exiv2 − Image metadata manipulation tool
exiv2 [options] [action] file ...
exiv2 is a program to read and write Exif, IPTC and XMP image metadata and image comments. The following image formats are supported:
| Type | Exif | IPTC | XMP | Image comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JPEG | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write |
| EXV | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write |
| CR2 | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | - |
| CRW | Read/Write | - | - | Read/Write |
| MRW | Read | Read | Read | - |
| TIFF | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | - |
| DNG | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | - |
| NEF | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | - |
| PEF | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | - |
| ARW | Read | Read | Read | - |
| RW2 | Read | Read | Read | - |
| SR2 | Read | Read | Read | - |
| SRW | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | - |
| ORF | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | - |
| PNG | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write |
| PGF | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write |
| RAF | Read | Read | Read | - |
| EPS | - | - | Read/Write | - |
| XMP | - | - | Read/Write | - |
| GIF | - | - | - | - |
| PSD | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | - |
| TGA | - | - | - | - |
| BMP | - | - | - | - |
| JP2 | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | - |
|
• |
Support for GIF, TGA and BMP images is minimal: the image format is recognized, a MIME type assigned to it and the height and width of the image are determined. | ||
|
• |
Reading other TIFF-like RAW image formats, which are not listed in the table, may also work. |
The
action argument is only required if it is not clear
from the options which action is implied.
pr | print
Print image metadata. This is the default action, i.e., the command exiv2 image.jpg will print a summary of the image Exif metadata.
ex | extract
Extract metadata to *.exv, XMP sidecar (*.xmp) and thumbnail image files. Modification commands can be applied on-the-fly.
in | insert
Insert metadata from corresponding *.exv, XMP sidecar (*.xmp) and thumbnail files. Use option −S .suf to change the suffix of the input files. Since files of any supported format can be used as input files, this command can be used to copy the metadata between files of different formats. Modification commands can be applied on-the-fly.
rm | delete
Delete image metadata from the files.
ad | adjust
Adjust Exif timestamps by the given time. Requires at least one of the options −a time, −Y yrs, −O mon or −D day.
mo | modify
Apply commands to modify (add, set, delete) the Exif, IPTC and XMP metadata of image files. Requires option −c, −m or −M.
mv | rename
Rename files and/or set file timestamps according to the Exif create timestamp. Uses the value of tag Exif.Photo.DateTimeOriginal or, if not present, Exif.Image.DateTime to determine the timestamp. The filename format can be set with −r fmt, timestamp options are −t and −T.
fi | fixiso
Copy the ISO setting from one of the proprietary Nikon or Canon makernote ISO tags to the regular Exif ISO tag, Exif.Photo.ISOSpeedRatings. Does not overwrite an existing standard Exif ISO tag.
fc | fixcom
Fix the character encoding of Exif Unicode user comments. Decodes the comment using the auto-detected or specified character encoding and writes it back in UCS-2. Use option −n to specify the current encoding of the comment if necessary.
|
−h |
Display help and exit. | ||
|
−V |
Show the program version and exit. | ||
|
−v |
Be verbose during the program run. | ||
|
−q |
Silence warnings and error messages from the Exiv2 library during the program run (quiet). Note that options −v and −q can be used at the same time. | ||
|
−Q lvl |
Set the log-level to ’d’(ebug), ’i’(nfo), ’w’(arning), ’e’(rror) or ’m’(ute). The default log-level is ’w’. −Qm is equivalent to −q. All log messages are written to standard error. | ||
|
−b |
Show large binary values (default is to suppress them). | ||
|
−u |
Show unknown tags (default is to suppress tags which don’t have a name). | ||
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−g key |
Only output info for this Exiv2 key (grep). Multiple −g options can be used to grep info for several keys. | ||
|
−n enc |
Charset to use to decode Exif Unicode user comments. enc is a name understood by iconv_open(3), e.g., ’UTF-8’. | ||
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−k |
Preserve file timestamps when updating files (keep). Can be used with all options which update files. The flag is ignored by read-only options. | ||
|
−t |
Set the file timestamp according to the Exif create timestamp in addition to renaming the file (overrides −k). This option is only used with the ’rename’ action. | ||
|
−T |
Only set the file timestamp according to the Exif create timestamp, do not rename the file (overrides −k). This option is only used with the ’rename’ action. Note: On Windows you may have to set the TZ environment variable for this option to work correctly. | ||
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−f |
Do not prompt before overwriting existing files (force overwrite). | ||
|
−F |
Do not prompt before renaming files (Force rename). Appends ’_1’ (’_2’, ...) to the name of the new file. |
−a time
Time adjustment in the format [−]HH[:MM[:SS]]. This option is only used with the ’adjust’ action. Examples: 1 adds one hour, 1:01 adds one hour and one minute, −0:00:30 subtracts 30 seconds.
|
−Y yrs |
Time adjustment by a positive or negative number of years, for the ’adjust’ action. | ||
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−O mon |
Time adjustment by a positive or negative number of months, for the ’adjust’ action. | ||
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−D day |
Time adjustment by a positive or negative number of days, for the ’adjust’ action. |
−p mode
Print mode for the
’print’ action. Possible modes are:
s : print a summary of the Exif metadata (the default)
a : print Exif, IPTC and XMP metadata (shortcut for -Pkyct)
t : interpreted (translated) Exif tags (-PEkyct)
v : plain Exif tag values (-PExgnycv)
h : hexdump of the Exif data (-PExgnycsh)
i : IPTC datasets (-PIkyct)
x : XMP properties (-PXkyct)
c : JPEG comment
p : list available image previews, sorted by preview image
size in pixels
−P flgs
Print flags for fine control of
the tag list (’print’ action). Allows control of
the type of metadata as well as data columns included in the
print output. Valid flags are:
E : include Exif tags in the list
I : IPTC datasets
X : XMP properties
x : print a column with the tag number
g : group name
k : key
l : tag label
n : tag name
y : type
c : number of components (count)
s : size in bytes
v : plain data value
t : interpreted (translated) data
h : hexdump of the data
|
−d tgt |
Delete target(s) for the ’delete’ action. Possible targets are: |
a : all supported metadata (the
default)
e : Exif section
t : Exif thumbnail only
i : IPTC data
x : XMP packet
c : JPEG comment
|
−i tgt |
Insert target(s) for the ’insert’ action. Possible targets are the same as those for the −d option, plus a modifier: |
X : Insert metadata from an XMP
sidecar file <file>.xmp. The remaining insert targets
determine what metadata to insert from the sidecar file.
Possible are Exif, IPTC and XMP and the default is all of
these. Note that the inserted XMP properties include those
converted to Exif and IPTC.
Only JPEG thumbnails can be inserted (not TIFF thumbnails),
they need to be named file−thumb.jpg.
|
−e tgt |
Extract target(s) for the ’extract’ action. Possible targets are the same as those for the −d option, plus a target to extract preview images and a modifier to generate an XMP sidecar file: |
p[<n>[,<m> ...]] :
Extract preview images. The optional comma separated list of
preview image numbers is used to determine which preview
images to extract. The available preview images and their
numbers are displayed with the ’print’ option
-pp.
X : Extract metadata to an XMP sidecar file
<file>.xmp. The remaining extract targets determine
what metadata to extract to the sidecar file. Possible are
Exif, IPTC and XMP and the default is all of these.
|
−r fmt |
Filename format for the ’rename’ action. The format string follows strftime(3) and supports the following keywords: |
:basename: - original filename
without extension
:dirname: - name of the directory holding the original file
:parentname: - name of parent directory
Default filename format is %Y%m%d_%H%M%S.
|
−c txt |
JPEG comment string to set in the image (’modify’ action). This option can also be used with the ’extract’ and ’insert’ actions to modify metadata on-the-fly. |
−m file
Command file for the ’modify’ action. This option can also be used with the ’extract’ and ’insert’ actions to modify metadata on-the-fly.
|
−M cmd |
Command line for the ’modify’ action. This option can also be used with the ’extract’ and ’insert’ actions to modify metadata on-the-fly. The format for the commands is the same as that of the lines of a command file. | ||
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−l dir |
Location (directory) for files to be inserted or extracted. |
−S .suf
Use suffix .suf for source files in ’insert’ action.
Commands for the ’modify’ action can be read from a command file, e.g.,
exiv2 −m cmd.txt image.jpg
or given on the command line, as in
exiv2 −M"add Iptc.Application2.Credit String Mr. Smith" image.jpg
Note the quotes. Multiple −m and −M options can be combined.
When writing Exif, IPTC and XMP metadata, exiv2 enforces only a correct metadata structure. It is possible to write tags with types and values different from those specified in the standards, duplicate Exif tags, undefined tags, or incomplete metadata. While exiv2 is able to read all metadata that it can write, other programs may have difficulties with images that contain non standard−conforming metadata.
Command
format
The format of a command is
set | add | del key [[type] value]
|
set |
Set the value of an existing tag with a matching key or add the tag. | ||
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add |
Add a tag (unless key is a non−repeatable IPTC key; nothing prevents you from adding duplicate Exif tags). | ||
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del |
Delete all occurrences of a tag (requires only a key). | ||
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key |
Exiv2 Exif, IPTC or XMP key. | ||
|
type |
Byte | Ascii | Short | Long | Rational | Undefined | SShort | SLong | SRational | Comment for Exif keys, |
String | Date | Time | Short
| Undefined for IPTC keys, and
XmpText | XmpAlt | XmpBag | XmpSeq | LangAlt for XMP
keys.
A default type is used if none is explicitly given. The default is determined based on key.
|
value |
The remaining text on the line is the value. It can optionally be enclosed in single quotes (’value’) or double quotes ("value"). |
The value is optional. Not providing any value is equivalent to an empty value ("") and is mainly useful to create an XMP array property, e.g., a bag.
The format of Exif Comment values includes an optional charset specification at the beginning:
[charset=Ascii|Jis|Unicode|Undefined ]comment
Undefined is used by default if the value doesn’t start with a charset definition.
The format for IPTC Date values is YYYY−MM−DD (year, month, day), that for IPTC Time values is HH:MM:SS+|−HH:MM, where HH:MM:SS refers to local hour, minute and seconds and +|−HH:MM refers to hours and minutes ahead or behind Universal Coordinated Time (+|− means either a + or a − sign is required).
The format of XMP LangAlt values includes an optional language qualifier:
[lang=language-code ]text
x-default is used by default if the value doesn’t start with a language qualifier.
An additional command is
available to register XMP namespaces:
reg prefix namespace
Command file
format
Empty lines and lines starting with # in a command
file are ignored (comments). Remaining lines are commands as
described above.
exiv2 *.jpg
Prints a summary of the Exif information for all JPEG files in the directory.
exiv2 -pi image.jpg
Prints the IPTC metadata of the image.
exiv2 rename img_1234.jpg
Renames img_1234.jpg (taken on 13−Nov−05 at 22:58:31) to 20051113_225831.jpg
exiv2 -r’:basename:_%Y%m’ rename img_1234.jpg
Renames img_1234.jpg to img_1234_200511.jpg
exiv2 −et img1.jpg img2.jpg
Extracts the Exif thumbnails from the two files into img1−thumb.jpg and img2−thumb.jpg.
exiv2 −it img1.jpg img2.jpg
Inserts (copies) metadata from img1.exv to img1.jpg and from img2.exv to img2.jpg.
exiv2 −ep1,2 image.jpg
Extracts previews 1 and 2 from the image to the files image−preview1.jpg and image−preview2.jpg.
exiv2 −eiX image.jpg
Extracts IPTC datasets into an XMP sidecar file image.xmp and in the process converts them to "IPTC Core" XMP schema.
exiv2 −iixX image.jpg
Inserts IPTC and XMP metadata from an XMP sidecar file image.xmp into image.jpg. The resulting IPTC datasets are converted from the "IPTC Core" XMP schema properties in the sidecar file to the older IPTC IIM4 format. The inserted XMP properties include those in the "IPTC Core" XMP schema.
exiv2 −M"set Exif.Photo.UserComment charset=Ascii New Exif comment" image.jpg
Sets the Exif comment to an ASCII string.
exiv2 −M"set Exif.GPSInfo.GPSLatitude 4/1 15/1 33/1" \
−M"set
Exif.GPSInfo.GPSLatitudeRef N" image.jpg
Sets the latitude to 4 degrees, 15 minutes and 33 seconds
north. The Exif standard stipulates that the GPSLatitude tag
consists of three Rational numbers for the degrees, minutes
and seconds of the latitude and GPSLatitudeRef contains
either ’N’ or ’S’ for north or south
latitude respectively.
exiv2 insert -l/tmp -S.CRW /data/*.JPG
Copy all metadata from CRW files in the /tmp directory to JPG files with corresponding basenames in the /data directory. Note that this copies metadata as is, without any modifications to adapt it to the requirements of the target format. Some tags copied like this may not make sense in the target image.
http://www.exiv2.org/sample.html#modify
Sample command files.
http://www.exiv2.org/metadata.html
Taglists with key and default type values.
exiv2 was written by Andreas Huggel <ahuggel@gmx.net>.
This manual page was originally written by KELEMEN Peter <fuji@debian.org>, for the Debian project.
Created: Sunday July 9, 2017