stand-alone version ("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 (ie. 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) Stand-alone version in the Windows GUI:
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 stand-alone
executable. (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 Name Operation Print meta information in window and pause before terminating. Generate output " .txt" files with detailed meta information.Generate sidecar " .xmp" files.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) multiple shortcuts may be created for performing different operations 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 more 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.
> exiftool -h -canon pics/103_0315.JPG
File Name 103_0315.JPG Camera Model Name Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL Date/Time Original 2003:09:30 13:37:51 Shooting Mode Sports Shutter Speed 1/2000 Aperture 7.1 Metering Mode Evaluative Exposure Compensation 0 ISO 400 Lens 75.0 - 300.0mm Focal Length 300.0mm Image Size 3072x2048 Quality Normal Flash Off White Balance Auto Focus Mode AI Servo AF Contrast +1 Sharpness +1 Saturation +1 Color Tone Normal File Size 1606 kB File Number 103-0315 Drive Mode Continuous shooting Owner Name Phil Harvey Camera Body No. 0560012345
The Verbose (‑v) and HtmlDump (‑htmlDump) options print additional
information that can be very useful for debugging or when decoding new tags.
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. Case is not
significant. The tag name may be prefixed by a group name
from family 0 or 1 (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:
‑s command-line option to see the actual tag names instead of the
descriptions when extracting information.‑f option may be used to force all specified tags to be displayed.‑a
option may be used to extract all 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::Shortcuts::UserDefined = ( 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.
ExifTool classifies tags into groups in three different families. These groups are:
Family Group Names 0 (Information Type) AFCP, AIFF, APE, APP12, APP14, APP15, APP5, APP6, APP8, ASF, BMP, CanonVRD, Composite, DICOM, DNG, Ducky, EXIF, ExifTool, FLAC, File, Flash, FlashPix, FotoStation, GeoTiff, HTML, ICC_Profile, ID3, IPTC, JFIF, JPEG, Jpeg2000, Leaf, MIE, MIFF, MNG, MPC, MPEG, MakerNotes, Meta, PDF, PICT, PNG, PhotoMechanic, Photoshop, PostScript, PrintIM, QuickTime, RIFF, Real, SigmaRaw, Vorbis, XMP 1 (Specific Location) AFCP, AIFF, APE, ASF, Adobe, BMP, Canon, CanonCustom, CanonRaw, CanonVRD, Casio, Composite, DICOM, DNG, Ducky, EPPIM, ExifIFD, ExifTool, FLAC, File, Flash, FlashPix, FotoStation, FujiFilm, GPS, GeoTiff, GlobParamIFD, GraphConv, HP, HTML, HTML-dc, HTML-ncc, HTML-prod, HTML-vw96, HTTP-equiv, ICC-chrm, ICC-clrt, ICC-header, ICC-meas, ICC-view, ICC_Profile, ID3, ID3v1, ID3v2_2, ID3v2_3, ID3v2_4, IFD0, IFD1, IPTC, InteropIFD, JFIF, JPEG, JVC, Jpeg2000, Kodak, KodakBordersIFD, KodakEffectsIFD, KyoceraRaw, Leaf, LeafSubIFD, MAC, MIE-Audio, MIE-Camera, 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, MNG, MPC, MPEG, MakerNotes, MakerUnknown, MetaIFD, Minolta, MinoltaRaw, Nikon, NikonCapture, NikonPreview, NikonScan, Olympus, PDF, PICT, PNG, Panasonic, Pentax, PhotoMechanic, Photoshop, PictureInfo, PostScript, PrintIM, QuickTime, RIFF, RMETA, Real, Real-CONT, Real-MDPR, Real-PROP, Real-RA3, Real-RA4, Real-RA5, Real-RJMD, Ricoh, SPIFF, SR2, SRF#, Sanyo, Sigma, SigmaRaw, Sony, SubIFD, Track#, Vorbis, XMP, XMP-PixelLive, XMP-aux, XMP-cc, XMP-crs, XMP-dc, XMP-dex, XMP-exif, XMP-iptcCore, XMP-lr, XMP-microsoft, XMP-pdf, XMP-photomech, XMP-photoshop, XMP-tiff, XMP-xmp, XMP-xmpBJ, XMP-xmpDM, XMP-xmpMM, XMP-xmpPLUS, XMP-xmpRights, XMP-xmpTPg 2 (Category) Audio, Author, Camera, Document, ExifTool, Image, Location, Other, Printing, Time, Unknown, Video
The exiftool output can be organized based on these groups using the
‑g or ‑G option.
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.)
Tag values are written rather than being extracted if the tag name ends with
a '=' symbol. 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:
Syntax Result -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=VALUE Sets value of TAG (only in GROUP if specified) -[GROUP:]TAG+=VALUE Adds value to a tag list (only valid for List type tags) -[GROUP:]TAG-=VALUE Deletes TAG only if it has the specified value -[GROUP:]TAG<=FILE Sets tag value from contents of specified file
Note that quotes are required around VALUE if it contains spaces, and around
the whole argument if the '<=' syntax is used (to prevent shell
redirection).
ExifTool prioritizes the following types of meta information when writing:
1) EXIF, 2) IPTC, 3) XMP, 4) MakerNotes
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. The Makernotes group is special, and new information generally can not be added here (see the note below).
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 or 1 group name may be used when writing information, although not all groups are writable.
Note: Information in the MakerNotes may be edited, but not added or deleted. The reason for this is to avoid confusing manufacturer-specific software which may be very inflexible about the information it expects in the maker notes. The exception is the JpgFromRaw image, which may be added or deleted from Canon CRW files. This has been tested and doesn't cause problems with the Canon software or Photoshop, however it does confuse Capture One somewhat if this image is missing, so beware.
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.
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. For example, say
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 for details about the syntax of the time shift string.
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.
The processing speed of ExifTool can be improved when extracting information
by reducing the amount of work that it must do. Disabling the composite tags
(‑e option) and the print conversions (‑n
option) will speed things up somewhat if these features aren't required, but the
biggest performance benefits come from reducing the number of extracted tags.
By specifying only the tags you need to extract, you can speed things up
significantly.
There is also a ‑fast option which 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
will not be extracted.
The 'exiftool' script is essentially just 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 a very simple script that uses Image::ExifTool to print out all recognized meta information in a file:
#!/usr/bin/perl -w 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.
Below are some utilities which take advantage of the ExifTool engine:
The following sources were very useful in helping to decode various types of information:
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 (phil at owl.phy.queensu.ca) and I'll add your new discoveries to
ExifTool. Many thanks to all who have helped so far...
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:
And special thanks to my family for putting up with me and this time-consuming hobby of mine.
This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
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:
Feel free to drop me a note if you find ExifTool useful, or if you have any comments, suggestions or questions. My e-mail address is on the first line of the README file of the full distribution. Thanks. - Phil Harvey