ExifTool

ExifTool is a free and open-source software program for reading, writing, and manipulating image, audio, video, and PDF metadata. It is platform independent, available as both a Perl library (Image::ExifTool) and command-line application. ExifTool is commonly incorporated into different types of digital workflows and supports many types of metadata including Exif, IPTC, XMP, JFIF, GeoTIFF, ICC Profile, Photoshop IRB, FlashPix, AFCP and ID3, as well as the manufacturer-specific metadata formats of many digital cameras.

ExifTool

Original author(s)	Phil Harvey
Initial release	19 November 2003[1]
Stable release	12.14[2] / 6 January 2021
Preview release	12.17[3] / 3 February 2021
Repository	github.com/exiftool/exiftool
Written in	Perl
Operating system	Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux
Type	Tag editor
License	GPLv1+ or Artistic License
Website	exiftool.org

Meta Information Encapsulation

Filename extension	.mie
Internet media type	application/x-mie
Magic number	7e 10 04 xx 30 4d 49 45 7e 18 04 xx 30 4d 49 45
Developed by	Phil Harvey
Initial release	28 November 2005
Latest release	1.1 (21 January 2007)
Type of format	Metadata
Container for	any other file format
Website	exiftool.org/TagNames/MIE.html

The image hosting site Flickr uses ExifTool to parse the metadata from uploaded images.[4]

Meta Information Encapsulation

ExifTool implements its own open metadata format. It is designed to encapsulate meta information from many sources, in binary or textual form, and bundle it together with any type of file. It can either be a single file, wrapping existing data, or used as a sidecar file, carrying for example Exif or XMP metadata.

Supported file types

ExifTool can read, edit or create files with the following formats:[5]

File Type	Can read?	Can edit?	Can create?	Description
3FR	Yes	No	No	Hasselblad raw (TIFF-based)
3G2, 3GP2	Yes	Yes	No	3rd Gen. Partnership Project 2 audio/video (QuickTime-based)
3GP, 3GPP	Yes	Yes	No	3rd Gen. Partnership Project audio/video (QuickTime-based)
A	Yes	No	No	Unix static library code Archive
AA	Yes	No	No	Audible Audiobook
AAE	Yes	No	No	Apple edit information (XML PLIST-based)
AAX	Yes	Yes	No	Audible Enhanced Audiobook (QuickTime-based)
ACR	Yes	No	No	American College of Radiology ACR-NEMA (DICOM-like)
AFM, ACFM, AMFM	Yes	No	No	Adobe (Composite/Multiple Master) Font Metrics
AI, AIT	Yes	Yes	No	Adobe Illustrator (Template, PS or PDF)
AIFF, AIF, AIFC	Yes	No	No	Audio Interchange File Format (Compressed)
APE	Yes	No	No	Monkey's Audio
ARQ	Yes	Yes	No	Sony Alpha Pixel-Shift raw (TIFF-based)
ARW	Yes	Yes	No	Sony Alpha raw (TIFF-based)
ASF	Yes	No	No	Microsoft Advanced Systems Format
AVI	Yes	No	No	Audio Video Interleaved (RIFF-based)
AVIF	Yes	Yes	No	AV1 Image File Format (QuickTime-based)
BMP, DIB	Yes	No	No	Windows BitMaP / Device Independent Bitmap
BPG	Yes	No	No	Better Portable Graphics
BTF	Yes	No	No	BigTIFF (64-bit Tagged Image File Format)
CHM	Yes	No	No	Microsoft Compiled HTML format
COS	Yes	No	No	Capture One Settings (XML-based)
CR2	Yes	Yes	No	Canon Raw 2 (TIFF-based) (CR2 specification)
CR3	Yes	Yes	No	Canon Raw 3 (QuickTime-based) (CR3 specification)
CRW, CIFF	Yes	Yes	No	Canon Raw Camera Image File Format (CRW specification)
CS1	Yes	Yes	No	Sinar CaptureShop 1-shot raw (PSD-based)
CSV	Yes	No	No	Comma-Separated Values
DCM, DC3, DIC, DICM	Yes	No	No	DICOM - Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine
DCP	Yes	Yes	No	DNG Camera Profile (DNG-like)
DCR	Yes	No	No	Kodak Digital Camera Raw (TIFF-based)
DFONT	Yes	No	No	Macintosh Data Fork Font
DIVX	Yes	No	No	DivX media format (ASF-based)
DJVU, DJV	Yes	No	No	DjVu image (AIFF-like)
DNG	Yes	Yes	No	Digital Negative (TIFF-based)
DOC, DOT	Yes	No	No	Microsoft Word Document/Template (FPX-like)
DOCX, DOCM	Yes	No	No	Office Open XML Document (Macro-enabled)
DOTX, DOTM	Yes	No	No	Office Open XML Document Template (Macro-enabled)
DPX	Yes	No	No	Digital Picture Exchange
DR4	Yes	Yes	Yes	Canon DPP version 4 Recipe
DYLIB	Yes	No	No	Mac OS X Mach-O executable and library files
DV	Yes	No	No	Digital Video
DVB	Yes	Yes	No	Digital Video Broadcasting (QuickTime-based)
DVR-MS	Yes	No	No	Microsoft Digital Video Recording (ASF-based)
EIP	Yes	No	No	Capture One Enhanced Image Package (ZIP-based)
EPS, EPSF, PS	Yes	Yes	No	(Encapsulated) PostScript Format
EPUB	Yes	No	No	Electronic Publication Format
ERF	Yes	Yes	No	Epson Raw Format (TIFF-based)
EXE, DLL	Yes	No	No	DOS/Windows executable and library files
EXIF	Yes	Yes	Yes	Exchangeable Image File Format metadata (TIFF-based)
EXR	Yes	No	No	Open EXR (Extended Range)
EXV	Yes	Yes	Yes	Exiv2 metadata file (JPEG-based)
F4A, F4B, F4P, F4V	Yes	Yes	No	Adobe Flash Player 9+ Audio/Video (Quicktime-based)
FFF	Yes	Yes	No	Hasselblad Flexible File Format (TIFF-based)
FFF	Yes	No	No	FLIR thermal image File Format
FLA	Yes	No	No	Macromedia/Adobe Flash project (FPX-like)
FLAC	Yes	No	No	Free Lossless Audio Codec
FLIF	Yes	Yes	No	Free Lossless Image Format
FLV	Yes	No	No	Flash Video
FPF	Yes	No	No	FLIR Public image Format
FPX	Yes	No	No	FlashPix image
GIF	Yes	Yes	No	Compuserve Graphics Interchange Format
GPR	Yes	Yes	No	GoPro Raw (DNG-based)
GZ, GZIP	Yes	No	No	GNU ZIP compressed archive
HDP, WDP, JXR	Yes	Yes	No	Windows HD Photo / Media Photo / JPEG XR (TIFF-based)
HDR	Yes	No	No	Radiance RGBE (Red Green Blue Exponent) High Dynamic-Range
HEIC, HEIF, HIF	Yes	Yes	No	High Efficiency Image Format (QuickTime-based)
HTML, HTM, XHTML	Yes	No	No	(Extensible) HyperText Markup Language
ICC, ICM	Yes	Yes	Yes	International Color Consortium color profile
ICS, ICAL	Yes	No	No	iCalendar Schedule
IDML	Yes	No	No	Adobe InDesign Markup Language (ZIP/XML-based)
IIQ	Yes	Yes	No	Phase One Intelligent Image Quality raw (TIFF-based)
IND, INDD, INDT	Yes	Yes	No	Adobe InDesign Document/Template (XMP metadata only)
INSV	Yes	No	No	Insta360 Video (QuickTime-based)
INX	Yes	No	No	Adobe InDesign Interchange (XML-based, XMP metadata only)
ISO	Yes	No	No	ISO 9660 disk image
ITC	Yes	No	No	iTunes Cover Flow artwork
J2C, J2K, JPC	Yes	No	No	JPEG 2000 codestream
JP2, JPF, JPM, JPX	Yes	Yes	No	JPEG 2000 image (Compound/Extended)
JPEG, JPG, JPE	Yes	Yes	No	Joint Photographic Experts Group image (see table below)
JSON	Yes	No	No	JavaScript Object Notation
K25	Yes	No	No	Kodak DC25 raw (TIFF-based)
KDC	Yes	No	No	Kodak Digital Camera raw (TIFF-based)
KEY, KTH	Yes	No	No	Apple iWork '09 Keynote presentation/Theme
LA	Yes	No	No	Lossless Audio (RIFF-based)
LFP, LFR	Yes	No	No	Lytro Light Field Picture
LNK	Yes	No	No	Microsoft Shell Link (Windows shortcut)
LRV	Yes	Yes	No	Low-Resolution Video (QuickTime-based)
M2TS, MTS, M2T, TS	Yes	No	No	MPEG-2 Transport Stream (used for AVCHD video)
M4A, M4B, M4P, M4V	Yes	Yes	No	MPEG-4 Audio/Video (Quicktime-based)
MAX	Yes	No	No	3D Studio MAX (FPX-like)
MEF	Yes	Yes	No	Mamiya (raw) Electronic Format (TIFF-based)
MIE	Yes	Yes	Yes	Meta Information Encapsulation (MIE specification)
MIFF, MIF	Yes	No	No	Magick Image File Format
MKA, MKV, MKS	Yes	No	No	Matroska Audio/Video/Subtitle
MOBI, AZW, AZW3	Yes	No	No	Mobipocket electronic book (Palm-based)
MODD	Yes	No	No	Sony Picture Motion metadata (XML PLIST-based)
MOI	Yes	No	No	MOD Information file
MOS	Yes	Yes	No	Creo Leaf Mosaic (TIFF-based)
MOV, QT	Yes	Yes	No	Apple QuickTime Movie
MP3	Yes	No	No	MPEG-1 layer 3 audio (uses ID3 information)
MP4	Yes	Yes	No	Motion Picture Experts Group version 4 (Quicktime-based)
MPC	Yes	No	No	Musepack Audio
MPEG, MPG, M2V	Yes	No	No	Motion Picture Experts Group version 1 or 2
MPO	Yes	Yes	No	Extended Multi-Picture format (JPEG with MPF extensions)
MQV	Yes	Yes	No	Sony Mobile QuickTime Video
MRW	Yes	Yes	No	Minolta Raw
MXF	Yes	No	No	Material Exchange Format
NEF	Yes	Yes	No	Nikon (raw) Electronic Format (TIFF-based)
NMBTEMPLATE	Yes	No	No	Apple iWork '09 Numbers Template
NRW	Yes	Yes	No	Nikon Raw (2) (TIFF-based)
NUMBERS	Yes	No	No	Apple iWork '09 Numbers spreadsheet
O	Yes	No	No	Unix compiled code Object
ODB, ODC, ODF, ODG, ODI, ODP, ODS, ODT	Yes	No	No	Open Document Database/Chart/Formula/Graphics/ Image/Presentation/Spreadsheet/Text (ZIP/XML-based)
OFR	Yes	No	No	OptimFROG audio (RIFF-based)
OGG, OGV	Yes	No	No	Ogg bitstream container
OPUS	Yes	No	No	Ogg Opus audio
ORF	Yes	Yes	No	Olympus Raw Format (TIFF-based)
OTF	Yes	No	No	Open Type Font
PAC	Yes	No	No	Lossless Predictive Audio Compression (RIFF-based)
PAGES	Yes	No	No	Apple iWork '09 Pages document
PCD	Yes	No	No	Kodak Photo CD Image Pac
PCX	Yes	No	No	PC Paintbrush
PDB, PRC	Yes	No	No	Palm Database
PDF	Yes	Yes	No	Adobe Portable Document Format
PEF	Yes	Yes	No	Pentax (raw) Electronic Format (TIFF-based)
PFA, PFB	Yes	No	No	PostScript Font ASCII/Binary
PFM	Yes	No	No	Printer Font Metrics
PGF	Yes	No	No	Progressive Graphics File
PICT, PCT	Yes	No	No	Apple Picture file
PLIST	Yes	No	No	Apple Property List (binary and XML formats)
PMP	Yes	No	No	Sony DSC-F1 Cyber-Shot image
PNG, JNG, MNG	Yes	Yes	No	Portable/JPEG/Multiple-image Network Graphics
PPM, PBM, PGM	Yes	Yes	No	Portable Pixel/Bit/Gray Map
PPT, PPS, POT	Yes	No	No	Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation/Slideshow/Template (FPX-like)
POTX, POTM	Yes	No	No	Office Open XML Presentation Template (Macro-enabled)
PPAX, PPAM	Yes	No	No	Office Open XML Presentation Addin (Macro-enabled)
PPSX, PPSM	Yes	No	No	Office Open XML Presentation Slideshow (Macro-enabled)
PPTX, PPTM	Yes	No	No	Office Open XML Presentation (Macro-enabled)
PSD, PSB, PSDT	Yes	Yes	No	PhotoShop Drawing / Large Document / Template
PSP, PSPIMAGE	Yes	No	No	Paint Shop Pro
QTIF, QTI, QIF	Yes	Yes	No	QuickTime Image File
R3D	Yes	No	No	Redcode raw video
RA	Yes	No	No	RealAudio
RAF	Yes	Yes	No	FujiFilm Raw Format
RAM, RPM	Yes	No	No	RealAudio/Plug-in Metafile
RAR	Yes	No	No	RAR Archive
RAW	Yes	No	No	Kyocera Contax N Digital Raw
RAW	Yes	Yes	No	Panasonic Raw (TIFF-based)
RIFF, RIF	Yes	No	No	Resource Interchange File Format
RM, RV, RMVB	Yes	No	No	Real Media/Video (Variable Bitrate)
RSRC	Yes	No	No	Mac OS Resource
RTF	Yes	No	No	Rich Text Format
RW2	Yes	Yes	No	Panasonic Raw 2 (TIFF-based)
RWL	Yes	Yes	No	Leica Raw (TIFF-based)
RWZ	Yes	No	No	Rawzor compressed image
SEQ	Yes	No	No	FLIR Systems image Sequence
SKETCH	Yes	No	No	Sketch design file
SO	Yes	No	No	Unix ELF executable and Shared Object files
SR2	Yes	Yes	No	Sony Raw 2 (TIFF-based)
SRF	Yes	No	No	Sony Raw Format (TIFF-based)
SRW	Yes	Yes	No	Samsung Raw format (TIFF-based)
SVG	Yes	No	No	Scalable Vector Graphics (XML-based)
SWF	Yes	No	No	Shockwave Flash
THM	Yes	Yes	No	Canon Thumbnail (JPEG)
THMX	Yes	No	No	Office Open XML Theme
TIFF, TIF	Yes	Yes	No	Tagged Image File Format
TTF, TTC	Yes	No	No	True Type Font/Collection
TORRENT	Yes	No	No	BitTorrent description file
TXT	Yes	No	No	Text files
VCF, VCARD	Yes	No	No	Virtual Card
VOB	Yes	No	No	Video Object (MPEG-based)
VRD	Yes	Yes	Yes	Canon DPP Recipe Data
VSD	Yes	No	No	Microsoft Visio Drawing (FPX-like)
WAV	Yes	No	No	Windows digital audio WAVeform (RIFF-based)
WEBM	Yes	No	No	Google Web Movie (MKV-based)
WEBP	Yes	No	No	Google Web Picture (RIFF-based)
WMA, WMV	Yes	No	No	Windows Media Audio/Video (ASF-based)
WTV	Yes	No	No	Windos recorded TV show
WV	Yes	No	No	WavePack lossless audio (RIFF-based)
X3F	Yes	Yes	No	Sigma/Foveon raw
XCF	Yes	No	No	GIMP native image format
XLS, XLT	Yes	No	No	Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet/Template (FPX-like)
XLSX, XLSM, XLSB	Yes	No	No	Office Open XML Spreadsheet (Macro-enabled/Binary)
XLTX, XLTM	Yes	No	No	Office Open XML Spreadsheet Template (Macro-enabled)
XMP	Yes	Yes	Yes	Extensible Metadata Platform sidecar file
ZIP	Yes	No	No	ZIP archive

Supported JPEG metadata

ExifTool can read, edit or create the following types of metadata in JPEG images:[5]

JPEG Meta Information	Can read?	Can edit?	Can create?	Description
APP0 - JFIF	Yes	Yes	Yes	JPEG File Interchange Format
APP0 - JFXX	Yes	No	No	Extended JFIF
APP0 - CIFF	Yes	Yes	No	Camera Image File Format (used by some Canon models)
APP0 - AVI1	Yes	No	No	JPEG AVI information
APP0 - Ocad	Yes	No	No	Photobucket Ocad segment
APP1 - EXIF	Yes	Yes	Yes	Exchangeable Image File Format (including maker notes)
APP1 - XMP	Yes	Yes	Yes	Extensible Metadata Platform (multi-segment)
APP1 - QVCI	Yes	No	No	Casio QV-7000SX QVCI information
APP1 - FLIR	Yes	No	No	FLIR thermal imaging data (multi-segment)
APP1 - RawThermalImage	Yes	No	No	Thermal image from Parrot Bebop-Pro Thermal drone
APP2 - ICC	Yes	Yes	Yes	International Color Consortium (multi-segment)
APP2 - FPXR	Yes	No	No	FlashPix Ready (multi-segment)
APP2 - MPF	Yes	No	No	Multi-Picture Format
APP2 - PreviewImage	Yes	No	No	Samsung APP2 preview image (multi-segment)
APP3 - Kodak Meta	Yes	Yes	No	Kodak Meta information (Exif-like)
APP3 - Stim	Yes	No	No	Stereo Still Image format
APP3 - PreviewImage	Yes	No	No	Samsung/HP preview image (multi-segment)
APP4 - Scalado	Yes	No	No	(presumably written by Scalado mobile software)
APP4 - FPXR	Yes	No	No	FlashPix Ready in non-standard location (multi-segment)
APP4 - PreviewImage	Yes	No	No	(continued from APP3)
APP5 - Ricoh RMETA	Yes	No	No	Ricoh custom fields
APP5 - Samsung UniqueID	Yes	No	No	Samsung Unique ID
APP5 - PreviewImage	Yes	No	No	(continued from APP4)
APP6 - EPPIM	Yes	No	No	Toshiba PrintIM
APP6 - NITF	Yes	No	No	National Imagery Transmission Format
APP6 - HP TDHD	Yes	No	No	Hewlett-Packard Photosmart R837 TDHD information
APP6 - GoPro	Yes	No	No	GoPro Metadata Format (GPMF) information
APP7 - Pentax	Yes	No	No	Pentax APP7 maker notes
APP7 - Qualcomm	Yes	No	No	Qualcomm Camera Attributes
APP8 - SPIFF	Yes	No	No	Still Picture Interchange File Format
APP9 - Media Jukebox	Yes	No	No	Media Jukebox XML information
APP10 - Comment	Yes	No	No	PhotoStudio Unicode Comment
APP11 - JPEG-HDR	Yes	No	No	JPEG-HDR compressed ratio image
APP12 - Picture Info	Yes	No	No	ASCII-based Picture Information
APP12 - Ducky	Yes	Yes	Yes	Photoshop "Save for Web"
APP13 - Photoshop IRB	Yes	Yes	Yes	Image Resource Block (multi-segment, includes IPTC)
APP13 - Adobe CM	Yes	No	No	Adobe Color Management
APP14 - Adobe	Yes	Yes	Yes	Adobe DCT filter
APP15 - GraphicConverter	Yes	No	No	GraphicConverter quality
COM	Yes	Yes	Yes	JPEG Comment (multi-segment)
DQT	Yes	No	No	(used to calculate the Extra:JPEGDigest tag value)
SOF	Yes	No	No	JPEG Start Of Frame
AFCP trailer	Yes	Yes	No	AXS File Concatenation Protocol (includes IPTC)
CanonVRD trailer	Yes	Yes	Yes	Canon DPP Recipe Data
FotoStation trailer	Yes	Yes	No	FotoWare FotoStation (includes IPTC)
PhotoMechanic trailer	Yes	Yes	No	Camera Bits Photo Mechanic
MIE trailer	Yes	Yes	No	Meta Information Encapsulation
Samsung trailer	Yes	No	No	Samsung Galaxy trailer
PreviewImage trailer	Yes	Yes	Yes	(preview image written after JPEG EOI)
EmbeddedVideo trailer	Yes	No	No	(extracted only with ExtractEmbedded option)

See also

• Libsndfile see sndfile-info which displays audio file info

References

1. ExifTool Ancient History
2. "Release 12.14". 6 January 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
3. ExifTool Version History
4. cberry (June 1, 2012). "Parsing Exif client-side using JavaScript". code.flickr.com. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
5. Supported File Types

External links

• Official website
• ExifTool User Manual
• Image::ExifTool API Manual
• MIE file format – specification
• MIE Tags – reference
• Commentary on Meta Information Formats (or "Why this or that Format Sucks"), Phil Harvey, essay on design decisions, created Nov. 15, 2005, last revised Feb 4, 2020