# ExifTool by Phil Harvey

## Read, Write and Edit Meta Information!

Installing | Tag Names | Resources | History | Forum | FAQ
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---

Features
User Comments
Supported File Types
System Requirements
Running ExifTool
Example Output
Tag Names Explained
Tag Groups
Writing Information
Writer Limitations
Known Problems
Date/Time Shift
Renaming Files
Performance
ExifTool Library
Additional Resources
New Discoveries
Acknowledgements
License
Donations
Contact Me

> Download Version 7.82 (2.1 MB) - July 2, 2009

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 above.

> Windows Executable: exiftool-7.82.zip (2.4 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-7.82.dmg (1.3 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.

## Features ^

- Powerful, fast, flexible and customizable
- Supports a large number of different file formats
- Reads EXIF, GPS, IPTC, XMP, JFIF, MakerNotes, GeoTIFF, ICC Profile, Photoshop IRB, FlashPix, AFCP, ID3 and more...
- Writes EXIF, GPS, IPTC, XMP, JFIF, MakerNotes, ICC Profile, Photoshop IRB, AFCP and more...
- Reads and writes maker notes of many digital cameras
- Decodes a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma
- Numerous output formatting options (including tab-delimited, HTML, XML and JSON)
- Multi-lingual output (cs, de, en, en_ca, en_gb, es, fr, it, ja, ko, nl, pl, ru, sv, tr, zh_cn or zh_tw)
- Geotags images from GPS track log files
- Shifts date/time values to fix timestamps in images
- Renames files and organizes in directories (by date or by any other meta information)
- Extracts thumbnail images, preview images, and large JPEG images from RAW files
- Copies meta information between files (even different-format files)
- Deletes meta information individually, in groups, or altogether
- Sets the file modification date from EXIF information
- Supports alternate language tags in XMP, ID3 and MIE information
- Processes entire directory trees
- Creates text output file for each image file
- Creates binary-format metadata-only (MIE) files for metadata backup
- Automatically backs up original image when writing
- Organizes output into groups
- Conditionally processes files based on value of any meta information
- Ability to add user-defined tags
- Recognizes thousands of different tags
- Tested with images from thousands of different camera models
- Advanced verbose and HTML-based hex dump outputs

## Comments by ExifTool Users ^

> "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

> "Insanely great tool with a long learning curve ..." - Adobe Forums

> "... 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

## Supported File Types ^

ExifTool can Read, Write and/or Create files in the following formats:

> File Type | Support | Description
> --- | --- | ---
> 3FR | R | Hasselblad RAW (TIFF-based)
> 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
> ARW | R | Sony Alpha RAW (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 (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
> DCP | R/W | DNG Camera Profile (DNG-like)
> DCR | R | Kodak Digital Camera RAW (TIFF-based)
> DIVX | R | DivX media format (ASF-based)
> DJVU, DJV | R | DjVu image file
> DNG | R/W | Digital Negative (TIFF-based)
> DOC | R | Microsoft Word Document (FPX-like)
> DYLIB | R | Mac OS X Mach-O executable and library files
> EPS, EPSF, PS | R/W | [Encapsulated] PostScript Format
> ERF | R/W | Epson RAW Format (TIFF-based)
> EXE, DLL | R | DOS/Windows executable and library files
> EXIF | R/W/C | Exchangable Image File Format metadata (TIFF-based)
> FLAC | R | Free Lossless Audio Codec
> FLV | R | Flash Video
> FPX | R | FlashPix image
> GIF | R/W | Compuserve Graphics Interchange Format
> HDP, WDP | R/W | Windows HD Photo / Media Photo (TIFF-based)
> HTML, HTM, XHTML | R | [Extensible] HyperText Markup Language
> ICC, ICM | R/W/C | International Color Consortium color profile
> IND, INDD, INDT | R/W | Adobe InDesign Document/Template (XMP metadata only)
> ITC | R | iTunes Cover Flow artwork
> 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)
> KDC | R | Kodak Digital Camera RAW (TIFF-based)
> M4A | R | MPEG 4 Audio
> MEF | R/W | Mamiya (RAW) Electronic Format (TIFF-based)
> MIE | R/W/C | Meta Information Encapsulation (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
> MPO | R/W | Extended Multi-Picture format (JPEG with MPF extensions)
> MRW | R/W | Minolta RAW
> NEF | R/W | Nikon (RAW) Electronic Format (TIFF-based)
> NRW | R/W | Nikon RAW (2) (TIFF-based)
> OGG | R | Ogg Vorbis and Ogg FLAC audio
> ORF | R/W | Olympus RAW Format (TIFF-based)
> PDF | R/W | 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/W | FujiFilm RAW Format
> RAM, RPM | R | Real Audio/Plug-in Metafile
> RAW | R | Kyocera Contax N Digital RAW
> RAW | R/W | Panasonic RAW (TIFF-based)
> RIFF, RIF | R | Resource Interchange File Format
> RM, RV, RMVB | R | Real Media/Video [Variable Bitrate]
> RW2 | R/W | Panasonic RAW 2 (TIFF-based)
> RWL | R/W | Leica RAW (TIFF-based)
> RWZ | R | Rawzor compressed image
> SO | R | Unix ELF executable and Shared Object files
> SR2 | R | Sony RAW 2 (TIFF-based)
> SRF | R | Sony RAW Format (TIFF-based)
> SVG | R | Scalable Vector Graphics (XML-based)
> SWF | R | Shockwave Flash
> THM | R/W | Canon Thumbnail (JPEG)
> TIFF, TIF | R/W | Tagged Image File Format
> VRD | R/W/C | Canon DPP Recipe Data
> WAV | R | Windows digital audio WAVeform (RIFF-based)
> WMA, WMV | R | Windows Media Audio/Video (ASF-based)
> X3F | R | Sigma/Foveon RAW
> XLS | R | Microsoft Excel worksheet (FPX-like)
> XMP | R/W/C | Extensible Metadata Platform sidecar file
> ZIP | R | ZIP archive

### Supported JPEG Meta Information

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 (multi-segment)
> APP2 - ICC | R/W/C | International Color Consortium (multi-segment)
> APP2 - FPXR | R | FlashPix Ready (multi-segment)
> APP2 - MPF | R | Multi-Picture Format
> APP2 - PreviewImage | R | Samsung large preview (multi-segment)
> APP3 - Kodak Meta | R | EXIF-like Kodak information
> APP3 - Stim | R | Stereo Still Image format
> 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)
> APP13 - Adobe CM | R | Adobe Color Management information
> 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/C | Canon DPP 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)

## System Requirements ^

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.

## 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 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
> --- | ---

>     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 pics/IMG_0315.JPG`

> File Name | IMG_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 - 300.0 mm
> Focal Length | 300.0 mm
> Image Size | 3072x2048
> Quality | Normal
> Flash | Off, Did not fire
> 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

> > `exiftool -lang ja -h -canon pics/IMG_0315.JPG`

> ファイル名 | IMG_0315.JPG
> 画像入力機器モデル | Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL
> オリジナルデータ作成日時 | 2003:09:30 13:37:51
> 撮影モード | スポーツ
> 露出時間 | 1/2000
> F値 | 7.1
> 測光モード | 評価
> 露出補正値 | 0
> ISOスピードレート | 400
> レンズ | 75.0 - 300.0 mm
> レンズ焦点距離 | 300.0 mm
> イメージサイズ | 3072x2048
> 品質 | 標準
> ストロボ | フラッシュ未発光、強制発光モード
> ホワイトバランス | オート
> フォーカスモード | AIサーボAF
> コントラスト | +1
> シャープネス | +1
> 彩度 | +1
> カラートーン | 標準
> ファイルのサイズ | 1606 kB
> ファイル番号 | 103-0315
> ドライブモード | 連続撮影
> オーナー名 | Phil Harvey
> カメラ本体番号 | 0560012345

### 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. 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:

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.
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.

### 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 four different families. These groups are:

> Family | Group Names
> --- | ---

> 0 (Information Type)

> AFCP, AIFF, APE, APP12, APP13, APP14, APP15, APP5, APP6, APP8, ASF, BMP, CanonVRD, Composite, DICOM, DNG, DjVu, Ducky, EXE, EXIF, ExifTool, FLAC, File, Flash, FlashPix, FotoStation, GeoTiff, HTML, ICC_Profile, ID3, IPTC, ITC, JFIF, JPEG, Jpeg2000, Leaf, MIE, MIFF, MNG, MPC, MPEG, MPF, MakerNotes, Meta, PDF, PICT, PNG, Panasonic, PhotoMechanic, Photoshop, PostScript, PrintIM, QuickTime, RAF, RIFF, Rawzor, Real, SVG, SigmaRaw, Sony, Stim, Vorbis, XMP, ZIP

> 1 (Specific Location)

> AFCP, AIFF, APE, ASF, Adobe, AdobeCM, BMP, Canon, CanonCustom, CanonRaw, CanonVRD, Casio, Composite, DICOM, DNG, DjVu, DjVu-Meta, Ducky, EPPIM, EXE, EXIF, 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, ICC_Profile#, ID3, ID3v1, ID3v1_Enh, ID3v2_2, ID3v2_3, ID3v2_4, IFD0, IFD1, IPTC, IPTC#, ITC, InteropIFD, JFIF, JPEG, JVC, Jpeg2000, Kodak, KodakBordersIFD, KodakEffectsIFD, KodakIFD, KyoceraRaw, Leaf, LeafSubIFD, Leica, 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, MNG, MPC, MPEG, MPImage#, MPF0, MakerNotes, MakerUnknown, MetaIFD, Minolta, MinoltaRaw, Nikon, NikonCapture, NikonPreview, NikonScan, Olympus, PDF, PICT, PNG, Panasonic, Pentax, PhotoMechanic, Photoshop, PictureInfo, PostScript, PrintIM, ProfileIFD, QuickTime, RAF, RAF2, RIFF, RMETA, Rawzor, Real, Real-CONT, Real-MDPR, Real-PROP, Real-RA3, Real-RA4, Real-RA5, Real-RJMD, Ricoh, SPIFF, SR2, SR2DataIFD, SR2SubIFD, SRF#, SVG, Sanyo, Sigma, SigmaRaw, Sony, Stim, SubIFD, Track#, Vorbis, XMP, XMP-DICOM, XMP-MP, XMP-PixelLive, XMP-acdsee, XMP-album, XMP-aux, XMP-cc, XMP-crs, XMP-dc, XMP-dex, XMP-exif, XMP-iptcCore, XMP-iptcExt, XMP-lr, XMP-mediapro, XMP-microsoft, XMP-pdf, XMP-pdfx, XMP-photomech, XMP-photoshop, XMP-plus, XMP-prism, XMP-prl, XMP-pur, XMP-rdf, XMP-tiff, XMP-x, XMP-xmp, XMP-xmpBJ, XMP-xmpDM, XMP-xmpMM, XMP-xmpNote, XMP-xmpPLUS, XMP-xmpRights, XMP-xmpTPg, ZIP

> 2 (Category) | Audio, Author, Camera, Document, ExifTool, Image, Location, Other, Printing, Time, Unknown, Video
> 3 (Document Number) | Doc#, Main

The exiftool output can be organized based on these groups using the `-g` or `-G` option.

## 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:

> 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).

### 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 or 1 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 ^

- ExifTool will not rewrite a file if it detects a significant problem with the file format.
- ExifTool has been tested with a wide range of different images, but since it is not possible to test it with every known image type, there is the possibility that it will corrupt some files. Be sure to keep backups of your files.
- Even though ExifTool does some validation of the information written, it is still possible to write illegal values which may cause problems when reading the images with other software. So take care to validate the information you are writing.

## Known Problems ^

- There is a bug in the Apple RAW file support (OS X 10.4.11) which prevents some edited PEF images from being displayed properly. Other software such as the Pentax Silkypix software and dcraw have no problems with these images. [This bug is fixed in OS X 10.5.4]
- Some Macintosh applications may store information in the resource fork of a file. ExifTool does not process the resource fork, so this information is lost if the file is rewritten. (The resource fork is also typically dropped if the file is simply transferred to a non-Macintosh system.)
- In Windows, ExifTool will not process files with Unicode characters in their name. This is due to an underlying lack of support for Unicode filenames in the standard C I/O libraries.

## 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 (ie. 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 for details about the syntax of the time shift string.

## 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 ^

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 them 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.

There is overhead in loading ExifTool, so performance may be improved by taking advantage of ExifTool's batch processing capabilities to reduce the number of executed commands when performing complex operations or processing multiple files.

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.

## 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/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.

## Additional Documentation and Resources ^

- ExifTool Home Page
- ExifTool FAQ
- ExifTool Revision History (RSS feed)
- exiftool Application Documentation
- ExifTool Tag Names
- Image::ExifTool Module Documentation
- Sample ExifTool Configuration File (user-defined tags)
- Working with metadata sidecar files
- Comments on the Subject of Writing Meta Information
- "Under the Hood" of ExifTool
- Canon RAW (CRW) File Format Specification
- MIE 1.1 File Format Specification (pdf)
- JPEG Image Samples (and table of Makernote types)
- ExifTool Forum (CPAN Forum)
- Image::ExifTool at CPAN (CPAN Search)
- ExifTool Bug Reports (CPAN Request Tracker)
- ExifTool Test Reports (CPAN Testers)

### Related Utilities

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

Windows

- Exif Stats Utility: Analyzes images to tabulate apertures, exposure times, etc
- Download Visual Basic 6.0 example script v1.01 for reading tags with exiftool (thanks Michael Wandel)
- Auto ISO Tool: GUI front-end for ExifTool to patch Canon ISO information
- ExifAuto: GUI front-end for ExifTool to perform simple operations
- ExifTool GUI for Windows: GUI for viewing meta information with some editing features
- GeoSetter: Utility for showing and changing geo data of image files
- ExifMixer: GUI extension for the exiftool command-line interface
- ExifDropper: Graphical front-end for ExifTool with drag-and-drop
- GPStamper Geotagger: A simple Windows GUI front end for geotagging images

Mac OS X

- Download a stand-alone droplet to extract preview images from RAW files (thanks to Brett Gross)
- Download three droplets to extract information [exiftool must be installed] (thanks to Rob Lewis)
- Tierprogramm: Droplet to perform some basic operations
- MacMetaMod: Droplet for adding Keywords to images
- Geotagging Automator Action: Application to geotag images from GPX tracks
- PhotoGPSEditor and PhotoInfoEditor: Geocoding utilities
- MetaDataMover: GUI-based automator utility for moving/renaming images
- CS1ToCR2: Utility that uses Sony GPS-CS1 log files to add GPS information to CR2 images
- SetEXIFData: Utility to set EXIF data
- Geotagger: Droplet for inserting GPS coordinates in your photos
- Raw Photo Processor: Raw converter for Mac OS X
- GraphicConverter: Full-featured image editor
- GeoTag: Geotagging application for iPhone and OS X

Multi-Platform

- ImageIngester: Windows and Mac OS X image workflow automator
- gpsPhoto: Geotag your images from a GPS (GPX) track log
- renrot: Perl utility to perform various processing tasks on images
- Proxel EXIF Tool: Photoshop plugin based on ExifTool
- GPicSync: Windows/Linux utility to geocode photos from a GPX track log and create KML files
- Jeffrey's Exif Viewer: Web utility to view meta information in online images
- Jeffrey's Geoencoding Plugin for Lightroom: Geoencode your photos from within Lightroom
- FlickFleck: Tool to transfer images from memory card, rotate, rename, and organize by date
- gpx2exif: Python script to geocode photos and produce KML files from a GPS track log
- Geotag: Open source Java-based geotagging application

Linux

- rawimage: A kfile plugin and thumbnail image handler for RAW formats
- Sagittarius: Linux XMP metadata editor

Programming

- Download a sample AppleScript to extract tags into AppleScript record (thanks to Rob Lewis)
- Moss: Collection of Java utilities which includes an exiftool interface

Also notable, but not directly based on ExifTool:

- PhotoME: Windows utility to read/write meta information

### References

The following sources were very useful in helping to decode various types of information:

- wwwis Perl utilites by Alex Knowles
- http://park2.wakwak.com/~tsuruzoh/Computer/Digicams/exif-e.html
- http://johnst.org/sw/exiftags/
- http://search.cpan.org/dist/Image-Info/
- http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/jhead/
- http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/libexif/libexif/
- http://neuemuenze.heim1.tu-clausthal.de/~sven/crwinfo/
- http://www.cybercom.net/~dcoffin/dcraw/
- http://www.dalibor.cz/minolta/makernote.htm
- http://www.exif.org/Exif2-2.PDF
- http://www.x3f.info/technotes/FileDocs/MakerNoteDoc.html
- http://search.cpan.org/dist/Image-MetaData-JPEG/
- http://www.adobe.com/products/dng/main.html
- http://www.awaresystems.be/imaging/tiff/tifftags.html
- http://homepage3.nifty.com/kamisaka/makernote/index.htm (in english)
- http://www.gvsoft.homedns.org/exif/

### Other Links

- An interview with Phil Harvey

## 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 (phil at owl.phy.queensu.ca) 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:

- Malcolm Wotton for his help with the D30 Custom Functions
- David Anson for his help sorting out binary file problems on Windows
- Leon Booyens for his suggestions
- Jeremy Brown for the "35efl" tags
- Dan Heller for his bug reports, detailed suggestions and guidance
- Wayne Smith for his help figuring out the Pentax maker notes
- Michael Rommel for his bug fixes and additions to the Canon maker notes
- Joseph Heled for help figuring out some of the Nikon D70 maker notes
- Joachim Loehr for adding the Casio type 2 maker notes
- Greg Troxel for his suggestions and for adding ExifTool to pkgsrc
- Jay Al-Saadi for his discoveries with the Minolta white balance tag
- Thomas Walter for figuring out some Nikon tags
- Brian Ristuccia for more information about some Nikon tags
- Daniel Pittman for his additions to the Canon WhiteBalance conversion
- Christian Koller for decoding the 20D custom functions
- Juha Eskelinen for figuring out the 20D FileNumber
- Matt Madrid for his testing and feedback
- Tom Christiansen for his help decoding some Nikon tags
- Markku Hänninen for help decoding tags for the Olympus E-1
- Frank Ledwon for decoding many new Olympus tags
- Robert Rottmerhusen for decoding many tricky Nikon lens data tags
- Michael Tiemann for decoding a number of new Canon tags
- Albert Bogner for his image samples, testing and useful suggestions
- Rainer Hönle for decoding a number of new Canon 5D tags
- Nilesh Patel for his help with the web page layout
- Jens Duttke for his suggestions, bug reports and help decoding new tags
- Dave Nicholson for decoding new tags in Pentax and Canon maker notes
- Bogdan for his feedback, decoding efforts, and user support

And special thanks to my family for putting up with me and this time-consuming hobby of mine.

## License ^

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

## Donations ^

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:

> $

## Contact Me ^

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 in the full distribution. Thanks. - Phil Harvey

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