OptionsĮxifTool's command-line interface offers precise control via many different options. This article covers the basics of ExifTool and then introduces a graphical user interface (GUI) for ExifTool, jExifToolGUI, that makes using ExifTool easier. Learning all of ExifTool's options and tag names takes time. ExifTool is also capable of reliably processing RAW formats. ExifTool can even access makernotes, the metadata not standardized by digital camera manufacturers. In addition to EXIF, ExifTool also supports Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP), the ISO 16684-1 standard originally developed by Adobe to embed metadata in digital media or store it as a sidecar file, and IPTC-Information Interchange Model (IPTC-IIM), the first multimedia news exchange format. Over the years, many users have contributed to ExifTool's development, making it an extremely extensive, but also complex, piece of software. Implemented as a Perl library, ExifTool is the most comprehensive free software for reading, adapting, or adding metadata in multimedia files. However, if the data exists in the form of a track recorded with a GPS device, it makes sense to include the location data as additional metadata in the file.įor these and many other tasks, Phil Harvey has developed ExifTool. For instance, many digital cameras still do not store location data in the images.

In practice, there are exceptions where metadata access is both useful and necessary. Usually, metadata is defined once and then not edited, because it contains important information about the multimedia data.

For instance, applications such as Geeqie and digiKam use an image's metadata to control the display order or to narrow a search. Today, EXIF has other applications and includes far more data than originally intended. Introduced in 2010, EXIF was originally used for digital camera photos. Exchangeable Image File Format (EXIF), the standard for storing this metadata, provides details such as recording date, shutter speed, and aperture, among other things. Multimedia files, such as pictures, videos, or music tracks, often contain metadata (additional information not found in the file name or file attributes).

Exiftool video metadata