1Image::ExifTool(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Image::ExifTool(3)
2
6 Image::ExifTool - Read and write meta information
7
9 use Image::ExifTool qw(:Public);
10 # ---- Simple procedural usage ----
12 # Get hash of meta information tag names/values from an image
14 $info = ImageInfo('a.jpg');
15 # ---- Object-oriented usage ----
17 # Create a new Image::ExifTool object
19 $exifTool = new Image::ExifTool;
20 # Extract meta information from an image
22 $exifTool->ExtractInfo($file, \%options);
23 # Get list of tags in the order they were found in the file
25 @tagList = $exifTool->GetFoundTags('File');
26 # Get the value of a specified tag
28 $value = $exifTool->GetValue($tag, $type);
29 # Get a tag description
31 $description = $exifTool->GetDescription($tag);
32 # Get the group name associated with this tag
34 $group = $exifTool->GetGroup($tag, $family);
35 # Set a new value for a tag
37 $exifTool->SetNewValue($tag, $newValue);
38 # Write new meta information to a file
40 $success = $exifTool->WriteInfo($srcfile, $dstfile);
41 # ...plus a host of other useful methods...
43
45 Reads and writes meta information in a wide variety of files, including
46 the maker notes of many digital cameras by various manufacturers such
47 as Canon, Casio, DJI, FLIR, FujiFilm, GE, GoPro, HP, JVC/Victor, Kodak,
48 Leaf, Minolta/Konica-Minolta, Nikon, Nintendo, Olympus/Epson,
49 Panasonic/Leica, Pentax/Asahi, Phase One, Reconyx, Ricoh, Samsung,
50 Sanyo, Sigma/Foveon and Sony.
51 Below is a list of file types and meta information formats currently
53 supported by ExifTool (r = read, w = write, c = create):
54 File Types
56 ------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------
57 360 r/w | DR4 r/w/c | JNG r/w | ODP r | RIFF r
58 3FR r | DSS r | JP2 r/w | ODS r | RSRC r
59 3G2 r/w | DV r | JPEG r/w | ODT r | RTF r
60 3GP r/w | DVB r/w | JSON r | OFR r | RW2 r/w
61 A r | DVR-MS r | JXL r | OGG r | RWL r/w
62 AA r | DYLIB r | K25 r | OGV r | RWZ r
63 AAE r | EIP r | KDC r | ONP r | RM r
64 AAX r/w | EPS r/w | KEY r | OPUS r | SEQ r
65 ACR r | EPUB r | LA r | ORF r/w | SKETCH r
66 AFM r | ERF r/w | LFP r | ORI r/w | SO r
67 AI r/w | EXE r | LIF r | OTF r | SR2 r/w
68 AIFF r | EXIF r/w/c | LNK r | PAC r | SRF r
69 APE r | EXR r | LRV r/w | PAGES r | SRW r/w
70 ARQ r/w | EXV r/w/c | M2TS r | PBM r/w | SVG r
71 ARW r/w | F4A/V r/w | M4A/V r/w | PCD r | SWF r
72 ASF r | FFF r/w | MACOS r | PCX r | THM r/w
73 AVI r | FITS r | MAX r | PDB r | TIFF r/w
74 AVIF r/w | FLA r | MEF r/w | PDF r/w | TORRENT r
75 AZW r | FLAC r | MIE r/w/ | PEF r/w | TTC r
76 BMP r | FLIF r/w | MIFF r c | PFA r | TTF r
77 BPG r | FLV r | MKA r | PFB r | TXT r
78 BTF r | FPF r | MKS r | PFM r | VCF r
79 CHM r | FPX r | MKV r | PGF r | VRD r/w/c
80 COS r | GIF r/w | MNG r/w | PGM r/w | VSD r
81 CR2 r/w | GPR r/w | MOBI r | PLIST r | WAV r
82 CR3 r/w | GZ r | MODD r | PICT r | WDP r/w
83 CRM r/w | HDP r/w | MOI r | PMP r | WEBP r
84 CRW r/w | HDR r | MOS r/w | PNG r/w | WEBM r
85 CS1 r/w | HEIC r/w | MOV r/w | PPM r/w | WMA r
86 CSV r | HEIF r/w | MP3 r | PPT r | WMV r
87 CZI r | HTML r | MP4 r/w | PPTX r | WTV r
88 DCM r | ICC r/w/c | MPC r | PS r/w | WV r
89 DCP r/w | ICS r | MPG r | PSB r/w | X3F r/w
90 DCR r | IDML r | MPO r/w | PSD r/w | XCF r
91 DFONT r | IIQ r/w | MQV r/w | PSP r | XLS r
92 DIVX r | IND r/w | MRC r | QTIF r/w | XLSX r
93 DJVU r | INSP r/w | MRW r/w | R3D r | XMP r/w/c
94 DLL r | INSV r | MXF r | RA r | ZIP r
95 DNG r/w | INX r | NEF r/w | RAF r/w |
96 DOC r | ISO r | NRW r/w | RAM r |
97 DOCX r | ITC r | NUMBERS r | RAR r |
98 DPX r | J2C r | O r | RAW r/w |
99 Meta Information
101 ----------------------+----------------------+---------------------
102 EXIF r/w/c | CIFF r/w | Ricoh RMETA r
103 GPS r/w/c | AFCP r/w | Picture Info r
104 IPTC r/w/c | Kodak Meta r/w | Adobe APP14 r
105 XMP r/w/c | FotoStation r/w | MPF r
106 MakerNotes r/w/c | PhotoMechanic r/w | Stim r
107 Photoshop IRB r/w/c | JPEG 2000 r | DPX r
108 ICC Profile r/w/c | DICOM r | APE r
109 MIE r/w/c | Flash r | Vorbis r
110 JFIF r/w/c | FlashPix r | SPIFF r
111 Ducky APP12 r/w/c | QuickTime r | DjVu r
112 PDF r/w/c | Matroska r | M2TS r
113 PNG r/w/c | MXF r | PE/COFF r
114 Canon VRD r/w/c | PrintIM r | AVCHD r
115 Nikon Capture r/w/c | FLAC r | ZIP r
116 GeoTIFF r/w/c | ID3 r | (and more)
117
119 User-defined tags can be added via the ExifTool configuration file, or
120 by defining the %Image::ExifTool::UserDefined hash before calling any
121 ExifTool methods. See "ExifTool_config" in the ExifTool distribution
122 for more details.
123 By default ExifTool looks for a configuration file named
125 ".ExifTool_config" first in your home directory, then in the directory
126 of the application script, but a different directory may be specified
127 by setting the EXIFTOOL_HOME environment variable, or a different file
128 may be specified by setting the ExifTool "configFile" variable before
129 using Image::ExifTool. For example:
130 BEGIN { $Image::ExifTool::configFile = '/Users/phil/myconfig.cfg' }
132 use Image::ExifTool;
133 The configuration feature may also be disabled by setting "configFile"
135 to an empty string:
136 BEGIN { $Image::ExifTool::configFile = '' }
138 use Image::ExifTool;
139
141 Exports nothing by default, but "ImageInfo" and all static methods may
142 be exported with the ":Public" export list.
143
145 All ExifTool features are accessed through the methods of the public
146 interface listed below. Other Image::ExifTool methods and modules
147 should not be accessed directly because their interface may change with
148 future versions.
149 None of these methods should ever die or issue warnings to STDERR if
151 called with the proper arguments (with the exception of "SetNewValue"
152 which may send an error message to STDERR, but only when called in
153 scalar context). Error and warning messages that occur during
154 processing are stored in the values of the Error and Warning tags, and
155 are accessible via the "GetValue" method to retrieve a single Error or
156 Warning message, or "GetInfo" to retrieve any number of them.
157 The ExifTool methods are not thread safe.
159 new
161 Creates a new ExifTool object.
162 $exifTool = new Image::ExifTool;
164 One ExifTool object may be used to process many files, so creating
166 multiple ExifTool objects usually is not necessary.
167 Note that ExifTool uses AUTOLOAD to load non-member methods, so any
169 class using Image::ExifTool as a base class must define an AUTOLOAD
170 which calls Image::ExifTool::DoAutoLoad(). eg)
171 sub AUTOLOAD
173 {
174 Image::ExifTool::DoAutoLoad($AUTOLOAD, @_);
175 }
176 ImageInfo
178 Read image file and return meta information. This is the one step
179 function for retrieving meta information from an image. Internally,
180 "ImageInfo" calls "ExtractInfo" to extract the information, "GetInfo"
181 to generate the information hash, and "GetTagList" for the returned tag
182 list.
183 # return meta information for 2 tags only (procedural)
185 $info = ImageInfo($filename, $tag1, $tag2);
186 # return information about an open image file (object-oriented)
188 $info = $exifTool->ImageInfo(\*FILE);
189 # return information from image data in memory for specified tags
191 %options = (PrintConv => 0);
192 @tagList = qw(filename imagesize xmp:creator exif:* -ifd1:*);
193 $info = ImageInfo(\$imageData, \@tagList, \%options);
194 # extract information from an embedded thumbnail image
196 $info = ImageInfo('image.jpg', 'thumbnailimage');
197 $thumbInfo = ImageInfo($$info{ThumbnailImage});
198 Inputs:
200 "ImageInfo" is very flexible about the input arguments, and
201 interprets them based on their type. It may be called with one or
202 more arguments. The one required argument is either a SCALAR (the
203 image file name), a file reference (a reference to the image file)
204 or a SCALAR reference (a reference to the image in memory). Other
205 arguments are optional. The order of the arguments is not
206 significant, except that the first SCALAR is taken to be the file
207 name unless a file reference or scalar reference comes earlier in
208 the argument list.
209 Below is an explanation of how the "ImageInfo" function arguments
211 are interpreted:
212 ExifTool ref
214 "ImageInfo" may be called with an ExifTool object if desired.
215 Advantages of using the object-oriented form are that options
216 may be set before calling "ImageInfo", and the object may be
217 used afterward to access member functions. Must be the first
218 argument if used.
219 SCALAR
221 The first scalar argument is taken to be the file name unless
222 an earlier argument specified the image data via a file
223 reference (file ref) or data reference (SCALAR ref). The
224 remaining scalar arguments are names of tags for requested
225 information. All tags are returned if no tags are specified.
226 Tag names are case-insensitive and may be prefixed by optional
228 group names separated by colons. A group name may begin with a
229 family number (eg. '1IPTC:Keywords'), to restrict matches to a
230 specific family. In the tag name, a '?' matches any single
231 character and a '*' matches zero or more characters. Thus
232 'GROUP:*' represents all tags in a specific group. Wildcards
233 may not be used in group names, with the exception that a group
234 name of '*' may be used to extract all available instances of a
235 tag regardless of the "Duplicates" setting (eg.
236 '*:WhiteBalance'). Multiple groups may be specified (eg.
237 'EXIF:Time:*' extracts all EXIF Time tags). And finally, a
238 leading '-' indicates a tag to be excluded (eg. '-IFD1:*'), or
239 a trailing '#' causes the ValueConv value to be returned for
240 this tag.
241 Note that keys in the returned information hash and elements of
243 the returned tag list are not necessarily the same as these tag
244 names because group names are removed, the case may be changed,
245 and an instance number may be added. For this reason it is
246 best to use either the keys of the returned hash or the
247 elements of the returned tag list when accessing the tag
248 values.
249 See Image::ExifTool::TagNames for a complete list of ExifTool
251 tag names.
252 File ref
254 A reference to an open image file. If you use this method (or
255 a SCALAR reference) to access information in an image, the
256 FileName and Directory tags will not be returned. (Also, a
257 number of the File System tags will not be returned unless it
258 is a plain file.) Image processing begins at the current file
259 position, and on return the file position is unspecified. May
260 be either a standard filehandle, or a reference to a
261 File::RandomAccess object. Note that the file remains open and
262 must be closed by the caller after "ImageInfo" returns.
263 [Advanced: To allow a non-rewindable stream (eg. a network
265 socket) to be re-read after processing with ExifTool, first
266 wrap the file reference in a File::RandomAccess object, then
267 pass this object to "ImageInfo". The File::RandomAccess object
268 will buffer the file if necessary, and may be used to re-read
269 the file after "ImageInfo" returns.]
270 SCALAR ref
272 A reference to image data in memory.
273 ARRAY ref
275 Reference to a list of tag names. On entry, any elements in
276 the list are added to the list of requested tags. Tags with
277 names beginning with '-' are excluded. On return, this list is
278 updated to contain an ordered list of tag keys for the returned
279 information.
280 There will be 1:1 correspondence between the requested tags and
282 the returned tag keys only if the "Duplicates" option is 0 and
283 "Sort" is 'Input'. (With "Duplicates" enabled, there may be
284 more entries in the returned list of tag keys, and with other
285 "Sort" settings the entries may not be in the same order as
286 requested.) If a requested tag doesn't exist, a tag key is
287 still generated, but the tag value is undefined.
288 HASH ref
290 Reference to a hash containing the options settings valid for
291 this call only. See "Options" documentation below for a list
292 of available options. Options specified as arguments to
293 "ImageInfo" take precedence over "Options" settings.
294 Return Values:
296 "ImageInfo" returns a reference to a hash of tag-key/value pairs.
297 The tag keys are identifiers -- essentially case-sensitive tag
298 names with an appended instance number if multiple tags with the
299 same name were extracted from the image. Many of the ExifTool
300 functions require a tag key as an argument. Use "GetTagName
301 [static]" to get the tag name for a given tag key. Note that the
302 case of the tag names may not be the same as requested. Here is a
303 simple example to print out the information returned by
304 "ImageInfo":
305 foreach (sort keys %$info) {
307 print "$_ => $$info{$_}\n";
308 }
309 Values of the returned hash are usually simple scalars, but a
311 scalar reference is used to indicate binary data and an array
312 reference may be used to indicate a list. Also, a hash reference
313 may be returned if the "Struct" option is used. Lists of values
314 are joined by commas into a single string only if the PrintConv
315 option is enabled and the ListJoin option is enabled (which are the
316 defaults). Note that binary values are not necessarily extracted
317 unless specifically requested, or the Binary option is enabled and
318 the tag is not specifically excluded. If not extracted the value
319 is a reference to a string of the form "Binary data ##### bytes".
320 The code below gives an example of how to handle these return
322 values, as well as illustrating the use of other ExifTool
323 functions:
324 use Image::ExifTool;
326 my $exifTool = new Image::ExifTool;
327 $exifTool->Options(Unknown => 1);
328 my $info = $exifTool->ImageInfo('a.jpg');
329 my $group = '';
330 my $tag;
331 foreach $tag ($exifTool->GetFoundTags('Group0')) {
332 if ($group ne $exifTool->GetGroup($tag)) {
333 $group = $exifTool->GetGroup($tag);
334 print "---- $group ----\n";
335 }
336 my $val = $info->{$tag};
337 if (ref $val eq 'SCALAR') {
338 if ($$val =~ /^Binary data/) {
339 $val = "($$val)";
340 } else {
341 my $len = length($$val);
342 $val = "(Binary data $len bytes)";
343 }
344 }
345 printf("%-32s : %s\n", $exifTool->GetDescription($tag), $val);
346 }
347 Notes:
349 ExifTool returns all values as byte strings of encoded characters.
350 Perl wide characters are not used. See "CHARACTER ENCODINGS" for
351 details about the encodings. By default, most returned values are
352 encoded in UTF-8. For these, Encode::decode_utf8() may be used to
353 convert to a sequence of logical Perl characters.
354 As well as tags representing information extracted from the image,
356 the following Extra tags generated by ExifTool may be returned:
357 ExifToolVersion - The ExifTool version number.
359 Error - An error message if the image could not be processed.
361 Warning - A warning message if problems were encountered while
363 processing the image.
364 Options
366 Get/set ExifTool options. This function can be called to set the
367 default options for an ExifTool object. Options set this way are in
368 effect for all function calls but may be overridden by options passed
369 as arguments to some functions. Option names are not case sensitive.
370 The default option values may be changed by defining a
372 %Image::ExifTool::UserDefined::Options hash. See the ExifTool_config
373 file in the full ExifTool distribution for examples. A default of
374 undef has the same behaviour as a value of 0 for numerical options.
375 # exclude the 'OwnerName' tag from returned information
377 $exifTool->Options(Exclude => 'OwnerName');
378 # only get information in EXIF or MakerNotes groups
380 $exifTool->Options(Group0 => ['EXIF', 'MakerNotes']);
381 # ignore information from IFD1
383 $exifTool->Options(Group1 => '-IFD1');
384 # sort by groups in family 2, and extract unknown tags
386 $exifTool->Options(Sort => 'Group2', Unknown => 1);
387 # reset DateFormat option
389 $exifTool->Options(DateFormat => undef);
390 # do not extract duplicate tag names
392 $oldSetting = $exifTool->Options(Duplicates => 0);
393 # get current Verbose setting
395 $isVerbose = $exifTool->Options('Verbose');
396 # set a user parameter
398 $exifTool->Options(UserParam => 'MyParam=some value');
399 Inputs:
401 0) ExifTool object reference
402 1) Option parameter name (case-insensitive)
404 2) [optional] Option parameter value (may be undef to clear option)
406 3-N) [optional] Additional parameter/value pairs
408 Option Parameters:
410 Note that these API options may also be used in the exiftool
411 application via the command-line -api option.
412 Binary
414 Flag to extract the value data for all binary tags. Tag values
415 representing large binary data blocks (eg. ThumbnailImage) are
416 not necessarily extracted unless this option is set or the tag
417 is specifically requested by name. Default is undef.
418 BlockExtract
420 Flag to extract some directories (mentioned in the ExifTool tag
421 name documentation) as a block. Setting this to a value of 2
422 also prevents parsing the block to extract tags contained
423 within.
424 ByteOrder
426 The byte order for newly created EXIF segments when writing.
427 Note that if EXIF information already exists, the existing
428 order is maintained. Valid values are 'MM', 'II' and undef.
429 If ByteOrder is not defined (the default), then the maker note
430 byte order is used (if they are being copied), otherwise big-
431 endian ('MM') order is assumed. This can also be set via the
432 ExifByteOrder tag, but the ByteOrder option takes precedence if
433 both are set.
434 Charset
436 Character set for encoding character tag values passed to/from
437 ExifTool with code points above U+007F. Default is 'UTF8'.
438 Valid values are listed below, case is not significant:
439 Value Alias(es) Description
441 ----------- --------------- ----------------------------------
442 UTF8 cp65001, UTF-8 UTF-8 characters
443 Latin cp1252, Latin1 Windows Latin1 (West European)
444 Latin2 cp1250 Windows Latin2 (Central European)
445 Cyrillic cp1251, Russian Windows Cyrillic
446 Greek cp1253 Windows Greek
447 Turkish cp1254 Windows Turkish
448 Hebrew cp1255 Windows Hebrew
449 Arabic cp1256 Windows Arabic
450 Baltic cp1257 Windows Baltic
451 Vietnam cp1258 Windows Vietnamese
452 Thai cp874 Windows Thai
453 DOSLatinUS cp437 DOS Latin US
454 DOSLatin1 cp850 DOS Latin1
455 DOSCyrillic cp866 DOS Cyrillic
456 MacRoman cp10000, Roman Macintosh Roman
457 MacLatin2 cp10029 Macintosh Latin2 (Central Europe)
458 MacCyrillic cp10007 Macintosh Cyrillic
459 MacGreek cp10006 Macintosh Greek
460 MacTurkish cp10081 Macintosh Turkish
461 MacRomanian cp10010 Macintosh Romanian
462 MacIceland cp10079 Macintosh Icelandic
463 MacCroatian cp10082 Macintosh Croatian
464 Note that this option affects some types of information when
466 reading/writing the file and other types when getting/setting
467 tag values, so it must be defined for both types of access.
468 See the "CHARACTER ENCODINGS" section for more information
469 about the handling of special characters.
470 CharsetEXIF
472 Internal encoding to use for stored EXIF "ASCII" string values.
473 May also be set to undef to pass through EXIF "ASCII" values
474 without recoding. Set to "UTF8" to conform with the MWG
475 recommendation. Default is undef.
476 CharsetFileName
478 External character set used for file names passed to ExifTool
479 functions. When set in Windows, this triggers use of Windows
480 wide-character i/o library routines (requires Win32API::File).
481 Default is undef. May also be set to an empty string to avoid
482 "encoding not specified" warnings on Windows.
483 CharsetID3
485 Internal encoding to assume for ID3v1 strings. By the
486 specification ID3v1 strings should be encoded in ISO 8859-1
487 (essentially Latin), but some applications may use local
488 encoding instead. Default is 'Latin'.
489 CharsetIPTC
491 Fallback internal IPTC character set to assume if IPTC
492 information contains no CodedCharacterSet tag. Possible values
493 are the same as the "Charset" option. Default is 'Latin'.
494 Note that this option affects some types of information when
496 reading/writing the file and other types when getting/setting
497 tag values, so it must be defined for both types of access.
498 CharsetPhotoshop
500 Internal encoding to assume for Photoshop IRB resource names.
501 Default is 'Latin'.
502 CharsetQuickTime
504 Internal encoding to assume for QuickTime strings stored with
505 an unspecified encoding. Default is 'MacRoman'.
506 CharsetRIFF
508 Internal encoding to assume for strings in RIFF metadata (eg.
509 AVI and WAV files). The default value of 0 assumes "Latin"
510 encoding unless otherwise specified by the RIFF CSET chunk.
511 Set to undef to pass through strings without recoding. Default
512 is 0.
513 Compact
515 Comma-delimited list of settings for writing compact XMP.
516 Below is a list of available settings. Note that 'NoPadding'
517 effects only embedded XMP since padding is never written for
518 stand-alone XMP files. Also note that 'OneDesc' is not
519 recommended when writing XMP larger than 64 kB to a JPG file
520 because it interferes with ExifTool's technique of splitting
521 off large rdf:Description elements into the extended XMP. Case
522 is not significant for any of these options. Aliases are given
523 in brackets. Default is undef.
524 NoPadding - Avoid 2 kB of recommended padding at end of XMP (NoPad)
526 NoIndent - No spaces to indent lines (NoSpace, NoSpaces)
527 NoNewline - Avoid unnecessary newlines (NoNewlines)
528 Shorthand - Use XMP Shorthand format
529 OneDesc - Combine properties into a single rdf:Description (OneDescr)
530 AllSpace - Equivalent to 'NoPadding,NoIndent,NoNewline'
531 AllFormat - Equivalent to 'Shorthand,OneDesc'
532 All - Equivalent to 'AllSpace,AllFormat'
533 Composite
535 Flag to generate Composite tags when extracting information.
536 Default is 1.
537 Compress
539 Flag to write new values in compressed format if possible. Has
540 no effect unless Compress::Zlib is installed. Default is
541 undef.
542 CoordFormat
544 Format for printing GPS coordinates. This is a printf format
545 string with specifiers for degrees, minutes and seconds in that
546 order, however minutes and seconds may be omitted. If the
547 hemisphere is known, a reference direction (N, S, E or W) is
548 appended to each printed coordinate, but adding a "+" to the
549 first format specifier (eg. "%+.6f") prints a signed coordinate
550 instead. For example, the following table gives the output for
551 the same coordinate using various formats:
552 CoordFormat Example Output
554 ------------------- ------------------
555 q{%d deg %d' %.2f"} 54 deg 59' 22.80" (default for reading)
556 q{%d %d %.8f} 54 59 22.80000000 (default for copying)
557 q{%d deg %.4f min} 54 deg 59.3800 min
558 q{%.6f degrees} 54.989667 degrees
559 Note: To avoid loss of precision, the default coordinate
561 format is different when copying tags with
562 "SetNewValuesFromFile".
563 DateFormat
565 Format for printing date/time values. See "strftime" in the
566 POSIX package for details about the format string. If date can
567 not be converted, value is left unchanged unless the StrictDate
568 option is set. Timezones are ignored. The inverse conversion
569 (ie. when calling "SetNewValue") is performed only if
570 POSIX::strptime or Time::Piece is installed. The default
571 setting of undef causes date/time values to remain in standard
572 EXIF format (similar to a DateFormat of "%Y:%m:%d %H:%M:%S").
573 Duplicates
575 Flag to return values from tags with duplicate names when
576 extracting information. Default is 1.
577 Escape
579 Escape special characters in extracted values for HTML or XML.
580 Also unescapes HTML or XML character entities in input values
581 passed to "SetNewValue". Valid settings are 'HTML', 'XML' or
582 undef. Default is undef.
583 Exclude
585 Exclude specified tags from tags extracted from an image. The
586 option value is either a tag name or reference to a list of tag
587 names to exclude. The case of tag names is not significant.
588 This option is ignored for specifically requested tags. Tags
589 may also be excluded by preceding their name with a '-' in the
590 arguments to "ImageInfo".
591 ExtendedXMP
593 This setting affects the reading and editing of extended XMP in
594 JPEG images. According to the XMP specification, extended XMP
595 is only valid if it has the GUID specified by the
596 HasExtendedXMP tag, so by default ExifTool will ignore other
597 extended XMP, but this option allows full control over the
598 extended XMP to be extracted.
599 0 - Ignore all extended XMP
601 1 - Read extended XMP with valid GUID only (default)
602 2 - Read extended XMP with any GUID
603 <guid> - Read extended XMP with a specific GUID
604 ExtractEmbedded
606 Flag to extract information from embedded documents in EPS
607 files, embedded EPS information and JPEG and Jpeg2000 images in
608 PDF files, embedded MPF images in JPEG and MPO files, timed
609 metadata in videos, and the resource fork of Mac OS files. A
610 setting of 2 also causes the H264 video stream in MP4 files to
611 be parsed until the first SEI message is decoded, or 3 to parse
612 the entire H264 stream in MP4 videos and the entire M2TS file
613 to look for any unlisted program containing GPS metadata.
614 Default is undef.
615 FastScan
617 Flag to increase speed when reading files by avoiding
618 extraction of some types of metadata. With this option set to
619 1, ExifTool will not scan to the end of a JPEG image to check
620 for an AFCP, CanonVRD, FotoStation, PhotoMechanic, MIE or
621 PreviewImage trailer. This also stops the parsing after the
622 first comment in GIF images, and at the audio/video data of
623 RIFF-format files (AVI, WAV, etc), so any trailing metadata
624 (eg. XMP written by some utilities) may be missed. Also
625 disables input buffering for some types of files to reduce
626 memory usage when reading from a non-seekable stream, and
627 bypasses CRC validation for speed when writing PNG files. When
628 combined with the ScanForXMP option, prevents scanning for XMP
629 in recognized file types. With a value of 2, ExifTool will
630 also avoid extracting any EXIF MakerNote information, and will
631 stop parsing at the IDAT chunk of PNG images. (By the PNG
632 specification, metadata is allowed after IDAT, but ExifTool
633 always writes it before because some utilities will ignore it
634 otherwise.) When set to 3 or higher, only pseudo system tags
635 and FileType are generated. For 3, the file header is read to
636 provide an educated guess at FileType. For 4, the file is not
637 read at all and FileType is determined based on the file's
638 extension. For 5, generation of Composite tags is also
639 disabled (like setting "Composite" to 0). Default is undef.
640 Filter
642 Perl expression used to filter values for all tags. The
643 expression acts on the value of the Perl default variable ($_),
644 and changes the value of this variable as required. The
645 current ExifTool object may be accessed through $self. The
646 value is not changed if $_ is set to undef. List items are
647 filtered individually. Applies to all returned values unless
648 PrintConv option is disabled.
649 FilterW
651 Perl expression used to filter PrintConv values when writing.
652 The expression acts on the value of the Perl default variable
653 ($_), and changes the value of this variable as required. The
654 current ExifTool object may be accessed through $self. The tag
655 is not written if $_ is set to undef.
656 FixBase
658 Fix maker notes base offset. A common problem with image
659 editing software is that offsets in the maker notes are not
660 adjusted properly when the file is modified. This may cause
661 the wrong values to be extracted for some maker note entries
662 when reading the edited file. FixBase specifies an integer
663 value to be added to the maker notes base offset. It may also
664 be set to the empty string ('') for ExifTool will take its best
665 guess at the correct base, or undef (the default) for no base
666 adjustment.
667 GeoMaxIntSecs
669 Maximum interpolation time in seconds for geotagging.
670 Geotagging is treated as an extrapolation if the Geotime value
671 lies between two fixes in the same track which are separated by
672 a number of seconds greater than this. Otherwise, the
673 coordinates are calculated as a linear interpolation between
674 the nearest fixes on either side of the Geotime value. Set to
675 0 to disable interpolation and use the coordinates of the
676 nearest fix instead (provided it is within GeoMaxExtSecs,
677 otherwise geotagging fails). Default is 1800.
678 GeoMaxExtSecs
680 Maximum extrapolation time in seconds for geotagging.
681 Geotagging fails if the Geotime value lies outside a GPS track
682 by a number of seconds greater than this. Otherwise, for an
683 extrapolation the coordinates of the nearest fix are taken (ie.
684 it is assumed that you weren't moving during this period).
685 Default is 1800.
686 GeoMaxHDOP
688 Maximum Horizontal (2D) Dilution Of Precision for geotagging.
689 GPS fixes are ignored if the HDOP is greater than this.
690 Default is undef.
691 GeoMaxPDOP
693 Maximum Position (3D) Dilution Of Precision for geotagging.
694 GPS fixes are ignored if the PDOP is greater than this.
695 Default is undef.
696 GeoMinSats
698 Minimum number of satellites for geotagging. GPS fixes are
699 ignored if the number of acquired satellites is less than this.
700 Default is undef.
701 GeoSpeedRef
703 Reference units for writing GPSSpeed when geotagging:
704 'K', 'k' or 'km/h' - km/h
706 'M', 'm' or 'mph' - mph
707 <anything else> - knots (default undef)
708 GlobalTimeShift
710 Time shift to apply to all extracted date/time PrintConv
711 values. Does not affect ValueConv values. Value is a
712 date/time shift string (see Image::ExifTool::Shift(3pm)), with
713 a leading '-' for negative shifts. Default is undef.
714 Group#
716 Extract tags only for specified groups in family # (Group0
717 assumed if # not given). The option value may be a single
718 group name or a reference to a list of groups. Case is
719 significant in group names. Specify a group to be excluded by
720 preceding group name with a '-'. See "GetGroup" for a
721 description of group families, and "GetAllGroups [static]" for
722 lists of group names.
723 HexTagIDs
725 Return hexadecimal instead of decimal for the family 7 group
726 names of tags with numerical ID's.
727 HtmlDump
729 Dump information in hex to dynamic HTML web page. The value
730 may be 0-3 for increasingly larger limits on the maximum block
731 size. Default is 0. Output goes to the file specified by the
732 TextOut option (\*STDOUT by default).
733 HtmlDumpBase
735 Base for HTML dump offsets. If not defined, the EXIF/TIFF base
736 offset is used. Set to 0 for absolute offsets. Default is
737 undef.
738 IgnoreMinorErrors
740 Flag to ignore minor errors. Causes minor errors to be
741 downgraded to warnings, and minor warnings to be ignored. This
742 option is provided mainly to allow writing of files when minor
743 errors occur, but by ignoring some minor warnings the behaviour
744 of ExifTool may be changed to allow some questionable
745 operations to proceed (such as extracting thumbnail and preview
746 images even if they don't have a recognizable header). Minor
747 errors and warnings are denoted by "[minor]" at the start of
748 the message, or "[Minor]" (with a capital "M") for warnings
749 that affect processing when ignored.
750 Lang
752 Localized language for exiftool tag descriptions, etc.
753 Available languages are given by the Image::ExifTool::Lang
754 module names (eg. 'fr', 'zh_cn'). If the specified language
755 isn't available, the option is not changed. May be set to
756 undef to select the built-in default language. Default is
757 'en'.
758 LargeFileSupport
760 Flag to indicate that 64-bit file offsets are supported on this
761 system. Default is undef.
762 ListItem
764 Return only a specific item from list-type values. A value of
765 0 returns the first item in the list, 1 return the second item,
766 etc. Negative indices may also be used, with -1 representing
767 the last item in the list. Applies only to the top-level list
768 of nested lists. Default is undef to return all items in the
769 list.
770 ListJoin
772 Separator used to join the PrintConv value of multi-item List-
773 type tags into a single string. If not defined, multi-item
774 lists are returned as a list reference. Does not affect
775 ValueConv values. Default is ', '.
776 ListSplit
778 Regular expression used to split values of list-type tags into
779 individual items when writing. (eg. use ',\\s*' to split a
780 comma-separated list.) Split when writing either PrintConv or
781 ValueConv values. Default is undef.
782 MakerNotes
784 Option to extract MakerNotes and other writable subdirectories
785 (such as PrintIM) as a data block. Normally when the
786 MakerNotes are extracted they are rebuilt to include data
787 outside the boundaries of the original maker note data block,
788 but a value of 2 disables this feature. Possible values are:
789 0 - Do not extract writable subdirectories (same as default of undef)
791 1 - Extract and rebuild maker notes into self-contained block
792 2 - Extract without rebuilding maker notes
793 MDItemTags
795 Flag to extract the OS X metadata item tags (see the "mdls" man
796 page and "MacOS MDItem Tags" in Image::ExifTool::TagNames for
797 more information).
798 MissingTagValue
800 Value for missing tags in tag name expressions (or tags where
801 the advanced formatting expression returns undef). If not set,
802 a minor error is issued for missing values, or the value is set
803 to '' if "IgnoreMinorErrors" is set. Default is undef.
804 NoMultiExif
806 Raise error when attempting to write multi-segment EXIF in a
807 JPEG image. Default is undef.
808 NoPDFList
810 Flag to avoid splitting PDF list-type tag values into separate
811 items. Default is undef.
812 Password
814 Password for reading/writing password-protected PDF documents.
815 Ignored if a password is not required. Character encoding of
816 the password is determined by the value of the Charset option
817 at processing time. Default is undef.
818 PrintConv
820 Flag to enable automatic print conversion. Also enables
821 inverse print conversion for writing. Default is 1.
822 QuickTimeHandler
824 Flag set to add an 'mdir' Handler to a newly created Meta box
825 when adding QuickTime ItemList tags. Adobe Bridge does not add
826 this Handler, but it is commonly found in samples from other
827 software, and it has been reported that Apple QuickTime Player
828 and Photos.apps will ignore ItemList tags if this is missing.
829 Default is 1.
830 QuickTimePad
832 Flag to preserve the padding of some QuickTime atoms when
833 writing. QuickTime-based Canon CR3 files pad the values of
834 container atoms with null bytes. This padding is removed by
835 default when the file is rewritten, but setting this option to
836 1 adds padding to preserve the original atom size if the new
837 atom would be smaller than the original. Default is undef.
838 QuickTimeUTC
840 Flag set to assume that QuickTime date/time values are stored
841 as UTC, causing conversion to local time when they are
842 extracted and from local time when written. According to the
843 QuickTime specification date/time values should be UTC, but
844 many digital cameras store local time instead (presumably
845 because they don't know the time zone), so the default is to
846 not convert these times (except for Canon CR3 files, which
847 always use UTC times). This option also disables the
848 autodetection of incorrect time-zero offsets in QuickTime
849 date/time values, and enforces a time zero of 1904 as per the
850 QuickTime specification.
851 RequestAll
853 Flag to request all tags to be extracted. This causes some
854 tags to be generated which normally would not be unless
855 specifically requested (by passing the tag name to "ImageInfo"
856 or "ExtractInfo"). May be set to 2 or 3 to enable generation
857 of some additional tags as mentioned in the tag name
858 documentation. Default is undef.
859 RequestTags
861 List of additional tag and/or group names to request in the
862 next call to "ExtractInfo". This option is useful only for
863 tags/groups which aren't extracted unless specifically
864 requested. Value may be a list reference, a delimited string
865 of names (any delimiter is allowed), or undef to clear the
866 current RequestTags list. Groups are requested by adding a
867 colon after the name (eg. "MacOS:"). Names are converted to
868 lower case as they are added to the list. Default is undef.
869 SaveFormat
871 Flag to save EXIF/TIFF format type as the family 6 group name
872 when extracting information. Without this option set, the
873 family 6 group names are not generated. Default is undef. See
874 the "GetGroup" option for more details.
875 SavePath
877 Flag to save the metadata path as the family 5 group name when
878 extracting information. Without this option set, the family 5
879 group names are not generated. Default is undef. See the
880 "GetGroup" option for more details.
881 ScanForXMP
883 Flag to scan all files (even unrecognized formats) for XMP
884 information unless XMP was already found in the file. When
885 combined with the FastScan option, only unrecognized file types
886 are scanned for XMP. Default is undef.
887 Sort
889 Specifies order to sort tags in returned list:
890 Input - Sort in same order as input tag arguments (default)
892 File - Sort in order that tags were found in the file
893 Tag - Sort alphabetically by tag name
894 Descr - Sort by tag description (for current Lang setting)
895 Group# - Sort by tag group, where # is zero or more family
896 numbers separated by colons. If # is not specified,
897 Group0 is assumed. See GetGroup for a description
898 of group families.
899 Sort2
901 Secondary sort order used for tags within each group when Sort
902 is 'Group':
903 File - Sort in order tags were found in the file (default)
905 Tag - Sort alphabetically by tag name
906 Descr - Sort by tag description (for current Lang setting)
907 StrictDate
909 Flag to return undefined value for any date which can't be
910 converted when the DateFormat option is used. Default is
911 undef.
912 undef - Same as 0 for reading/writing, or 1 for copying
914 0 - Return date/time value unchanged if it can't be converted
915 1 - Return undef if date/time value can't be converted
916 When set to 1 while writing a PrintConv date/time value with
918 the DateFormat option set, the value is written only if
919 POSIX::strptime or Time::Piece is available and can
920 successfully convert the value.
921 For PNG CreationTime, a setting of 1 has the additional effect
923 of causing the date/time to be reformatted according to PNG 1.2
924 recommendation (RFC-1123) when writing, and a warning to be
925 issued for any non-standard value when reading (but note that
926 Windows may not recognize PNG date/time values in standard
927 format).
928 Struct
930 Flag to return XMP structures as hash references instead of
931 flattening into individual tags. Has no effect when writing
932 since both flattened and structured tags may always be written.
933 Possible values are:
934 undef - (default) Same as 0 for reading, 2 for copying
936 0 - Read/copy flattened tags
937 1 - Read/copy structured tags
938 2 - Read/copy both flattened and structured tags, but flag
939 flattened tags as 'unsafe' for copying
940 SystemTags
942 Flag to extract the following additional File System tags:
943 FileAttributes, FileDeviceNumber, FileInodeNumber,
944 FileHardLinks, FileUserID, FileGroupID, FileDeviceID,
945 FileBlockSize and FileBlockCount.
946 TextOut
948 Output file reference for Verbose and HtmlDump options.
949 Default is \*STDOUT.
950 TimeZone
952 Time zone for local date/time values. May be set to any valid
953 TZ string. Uses the system time zone if not specified.
954 Default is undef. (Requires POSIX::tzset, which may not be
955 available in Windows. A work-around in Windows is to "set
956 TZ=<zone>" before running ExifTool.)
957 Unknown
959 Flag to get the values of unknown tags. If set to 1, unknown
960 tags are extracted from EXIF (or other tagged-format)
961 directories. If set to 2, unknown tags are also extracted from
962 binary data blocks. Default is 0.
963 UserParam
965 Special option to set/get user-defined parameters. Useful to
966 allow external input into tag name expressions and ValueConv
967 logic. Valid UserParam values are:
968 PARAM - Get parameter
970 PARAM= - Clear parameter
971 PARAM^= - Set parameter to empty string
972 PARAM=VALUE - Set parameter
973 <hash ref> - Set entire UserParam hash lookup
974 undef - Clear all user parameters
975 Where PARAM is the user-defined parameter name (case
977 insensitive).
978 User-defined parameters may be accessed in tag name expressions
980 by prefixing the parameter name with a dollar sign just like
981 normal tags, or via the API by calling
982 "Options('UserParam','PARAM')". Appending a hash tag ("#") to
983 the parameter name also causes the parameter to be extracted as
984 a normal tag (in the UserParam group). If called without
985 additional arguments, "Options('UserParam')" returns a
986 reference to the hash of all user parameters (with lower-case
987 names).
988 Validate
990 Flag to perform extra validation metadata checks when reading,
991 causing extra warnings to be generated if problems are found.
992 Default is undef.
993 Verbose
995 Print verbose messages to file specified by TextOut option.
996 Value may be from 0 to 5 for increasingly verbose messages.
997 Default is 0. With the verbose option set, messages are
998 printed to the console as the file is parsed. Level 1 prints
999 the tag names and raw values. Level 2 adds more details about
1000 the tags. Level 3 adds a hex dump of the tag data, but with
1001 limits on the number of bytes dumped. Levels 4 and 5 remove
1002 the dump limit on tag values and JPEG segment data
1003 respectively.
1004 WriteMode
1006 Set tag write/create mode. Value is a string of one or more
1007 characters from list below. Default is 'wcg'.
1008 w - Write existing tags
1010 c - Create new tags
1011 g - create new Groups as necessary
1012 The level of the group differs for different types of metadata.
1014 For XMP or IPTC this is the full XMP/IPTC block (the family 0
1015 group), but for EXIF this is the individual IFD (the family 1
1016 group). The 'w' and 'c' modes are tested only when
1017 "SetNewValue" is called, but the 'g' mode is also tested in
1018 "WriteInfo".
1019 XAttrTags
1021 Flag to extract the OS X extended attribute tags (see the
1022 "xattr" man page and "MacOS XAttr Tags" in
1023 Image::ExifTool::TagNames for more information).
1024 XMPAutoConv
1026 Flag to enable automatic conversion for unknown XMP tags with
1027 values that look like rational numbers or dates. Default is 1.
1028 Return Values:
1030 The original value of the last specified parameter.
1031 ClearOptions
1033 Reset all options to their default values. Loads user-defined default
1034 option values from the %Image::ExifTool::UserDefined::Options hash in
1035 the .ExifTool_config file if it exists.
1036 $exifTool->ClearOptions();
1038 Inputs:
1040 0) ExifTool object reference
1041 Return Values:
1043 (none)
1044 ExtractInfo
1046 Extract all meta information from an image.
1047 $success = $exifTool->ExtractInfo('image.jpg', \%options);
1049 Inputs:
1051 "ExtractInfo" takes exactly the same arguments as "ImageInfo". The
1052 only difference is that a list of tag keys is not returned if an
1053 ARRAY reference is given. The following options are effective in
1054 the call to "ExtractInfo":
1055 Binary, Charset, CharsetEXIF, CharsetFileName, CharsetID3,
1057 CharsetIPTC, CharsetPhotoshop, CharsetQuickTime, CharsetRIFF,
1058 Composite, ExtendedXMP, ExtractEmbedded, FastScan, FixBase,
1059 HtmlDump, HtmlDumpBase, IgnoreMinorErrors, Lang, LargeFileSupport,
1060 MakerNotes, MDItemTags, NoPDFList, Password, QuickTimeUTC (enforced
1061 1904 time zero), RequestAll, RequestTags, SaveFormat, SavePath,
1062 ScanForXMP, Struct, TextOut, Unknown, Verbose, XAttrTags and
1063 XMPAutoConv.
1064 Return Value:
1066 1 if this was a recognized file format, 0 otherwise (and 'Error'
1067 tag set).
1068 GetInfo
1070 "GetInfo" is called to return meta information after it has been
1071 extracted from the image by a previous call to "ExtractInfo" or
1072 "ImageInfo". This function may be called repeatedly after a single call
1073 to "ExtractInfo" or "ImageInfo".
1074 # get image width and height only
1076 $info = $exifTool->GetInfo('ImageWidth', 'ImageHeight');
1077 # get all Error and Warning messages
1079 $info = $exifTool->GetInfo('Error', 'Warning');
1080 # get information for all tags in list (list updated with tags found)
1082 $info = $exifTool->GetInfo(\@ioTagList);
1083 # get all information in Author or Location groups
1085 $info = $exifTool->GetInfo({Group2 => ['Author', 'Location']});
1086 Inputs:
1088 Inputs are the same as "ExtractInfo" and "ImageInfo" except that an
1089 image can not be specified. Options in effect are:
1090 Charset, CoordFormat, DateFormat, Duplicates, Escape, Exclude,
1092 Filter, Group#, GlobalTimeShift, Lang, ListItem, ListJoin,
1093 PrintConv, Sort (if a tag list reference is given) and StrictDate.
1094 Return Value:
1096 Reference to information hash, the same as with "ImageInfo".
1097 The following options are effective in the call to "GetInfo":
1099 Charset, CoordFormat, DateFormat, Duplicates, Escape, Exclude, Filter,
1101 Group#, GlobalTimeShift, Lang, ListItem, ListJoin, PrintConv,
1102 QuickTimeUTC (conversion to local time), Sort (if a tag list reference
1103 is given) and StrictDate.
1104 WriteInfo
1106 Write meta information to a file. The specified source file is
1107 rewritten to the same-type destination file with new information as
1108 specified by previous calls to "SetNewValue". The necessary segments
1109 and/or directories are created in the destination file as required to
1110 store the specified information. May be called repeatedly to write the
1111 same information to additional files without the need to call
1112 "SetNewValue" again.
1113 ExifTool queues all new values that are assigned via calls to
1115 "SetNewValue", then applies them to any number of files through one or
1116 more calls to "WriteInfo". These queued values may be accessed through
1117 "GetNewValue", and are completely separate from metadata extracted from
1118 files via "ExtractInfo" or "ImageInfo" and accessed through "GetInfo"
1119 or "GetValue".
1120 To be clear, it is NOT necessary to call "ExtractInfo" or "ImageInfo"
1122 before "WriteInfo". "WriteInfo" changes only metadata specified by
1123 previous calls to "SetNewValue".
1124 # add information to a source file, writing output to new file
1126 $exifTool->WriteInfo($srcfile, $dstfile);
1127 # create XMP data file from scratch
1129 $exifTool->WriteInfo(undef, $dstfile, 'XMP');
1130 # overwrite file (you do have backups, right?)
1132 $exifTool->WriteInfo($srcfile);
1133 Inputs:
1135 0) ExifTool object reference
1136 1) Source file name, file reference, scalar reference, or undef to
1138 create a file from scratch. A reference to a File::RandomAccess
1139 object is also allowed as a source, but in this case the
1140 destination is not optional.
1141 2) [optional] Destination file name, file reference, scalar
1143 reference to write to memory, or undef to overwrite the original
1144 file. May be '-' to write to stdout.
1145 3) [optional] Destination file type. Ignored if a source is
1147 defined.
1148 Return Value:
1150 1 if file was written OK, 2 if file was written but no changes
1151 made, 0 on file write error.
1152 If an error code is returned, an Error tag is set and
1154 GetValue('Error') can be called to obtain the error description. A
1155 Warning tag may be set even if this routine is successful. Calling
1156 WriteInfo clears any pre-existing Error and Warning tags.
1157 $errorMessage = $exifTool->GetValue('Error');
1159 $warningMessage = $exifTool->GetValue('Warning');
1160 Notes:
1162 The source file name may be undefined to create a file from scratch
1163 (currently only XMP, MIE, ICC, VRD, DR4, EXV and EXIF files can be
1164 created in this way -- see "CanCreate" for details). If undefined,
1165 the destination file type is required unless the type can be
1166 determined from the extension of the destination file name.
1167 If a destination file name is given, the specified file must not
1169 exist because an existing destination file will not be overwritten.
1170 Any new values for FileName, Directory or HardLink are ignored when
1171 a destination file name is specified.
1172 The destination file name may be undefined to overwrite the
1174 original file (make sure you have backups!). In this case, if a
1175 source file name is provided, a temporary file is created and
1176 renamed to replace the source file if no errors occurred while
1177 writing. Otherwise, if a source file reference or scalar reference
1178 is used, the image is first written to memory then copied back to
1179 replace the original if there were no errors.
1180 On Mac OS systems, the file resource fork is preserved if this
1182 routine is called with a source file name.
1183 The following ExifTool options are effective in the call to
1185 "WriteInfo":
1186 ByteOrder, Charset, CharsetEXIF, CharsetFileName, CharsetIPTC, Compact,
1188 Compress, FixBase, IgnoreMinorErrors, NoMultiExif, NoPDFList, Password,
1189 QuickTimeHandler, QuickTimePad, Verbose and WriteMode.
1190 GetTagList
1192 Get a sorted list of tags from the specified information hash or tag
1193 list.
1194 @tags = $exifTool->GetTagList($info, 'Group0');
1196 Inputs:
1198 0) ExifTool object reference
1199 1) [optional] Information hash reference or tag list reference
1201 2) [optional] Sort order ('Input', 'File', 'Tag', 'Descr' or
1203 'Group#')
1204 3) [optional] Secondary sort order ('File', 'Tag' or 'Descr')
1206 If the information hash or tag list reference is not provided, then
1208 the list of found tags from the last call to "ImageInfo",
1209 "ExtractInfo" or "GetInfo" is used instead, and the result is the
1210 same as if "GetFoundTags" was called. If sort order is not
1211 specified, the sort order is taken from the current options
1212 settings.
1213 Return Values:
1215 A list of tag keys in the specified order.
1216 GetFoundTags
1218 Get list of found tags in specified sort order. The found tags are the
1219 tags for the information obtained from the most recent call to
1220 "ImageInfo", "ExtractInfo" or "GetInfo" for this object.
1221 @tags = $exifTool->GetFoundTags('File');
1223 Inputs:
1225 0) ExifTool object reference
1226 1) [optional] Sort order ('Input', 'File', 'Tag', 'Descr' or
1228 'Group#')
1229 2) [optional] Secondary sort order ('File', 'Tag' or 'Descr')
1231 If sort order is not specified, the sort order from the ExifTool
1233 options is used.
1234 Return Values:
1236 A list of tag keys in the specified order.
1237 GetRequestedTags
1239 Get list of requested tags. These are the tags that were specified in
1240 the arguments of the most recent call to "ImageInfo", "ExtractInfo" or
1241 "GetInfo", including tags specified via a tag list reference. Shortcut
1242 tags are expanded in the list.
1243 @tags = $exifTool->GetRequestedTags();
1245 Inputs:
1247 (none)
1248 Return Values:
1250 List of requested tag keys in the same order that the tags were
1251 specified. Note that this list will be empty if tags were not
1252 specifically requested (ie. If extracting all tags).
1253 GetValue
1255 Get the value of a specified tag. The returned value is either the
1256 human-readable (PrintConv) value, the converted machine-readable
1257 (ValueConv) value, the original raw (Raw) value, or the original
1258 rational (Rational) value for rational formats. If the value type is
1259 not specified, the PrintConv value is returned if the PrintConv option
1260 is set, otherwise the ValueConv value is returned. The PrintConv
1261 values are same as the values returned by "ImageInfo" and "GetInfo" in
1262 the tag/value hash unless the PrintConv option is disabled.
1263 Tags which represent lists of multiple values (as may happen with
1265 'Keywords' for example) are handled specially. In scalar context, the
1266 returned PrintConv value for these tags is either a string of values or
1267 a list reference (depending on the ListJoin option setting), and the
1268 ValueConv value is always a list reference. But in list context,
1269 "GetValue" always returns the list itself.
1270 Note that "GetValue" requires a case-sensitive tag key as an argument.
1272 To retrieve tag information based on a case-insensitive tag name (with
1273 an optional group specifier), use "GetInfo" instead.
1274 # PrintConv example
1276 my $val = $exifTool->GetValue($tag);
1277 if (ref $val eq 'SCALAR') {
1278 print "$tag = (unprintable value)\n";
1279 } else {
1280 print "$tag = $val\n";
1281 }
1282 # ValueConv examples
1284 my $val = $exifTool->GetValue($tag, 'ValueConv');
1285 if (ref $val eq 'ARRAY') {
1286 print "$tag is a list of values\n";
1287 } elsif (ref $val eq 'SCALAR') {
1288 print "$tag represents binary data\n";
1289 } else {
1290 print "$tag is a simple scalar\n";
1291 }
1292 my @keywords = $exifTool->GetValue('Keywords', 'ValueConv');
1294 The following options are in effect when "GetValue" is called:
1296 Charset, CoordFormat, DateFormat, Escape, Filter, GlobalTimeShift,
1298 Lang, ListItem, ListJoin, PrintConv, QuickTimeUTC (conversion to local
1299 time), StrictDate and TimeZone.
1300 Inputs:
1302 0) ExifTool object reference
1303 1) Tag key, or case-sensitive tag name with optional group
1305 prefix(es)
1306 2) [optional] Value type: 'PrintConv', 'ValueConv', 'Both', 'Raw'
1308 or 'Rational'
1309 The default value type is 'PrintConv' if the PrintConv option is
1311 set, otherwise the default is 'ValueConv'. A value type of 'Both'
1312 returns both ValueConv and PrintConv values as a list. 'Rational'
1313 returns the raw rational value as a string fraction for rational
1314 types, or undef for other types.
1315 Return Values:
1317 The value of the specified tag. If the tag represents a list of
1318 multiple values and the ListJoin option is enabled then PrintConv
1319 returns a string of values, otherwise a reference to the list is
1320 returned in scalar context. The list itself is returned in list
1321 context. (Unless 'Both' values are requested, in which case two
1322 list references are returned, regardless of context.) Values may
1323 also be scalar references to binary data, or hash references if the
1324 "Struct" option is set.
1325 Note: It is possible for "GetValue" to return an undefined
1327 ValueConv or PrintConv value (or an empty list in list context)
1328 even if the tag exists, since it is possible for these conversions
1329 to yield undefined values. And the Rational value will be
1330 undefined for any non-rational tag. The Raw value should always
1331 exist if the tag exists.
1332 SetNewValue
1334 Set the new value for a tag. The routine may be called multiple times
1335 to set the values of many tags before using "WriteInfo" to write the
1336 new values to an image.
1337 For list-type tags (like Keywords), either call repeatedly with the
1339 same tag name for each value, or call with a reference to the list of
1340 values.
1341 # set a new value for a tag (errors go to STDERR)
1343 $success = $exifTool->SetNewValue($tag, $value);
1344 # set a new value and capture any error message
1346 ($success, $errStr) = $exifTool->SetNewValue($tag, $value);
1347 # delete information for specified tag if it exists in image
1349 # (also resets AddValue and DelValue options for this tag)
1350 $exifTool->SetNewValue($tag);
1351 # reset all values from previous calls to SetNewValue()
1353 $exifTool->SetNewValue();
1354 # delete a specific keyword
1356 $exifTool->SetNewValue('Keywords', $word, DelValue => 1);
1357 # set keywords (a list-type tag) with two new values
1359 $exifTool->SetNewValue(Keywords => 'word1');
1360 $exifTool->SetNewValue(Keywords => 'word2');
1361 # equivalent, but set both in one call using an array reference
1362 $exifTool->SetNewValue(Keywords => ['word1','word2']);
1363 # add a keyword without replacing existing keywords in the file
1365 $exifTool->SetNewValue(Keywords => $word, AddValue => 1);
1366 # conditionally add a tag if it didn't exist before,
1368 # or replace it if it had a specified value ("old value")
1369 $exifTool->SetNewValue(Description => '', DelValue => 1);
1370 $exifTool->SetNewValue(Description => 'old value', DelValue => 1);
1371 $exifTool->SetNewValue(Description => 'new value');
1372 # set a tag in a specific group
1374 $exifTool->SetNewValue(Headline => $val, Group => 'XMP');
1375 $exifTool->SetNewValue('XMP:Headline' => $val); # (equivalent)
1376 # shift original date/time back by 2.5 hours
1378 $exifTool->SetNewValue(DateTimeOriginal => '2:30', Shift => -1);
1379 # write a tag only if it had a specific value
1381 # (the order of the following calls is not significant)
1382 $exifTool->SetNewValue(Title => $oldVal, DelValue => 1);
1383 $exifTool->SetNewValue(Title => $newVal);
1384 # write tag by numerical value
1386 $exifTool->SetNewValue(Orientation => 6, Type => 'ValueConv');
1387 $exifTool->SetNewValue('Orientation#' => 6); # (equivalent)
1388 # delete all but EXIF tags
1390 $exifTool->SetNewValue('*'); # delete all...
1391 $exifTool->SetNewValue('EXIF:*', undef, Replace => 2); # ...but EXIF
1392 # write structured information as a HASH reference
1394 $exifTool->SetNewValue('XMP:Flash' => {
1395 mode => 'on',
1396 fired => 'true',
1397 return => 'not'
1398 });
1399 # write structured information as a serialized string
1401 $exifTool->SetNewValue('XMP:Flash'=>'{mode=on,fired=true,return=not}');
1402 (See <https://exiftool.org/struct.html#Serialize> for a description of
1404 the structure serialization technique.)
1405 Inputs:
1407 0) ExifTool object reference
1408 1) [optional] Tag key or tag name, or undef to clear all new
1410 values. The tag name may be prefixed by one or more family 0, 1 or
1411 2 group names with optional leading family numbers, separated by
1412 colons (eg. 'EXIF:Artist', 'XMP:Time:*'), which is equivalent to
1413 using a Group option argument. Also, a '#' may be appended to the
1414 tag name (eg. 'EXIF:Orientation#'), with the same effect as setting
1415 Type to 'ValueConv'. Wildcards ('*' and '?') may be used in the
1416 tag name to assign or delete multiple tags simultaneously. A tag
1417 name of '*' is special when deleting information, and will delete
1418 an entire group even if some individual tags in the group are not
1419 writable, but only if a single family 0 or 1 group is specified
1420 (otherwise the tags are deleted individually). Use
1421 "GetDeleteGroups" to get a list of deletable group names, and see
1422 Image::ExifTool::TagNames for a complete list of tag names.
1423 2) [optional] New value for tag. Undefined to delete tag from
1425 file. May be a scalar, scalar reference, list reference to set a
1426 list of values, or hash reference for a structure. Integer values
1427 may be specified as a hexadecimal string (with a leading '0x'), and
1428 simple rational values may be specified in fractional form (eg.
1429 '4/10'). Structure tags may be specified either as a hash
1430 reference or a serialized string (see the last two examples above).
1431 3-N) [optional] SetNewValue option/value pairs (see below).
1433 SetNewValue Options:
1435 AddValue
1436 Specifies that the value be added to an existing list in a file
1437 rather than overwriting the existing values. Valid settings
1438 are 0 (overwrite any existing tag value), 1 (add to an existing
1439 list and warn for non-list tags) or 2 (add to existing list and
1440 overwrite non-list tags). Default is 0.
1441 DelValue
1443 Delete existing tag from a file if it has the specified value.
1444 For list-type tags this deletes a specified item from the list.
1445 For non-list tags this may be used to conditionally replace a
1446 tag by providing a new value in a separate call to SetNewValue
1447 (see examples above). For structured tags, the entire
1448 structure is deleted/replaced only if all of the specified
1449 fields match the existing structure. Option values are 0 or 1.
1450 Default is 0.
1451 EditGroup
1453 Create tags in existing groups only. Don't create new group.
1454 Valid values are 0 and 1. Effectively removes the 'g' from the
1455 ExifTool WriteMode option for this tag only. Default is 0.
1456 EditOnly
1458 Edit tag only if it already exists. Don't create new tag.
1459 Valid values are 0 and 1. Effectively removes the 'c' from the
1460 ExifTool WriteMode option for this tag only. Default is 0.
1461 Group
1463 Specifies group name where tag should be written. This option
1464 is superseded by any group specified in the tag name. If not
1465 specified, tag is written to highest priority group as
1466 specified by "SetNewGroups". May be one or more family 0, 1 or
1467 2 groups with optional leading family number, separated by
1468 colons. Case is not significant.
1469 NoFlat
1471 Treat flattened tags as 'unsafe'.
1472 NoShortcut
1474 Disables default behaviour of looking up tag in shortcuts if
1475 not found otherwise.
1476 Protected
1478 Bit mask for tag protection levels to write. Bit 0x01 allows
1479 writing of 'unsafe' tags (ie. tags not copied automatically via
1480 "SetNewValuesFromFile"). Bit 0x02 allows writing of
1481 'protected' tags, and should only be used internally by
1482 ExifTool. See Image::ExifTool::TagNames, for a list of tag
1483 names indicating 'unsafe' and 'protected' tags. Default is 0.
1484 ProtectSaved
1486 Avoid setting new values which were saved after the Nth call to
1487 "SaveNewValues". Has no effect on unsaved values, or values
1488 saved before Nth call. Option value is N. Default is undef.
1489 Replace
1491 Flag to replace the previous new values for this tag (ie.
1492 replace the values set in previous calls to "SetNewValue").
1493 This option is most commonly used to replace previously-set new
1494 values for list-type tags. Valid values are 0 (set new value
1495 normally -- adds to new values for list-type tags), 1 (reset
1496 any previous new values before setting new value) or 2 (reset
1497 previous new values only; new value argument is ignored).
1498 Default is 0.
1499 Shift
1501 Shift the tag by the specified value. Currently only date/time
1502 tags and tags with numerical values may be shifted. Undefined
1503 for no shift, 1 for a positive shift, or -1 for a negative
1504 shift. A value of 0 causes a positive shift to be applied if
1505 the tag is shiftable and AddValue is set, or a negative shift
1506 for date/time tags only if DelValue is set. Default is undef.
1507 See Image::ExifTool::Shift(3pm) for more information.
1508 Type
1510 The type of value being set. Valid values are PrintConv,
1511 ValueConv or Raw. Default is PrintConv if the "PrintConv"
1512 Option is set, otherwise ValueConv.
1513 Return Values:
1515 In scalar context, returns the number of tags set and error
1516 messages are printed to STDERR. In list context, returns the
1517 number of tags set, and the error string (which is undefined if
1518 there was no error).
1519 Notes:
1521 When deleting groups of tags, the Replace option may be used to
1522 exclude specific groups from a mass delete. However, this
1523 technique may not be used to exclude individual tags from a group
1524 delete (unless a family 2 group was specified in the delete).
1525 Instead, use "SetNewValuesFromFile" to recover the values of
1526 individual tags after deleting a group.
1527 When deleting all tags from a JPEG image, the APP14 "Adobe"
1529 information is not deleted by default because doing so may affect
1530 the appearance of the image. However, this information may be
1531 deleted by specifying it explicitly, either by group (with
1532 'Adobe:*') or as a block (with 'Adobe').
1533 The following ExifTool options are effective in the call to
1535 "SetNewValue":
1536 Charset, DateFormat, Escape, IgnoreMinorErrors, Lang, ListJoin,
1538 ListSplit, PrintConv, QuickTimeUTC, StrictDate, TimeZone, Verbose and
1539 WriteMode.
1540 GetNewValue
1542 Get the new Raw value for a tag. This is the value set by
1543 "SetNewValue" this is queued to be written to file. List-type tags may
1544 return multiple values in list context.
1545 $rawVal = $exifTool->GetNewValue($tag);
1547 @rawVals = $exifTool->GetNewValue($tag);
1549 Inputs:
1551 0) ExifTool object reference
1552 1) Tag name (case sensitive, may be prefixed by family 0, 1 or 7
1554 group names, separated by colons)
1555 Return Values:
1557 List of new Raw tag values, or first value in list when called in
1558 scalar context. The list may be empty either if the tag isn't
1559 being written, or if it is being deleted (ie. if "SetNewValue" was
1560 called without a value).
1561 SetNewValuesFromFile
1563 A very powerful routine that sets new values for tags from information
1564 found in a specified file.
1565 # set new values from all information in a file...
1567 my $info = $exifTool->SetNewValuesFromFile($srcFile);
1568 # ...then write these values to another image
1569 my $result = $exifTool->WriteInfo($file2, $outFile);
1570 # set all new values, preserving original groups
1572 $exifTool->SetNewValuesFromFile($srcFile, '*:*');
1573 # set specific information
1575 $exifTool->SetNewValuesFromFile($srcFile, @tags);
1576 # set new value from a different tag in specific group
1578 $exifTool->SetNewValuesFromFile($fp, 'XMP-dc:Subject<IPTC:Keywords');
1579 # add all IPTC keywords to XMP subject list
1581 $exifTool->SetNewValuesFromFile($fp, 'XMP-dc:Subject+<IPTC:Keywords');
1582 # set new value from an expression involving other tags
1584 $exifTool->SetNewValuesFromFile($file,
1585 'Comment<ISO=$ISO Aperture=$aperture Exposure=$shutterSpeed');
1586 # set keywords list from the values of multiple tags
1588 $exifTool->SetNewValuesFromFile($file, { Replace => 0 },
1589 'keywords<xmp:subject', 'keywords<filename');
1590 # copy all EXIF information, preserving the original IFD
1592 # (without '*.*<' tags would be copied to the preferred EXIF IFD)
1593 $exifTool->SetNewValuesFromFile($file, '*:*<EXIF:*');
1594 # copy all tags with names starting with "gps" (note: this is
1596 # different than "gps:*" because it will also copy XMP GPS tags)
1597 $exifTool->SetNewValuesFromFile($file, 'gps*');
1598 # set FileName from Model, translating questionable characters
1600 $exifTool->SetNewValuesFromFile($file,
1601 'filename<${model; tr(/\\\\?*:|"><)(_) }.jpg');
1602 Inputs:
1604 0) ExifTool object reference
1605 1) File name, file reference, or scalar reference
1607 2-N) [optional] List of tag names to set or options hash
1609 references. All writable tags are set if none are specified. The
1610 tag names are not case sensitive, and may be prefixed by one or
1611 more family 0, 1, 2 or 7 group names with optional leading family
1612 numbers, separated by colons (eg. 'exif:iso'). A leading '-'
1613 indicates tags to be excluded (eg. '-comment'), or a trailing '#'
1614 causes the ValueConv value to be copied (same as setting the Type
1615 option to 'ValueConv' for this tag only). Wildcards ('*' and '?')
1616 may be used in the tag name. A tag name of '*' is commonly used
1617 when a group is specified to copy all tags in the group (eg.
1618 'XMP:*'). A special feature allows tag names of the form
1619 'DSTTAG<SRCTAG' (or 'SRCTAG>DSTTAG') to be specified to copy
1620 information to a tag with a different name or a specified group.
1621 Both 'SRCTAG' and 'DSTTAG' may contain wildcards and/or be prefixed
1622 by a group name (eg. 'fileModifyDate<modifyDate' or 'xmp:*<*'),
1623 and/or suffixed by a '#' to disable print conversion. Copied tags
1624 may also be added or deleted from a list with arguments of the form
1625 'DSTTAG+<SRCTAG' or 'DSTTAG-<SRCTAG'. Tags are evaluated in order,
1626 so exclusions apply only to tags included earlier in the list. An
1627 extension of this feature allows the tag value to be set from a
1628 string containing tag names with leading '$' symbols (eg.
1629 'Comment<the file is $filename'). Braces '{}' may be used around
1630 the tag name to separate it from subsequent text, and a '$$' is
1631 used to to represent a '$' symbol. The behaviour for missing tags
1632 in expressions is defined by the "MissingTagValue" option. The tag
1633 value may be modified via changes to the default input variable
1634 ($_) in a Perl expression placed inside the braces and after a
1635 semicolon following the tag name (see the last example above). A
1636 '@' may be added after the tag name (before the semicolon) to make
1637 the expression act on individual list items instead of the
1638 concatenated string for list-type tags. Braces within the
1639 expression must be balanced. Multiple options hash references may
1640 be passed to set different options for different tags. Options
1641 apply to subsequent tags in the argument list.
1642 By default, this routine will commute information between same-
1644 named tags in different groups, allowing information to be
1645 translated between images with different formats. This behaviour
1646 may be modified by specifying a group name for extracted tags (even
1647 if '*' is used as a group name), in which case the information is
1648 written to the original group, unless redirected to a different
1649 group. When '*' is used for a group name, by default the family 1
1650 group of the original tag is preserved, but a different family may
1651 be specified with a leading family number. (For example,
1652 specifying '*:*' copies all information while preserving the
1653 original family 1 groups, while '0*:*' preserves the family 0
1654 group.)
1655 SetNewValuesFromFile Options:
1657 The options are the same was for "SetNewValue", and are passed
1658 directly to "SetNewValue" internally, with a few exceptions:
1659 - The Replace option defaults to 1 instead of 0 as with
1661 "SetNewValue".
1662 - The AddValue or DelValue option is set for individual tags if
1664 '+>' or '->' (or '+<' or '-<') are used.
1665 - The Group option is set for tags where a group name is given.
1667 - The Protected flag is set to 1 for individually specified tags.
1669 - The Type option also applies to extracted tags.
1671 Return Values:
1673 A hash of information that was set successfully. May include
1674 Warning or Error entries if there were problems reading the input
1675 file.
1676 Notes:
1678 The PrintConv option applies to this routine, but it normally
1679 should be left on to provide more reliable transfer of information
1680 between groups.
1681 If a preview image exists, it is not copied. The preview image
1683 must be transferred separately if desired, in a separate call to
1684 "WriteInfo"
1685 When simply copying all information between files of the same type,
1687 it is usually desirable to preserve the original groups by
1688 specifying '*:*' for the tags to set.
1689 The "Duplicates" option is always in effect for tags extracted from
1691 the source file using this routine.
1692 The "Struct" option is enabled by default for tags extracted by
1694 this routine. This allows the hierarchy of complex structures to
1695 be preserved when copying, but the Struct option may be set to 0 to
1696 override this behaviour and copy as flattened tags instead.
1697 CountNewValues
1699 Return the total number of new values set.
1700 $numSet = $exifTool->CountNewValues();
1702 ($numSet, $numPseudo) = $exifTool->CountNewValues();
1703 Inputs:
1705 0) ExifTool object reference
1706 Return Values:
1708 In scalar context, returns the total number of tags with new values
1709 set. In list context, also returns the number of "pseudo" tag
1710 values which have been set. "Pseudo" tags are tags like FileName
1711 and FileModifyDate which are not contained within the file and can
1712 be changed without rewriting the file.
1713 SaveNewValues
1715 Save state of new values to be later restored by "RestoreNewValues".
1716 $exifTool->SaveNewValues(); # save state of new values
1718 $exifTool->SetNewValue(ISO => 100); # set new value for ISO
1719 $exifTool->WriteInfo($src, $dst1); # write ISO + previous new values
1720 $exifTool->RestoreNewValues(); # restore previous new values
1721 $exifTool->WriteInfo($src, $dst2); # write previous new values only
1722 Inputs:
1724 0) ExifTool object reference
1725 Return Value:
1727 Count of the number of times this routine has been called (N) since
1728 the last time the new values were reset.
1729 RestoreNewValues
1731 Restore new values to the settings that existed when "SaveNewValues"
1732 was last called. May be called repeatedly after a single call to
1733 "SaveNewValues". See "SaveNewValues" above for an example.
1734 Inputs:
1736 0) ExifTool object reference
1737 Return Value:
1739 None.
1740 SetFileModifyDate
1742 Write the filesystem modification or creation time from the new value
1743 of the FileModifyDate or FileCreateDate tag.
1744 $exifTool->SetNewValue(FileModifyDate => '2000:01:02 03:04:05-05:00',
1746 Protected => 1);
1747 $result = $exifTool->SetFileModifyDate($file);
1748 Inputs:
1750 0) ExifTool object reference
1751 1) File name
1753 2) [optional] Base time if applying shift (days before $^T)
1755 3) [optional] Tag to write: 'FileModifyDate' (default), or
1757 'FileCreateDate'
1758 Return Value:
1760 1 if the time was changed, 0 if nothing was done, or -1 if there
1761 was an error setting the time.
1762 Notes:
1764 Equivalent to, but more efficient than calling "WriteInfo" when
1765 only the FileModifyDate or FileCreateDate tag has been set. If a
1766 timezone is not specified, local time is assumed. When shifting,
1767 the time of the original file is used unless the optional base time
1768 is specified.
1769 The ability to write FileCreateDate is currently restricted to
1771 Windows systems only.
1772 SetFileName
1774 Set the file name and directory, or create a hard link. If not
1775 specified, the new file name is derived from the new values of the
1776 FileName and Directory tags, or from the HardLink or SymLink tag if
1777 creating a link. If the FileName tag contains a '/', then the file is
1778 renamed into a new directory. If FileName ends with '/', then it is
1779 taken as a directory name and the file is moved into the new directory.
1780 The new value for the Directory tag takes precedence over any directory
1781 specified in FileName.
1782 $result = $exifTool->SetFileName($file);
1784 $result = $exifTool->SetFileName($file, $newName);
1785 Inputs:
1787 0) ExifTool object reference
1788 1) Current file name
1790 2) [optional] New file name
1792 3) [optional] 'HardLink' or 'SymLink' to create a hard or symbolic
1794 link instead of renaming the file, or 'Test' to test renaming
1795 feature by printing the old and new names instead of changing
1796 anything.
1797 Return Value:
1799 1 on success, 0 if nothing was done, or -1 if there was an error
1800 renaming the file or creating the link.
1801 Notes:
1803 Will not overwrite existing files. New directories are created as
1804 necessary. If the file is successfully renamed, the new file name
1805 may be accessed via $$exifTool{NewName}.
1806 SetNewGroups
1808 Set the order of the preferred groups when adding new information. In
1809 subsequent calls to "SetNewValue", new information will be created in
1810 the first valid group of this list. This has an impact only if the
1811 group is not specified when calling "SetNewValue" and if the tag name
1812 exists in more than one group. The default order is EXIF, IPTC, XMP,
1813 MakerNotes, QuickTime, Photoshop, ICC_Profile, CanonVRD, Adobe. Any
1814 family 0 group name may be used. Case is not significant.
1815 $exifTool->SetNewGroups('XMP','EXIF','IPTC');
1817 Inputs:
1819 0) ExifTool object reference
1820 1-N) Groups in order of priority. If no groups are specified, the
1822 priorities are reset to the defaults.
1823 Return Value:
1825 None.
1826 GetNewGroups
1828 Get current group priority list.
1829 @groups = $exifTool->GetNewGroups();
1831 Inputs:
1833 0) ExifTool object reference
1834 Return Values:
1836 List of group names in order of write priority. Highest priority
1837 first.
1838 GetTagID
1840 Get the ID for the specified tag. The ID is the IFD tag number in EXIF
1841 information, the property name in XMP information, or the data offset
1842 in a binary data block. For some tags, such as Composite tags where
1843 there is no ID, an empty string is returned. In list context, also
1844 returns a language code for the tag if available and different from the
1845 default language (eg. with alternate language entries for XMP "lang-
1846 alt" tags).
1847 $id = $exifTool->GetTagID($tag);
1849 ($id, $lang) = $exifTool->GetTagID($tag);
1850 Inputs:
1852 0) ExifTool object reference
1853 1) Tag key
1855 Return Values:
1857 In scalar context, returns the tag ID or '' if there is no ID for
1858 this tag. In list context, returns the tag ID (or '') and the
1859 language code (or undef).
1860 GetDescription
1862 Get description for specified tag. This function will always return a
1863 defined value. In the case where the description doesn't exist, one is
1864 generated from the tag name.
1865 Inputs:
1867 0) ExifTool object reference
1868 1) Tag key
1870 Return Values:
1872 A description for the specified tag.
1873 GetGroup
1875 Get group name(s) for a specified tag.
1876 # return family 0 group name (eg. 'EXIF');
1878 $group = $exifTool->GetGroup($tag, 0);
1879 # return all groups (eg. qw{EXIF IFD0 Author Main})
1881 @groups = $exifTool->GetGroup($tag);
1882 # return groups as a string (eg. 'Main:IFD0:Author')
1884 $group = $exifTool->GetGroup($tag, ':3:1:2');
1885 # return groups as a simplified string (eg. 'IFD0:Author')
1887 $group = $exifTool->GetGroup($tag, '3:1:2');
1888 Inputs:
1890 0) ExifTool object reference
1891 1) Tag key
1893 2) [optional] Group family number, or string of numbers separated
1895 by colons
1896 Return Values:
1898 Group name (or '' if tag has no group). If no group family is
1899 specified, "GetGroup" returns the name of the group in family 0
1900 when called in scalar context, or the names of groups for all
1901 families in list context. Returns a string of group names
1902 separated by colons if the input group family contains a colon.
1903 The string is simplified to remove a leading 'Main:' and adjacent
1904 identical group names unless the family string begins with a colon.
1905 Notes:
1907 The group family numbers are currently available:
1908 0) Information Type (eg. EXIF, XMP, IPTC)
1910 1) Specific Location (eg. IFD0, XMP-dc)
1911 2) Category (eg. Author, Time)
1912 3) Document Number (eg. Main, Doc1, Doc3-2)
1913 4) Instance Number (eg. Copy1, Copy2, Copy3...)
1914 5) Metadata Path (eg. JPEG-APP1-IFD0-ExifIFD)
1915 6) EXIF/TIFF Format (eg. int8u, int32u, undef, string)
1916 7) Tag ID (eg. ID-271, ID-rights, ID-a9aut)
1917 Families 0 and 1 are based on the file structure, and are similar
1919 except that family 1 is more specific and sub-divides some groups
1920 to give more detail about the specific location where the
1921 information was found. For example, the EXIF group is split up
1922 based on the specific IFD (Image File Directory), the MakerNotes
1923 group is divided into groups for each manufacturer, and the XMP
1924 group is separated based on the XMP namespace prefix. Note that
1925 only common XMP namespaces are listed in the GetAllGroups
1926 documentation, but additional namespaces may be present in some XMP
1927 data. Also note that the 'XMP-xmp...' group names may appear in
1928 the older form 'XMP-xap...' since these names evolved as the XMP
1929 standard was developed. The ICC_Profile group is broken down to
1930 give information about the specific ICC_Profile tag from which
1931 multiple values were extracted. As well, information extracted
1932 from the ICC_Profile header is separated into the ICC-header group.
1933 Family 2 classifies information based on the logical category to
1935 which the information refers.
1936 Family 3 gives the document number for tags extracted from embedded
1938 documents, or 'Main' for tags from the main document. (See the
1939 "ExtractEmbedded" option for extracting tags from embedded
1940 documents.) Nested sub-documents (if they exist) are indicated by
1941 numbers separated with dashes in the group name, to an arbitrary
1942 depth. (eg. 'Doc2-3-1' is the 1st sub-sub-document of the 3rd sub-
1943 document of the 2nd embedded document of the main file.) Document
1944 numbers are also used to differentiate samples for timed metadata
1945 in videos.
1946 Family 4 provides a method for differentiating tags when multiple
1948 tags exist with the same name in the same location. The primary
1949 instance of a tag (the tag extracted when the Duplicates option is
1950 disabled and no group is specified) has no family 4 group name, but
1951 additional instances have family 4 group names of 'Copy1', 'Copy2',
1952 'Copy3', etc. For convenience, the primary tag may also be
1953 accessed using a group name of 'Copy0'.
1954 Family 5 is experimental, and gives the complete path for the
1956 metadata in the file. Generated only if the "SavePath" option is
1957 used when extracting.
1958 Family 6 is currently used only for EXIF/TIFF metadata, and gives
1960 the format type of the extracted value. Generated only if the
1961 "SaveFormat" option is used when extracting.
1962 Family 7 is used for tag ID's. The group names are the actual tag
1964 ID's, with a leading "ID-" string. Non-numerical ID's have
1965 characters other than [-_A-Za-z0-9] converted to hex. Numerical
1966 tag ID's are returned in hex if the "HexTagIDs" option is set,
1967 otherwise decimal is used. When specifying a family 7 group name,
1968 numerical ID's may be in hex or decimal, and non-numerical ID's may
1969 or may not have characters other than [-_A-Za-z0-9] converted to
1970 hex. Note that unlike other group names, the tag ID's of family 7
1971 group names are case sensitive (but the leading "ID-" is not).
1972 See "GetAllGroups [static]" for complete lists of group names.
1974 GetGroups
1976 Get list of group names that exist in the specified information.
1977 @groups = $exifTool->GetGroups($info, 2);
1979 @groups = $exifTool->GetGroups('3:1');
1980 Inputs:
1982 0) ExifTool object reference
1983 1) [optional] Info hash ref (default is all extracted info)
1985 2) [optional] Group family number, or string of numbers (default 0)
1987 Return Values:
1989 List of group names in alphabetical order. If information hash is
1990 not specified, the group names are returned for all extracted
1991 information. See "GetGroup" for an description of family numbers
1992 and family number strings.
1993 BuildCompositeTags
1995 Builds composite tags from required tags. The composite tags are
1996 convenience tags which are derived from the values of other tags. This
1997 routine is called automatically by "ImageInfo" and "ExtractInfo" if the
1998 Composite option is set.
1999 Inputs:
2001 0) ExifTool object reference
2002 Return Values:
2004 (none)
2005 Notes:
2007 Tag values are calculated in alphabetical order unless a tag
2008 Require's or Desire's another composite tag, in which case the
2009 calculation is deferred until after the other tag is calculated.
2010 Composite tags may need to read data from the image for their value
2012 to be determined, and for these "BuildCompositeTags" must be called
2013 while the image is available. This is only a problem if
2014 "ImageInfo" is called with a filename (as opposed to a file
2015 reference or scalar reference) since in this case the file is
2016 closed before "ImageInfo" returns. Here the Composite option may
2017 be used so that "BuildCompositeTags" is called from within
2018 "ImageInfo", before the file is closed.
2019 GetTagName [static]
2021 Get name of tag from tag key. This is a convenience function that
2022 strips the embedded instance number, if it exists, from the tag key.
2023 Note: "static" in the heading above indicates that the function does
2025 not require an ExifTool object reference as the first argument. All
2026 functions documented below are also static.
2027 $tagName = Image::ExifTool::GetTagName($tag);
2029 Inputs:
2031 0) Tag key
2032 Return Value:
2034 Tag name. This is the same as the tag key but has the instance
2035 number removed.
2036 GetShortcuts [static]
2038 Get a list of shortcut tags.
2039 Inputs:
2041 (none)
2042 Return Values:
2044 List of shortcut tags (as defined in Image::ExifTool::Shortcuts).
2045 GetAllTags [static]
2047 Get list of all available tag names.
2048 @tagList = Image::ExifTool::GetAllTags($group);
2050 Inputs:
2052 0) [optional] Group name, or string of group names separated by
2053 colons
2054 Return Values:
2056 A list of all available tags in alphabetical order, or all tags in
2057 a specified group or intersection of groups. The group name is
2058 case insensitive, and any group in families 0-2 may be used except
2059 for EXIF family 1 groups (ie. the specific IFD).
2060 GetWritableTags [static]
2062 Get list of all writable tag names.
2063 @tagList = Image::ExifTool::GetWritableTags($group);
2065 Inputs:
2067 0) [optional] Group name, or string of group names separated by
2068 colons
2069 Return Values:
2071 A list of all writable tags in alphabetical order. These are the
2072 tags for which values may be set through "SetNewValue". If a group
2073 name is given, returns only writable tags in specified group(s).
2074 The group name is case insensitive, and any group in families 0-2
2075 may be used except for EXIF family 1 groups (ie. the specific IFD).
2076 GetAllGroups [static]
2078 Get list of all group names in specified family.
2079 @groupList = Image::ExifTool::GetAllGroups($family);
2081 Inputs:
2083 0) Group family number (0-7)
2084 Return Values:
2086 A list of all groups in the specified family in alphabetical order.
2087 Here is a complete list of groups for each of these families:
2089 Family 0 (Information Type):
2091 AFCP, AIFF, APE, APP0, APP1, APP11, APP12, APP13, APP14, APP15,
2092 APP3, APP4, APP5, APP6, APP8, ASF, Audible, CanonVRD, Composite,
2093 DICOM, DNG, DV, DjVu, Ducky, EXE, EXIF, ExifTool, FITS, FLAC, FLIR,
2094 File, Flash, FlashPix, Font, FotoStation, GIF, GIMP, GeoTiff,
2095 GoPro, H264, HTML, ICC_Profile, ID3, IPTC, ISO, ITC, JFIF, JPEG,
2096 JSON, JUMBF, Jpeg2000, LNK, Leaf, Lytro, M2TS, MIE, MIFF, MNG, MOI,
2097 MPC, MPEG, MPF, MXF, MakerNotes, Matroska, Meta, Ogg, OpenEXR,
2098 Opus, PDF, PICT, PLIST, PNG, PSP, Palm, Parrot, PanasonicRaw,
2099 PhotoCD, PhotoMechanic, Photoshop, PostScript, PrintIM, QuickTime,
2100 RAF, RIFF, RSRC, RTF, Radiance, Rawzor, Real, Red, SVG, SigmaRaw,
2101 Stim, Theora, Torrent, Trailer, UserParam, VCard, Vorbis, WTV, XML,
2102 XMP, ZIP
2103 Family 1 (Specific Location):
2105 AC3, AFCP, AIFF, APE, ASF, AVI1, Adobe, AdobeCM, AdobeDNG, Apple,
2106 Audible, CBOR, CIFF, CameraIFD, Canon, CanonCustom, CanonRaw,
2107 CanonVRD, Casio, Chapter#, Composite, DICOM, DJI, DNG, DV, DjVu,
2108 DjVu-Meta, Ducky, EPPIM, EXE, EXIF, ExifIFD, ExifTool, FITS, FLAC,
2109 FLIR, File, Flash, FlashPix, Font, FotoStation, FujiFilm, FujiIFD,
2110 GE, GIF, GIMP, GPS, GeoTiff, GlobParamIFD, GoPro, GraphConv, H264,
2111 HP, HTC, HTML, HTML-dc, HTML-ncc, HTML-office, HTML-prod,
2112 HTML-vw96, HTTP-equiv, ICC-chrm, ICC-clrt, ICC-header, ICC-meas,
2113 ICC-meta, ICC-view, ICC_Profile, ICC_Profile#, ID3, ID3v1,
2114 ID3v1_Enh, ID3v2_2, ID3v2_3, ID3v2_4, IFD0, IFD1, IPTC, IPTC#, ISO,
2115 ITC, Insta360, InteropIFD, ItemList, JFIF, JFXX, JPEG, JPEG-HDR,
2116 JPS, JSON, JUMBF, JVC, Jpeg2000, KDC_IFD, Keys, Kodak,
2117 KodakBordersIFD, KodakEffectsIFD, KodakIFD, KyoceraRaw, LNK, Leaf,
2118 LeafSubIFD, Leica, Lyrics3, Lytro, M2TS, MAC, MIE-Audio, MIE-
2119 Camera, MIE-Canon, MIE-Doc, MIE-Extender, MIE-Flash, MIE-GPS, MIE-
2120 Geo, MIE-Image, MIE-Lens, MIE-Main, MIE-MakerNotes, MIE-Meta, MIE-
2121 Orient, MIE-Preview, MIE-Thumbnail, MIE-UTM, MIE-Unknown, MIE-
2122 Video, MIFF, MNG, MOBI, MOI, MPC, MPEG, MPF0, MPImage, MS-DOC, MXF,
2123 MacOS, MakerNotes, MakerUnknown, Matroska, MediaJukebox, Meta,
2124 MetaIFD, Microsoft, Minolta, MinoltaRaw, Motorola, NITF, Nikon,
2125 NikonCapture, NikonCustom, NikonScan, NikonSettings, Nintendo,
2126 Ocad, Ogg, Olympus, OpenEXR, Opus, PDF, PICT, PNG, PNG-pHYs, PSP,
2127 Palm, Panasonic, PanasonicRaw, Pentax, PhaseOne, PhotoCD,
2128 PhotoMechanic, Photoshop, PictureInfo, PostScript, PreviewIFD,
2129 PrintIM, ProfileIFD, Qualcomm, QuickTime, RAF, RAF2, RIFF, RMETA,
2130 RSRC, RTF, Radiance, Rawzor, Real, Real-CONT, Real-MDPR, Real-PROP,
2131 Real-RA3, Real-RA4, Real-RA5, Real-RJMD, Reconyx, Red, Ricoh,
2132 SPIFF, SR2, SR2DataIFD, SR2SubIFD, SRF#, SVG, Samsung, Sanyo,
2133 Scalado, Sigma, SigmaRaw, Sony, SonyIDC, Stim, SubIFD, System,
2134 Theora, Torrent, Track#, UserData, UserParam, VCalendar, VCard,
2135 Version0, Vorbis, WTV, XML, XMP, XMP-DICOM, XMP-Device, XMP-GAudio,
2136 XMP-GDepth, XMP-GFocus, XMP-GImage, XMP-GPano, XMP-GSpherical, XMP-
2137 LImage, XMP-MP, XMP-MP1, XMP-PixelLive, XMP-aas, XMP-acdsee, XMP-
2138 album, XMP-apple-fi, XMP-aux, XMP-cc, XMP-cell, XMP-creatorAtom,
2139 XMP-crs, XMP-dc, XMP-dex, XMP-digiKam, XMP-drone-dji, XMP-dwc, XMP-
2140 exif, XMP-exifEX, XMP-expressionmedia, XMP-extensis, XMP-fpv, XMP-
2141 getty, XMP-ics, XMP-iptcCore, XMP-iptcExt, XMP-lr, XMP-mediapro,
2142 XMP-microsoft, XMP-mwg-coll, XMP-mwg-kw, XMP-mwg-rs, XMP-pdf, XMP-
2143 pdfx, XMP-photomech, XMP-photoshop, XMP-plus, XMP-pmi, XMP-prism,
2144 XMP-prl, XMP-prm, XMP-pur, XMP-rdf, XMP-swf, XMP-tiff, XMP-x, XMP-
2145 xmp, XMP-xmpBJ, XMP-xmpDM, XMP-xmpMM, XMP-xmpNote, XMP-xmpPLUS,
2146 XMP-xmpRights, XMP-xmpTPg, ZIP, iTunes
2147 Family 2 (Category):
2149 Audio, Author, Camera, Device, Document, ExifTool, Image, Location,
2150 Other, Preview, Printing, Time, Unknown, Video
2151 Family 3 (Document Number):
2153 Doc#, Main
2154 Family 4 (Instance Number):
2156 Copy#
2157 Family 5 (Metadata Path):
2159 eg. JPEG-APP1-IFD0-ExifIFD
2160 Family 6 (EXIF/TIFF Format):
2162 int8u, string, int16u, int32u, rational64u, int8s, undef, int16s,
2163 int32s, rational64s, float, double, ifd, unicode, complex, int64u,
2164 int64s, ifd64
2165 Family 7 (Tag ID):
2167 ID-xxx (Where xxx is the tag ID. Numerical ID's are returned in
2168 hex with a leading "0x" if the HexTagIDs option is set, or decimal
2169 otherwise. Characters in non-numerical ID's which are not valid in
2170 a group name are returned as 2 hex digits.)
2171 Note: This function may also be called as an ExifTool member function
2173 to allow the HexTagIDs option to be set when retrieving family 7 group
2174 names.
2175 GetDeleteGroups [static]
2177 Get list of all deletable group names.
2178 @delGroups = Image::ExifTool::GetDeleteGroups();
2180 Inputs:
2182 None.
2183 Return Values:
2185 A list of deletable group names in alphabetical order. The current
2186 list of deletable group names is:
2187 Adobe, AFCP, APP0, APP1, APP10, APP11, APP12, APP13, APP14, APP15,
2189 APP2, APP3, APP4, APP5, APP6, APP7, APP8, APP9, Audio, Author,
2190 Camera, CanonVRD, CIFF, Document, Ducky, EXIF, ExifIFD, ExifTool,
2191 File, FlashPix, FotoStation, GlobParamIFD, GPS, ICC_Profile, IFD0,
2192 IFD1, Image, Insta360, InteropIFD, IPTC, ItemList, JFIF, Jpeg2000,
2193 Keys, Location, MakerNotes, Meta, MetaIFD, Microsoft, MIE, MPF,
2194 NikonCapture, Other, PDF, PDF-update, PhotoMechanic, Photoshop,
2195 PNG, PNG-pHYs, Preview, PrintIM, Printing, QuickTime, RMETA, RSRC,
2196 SubIFD, Time, Trailer, UserData, Video, XML, XML-*, XMP, XMP-*
2197 To schedule a group for deletion, call "SetNewValue" with a tag
2199 name like 'EXIF:*' and an undefined tag value.
2200 Deleting a family 0 or 1 group will delete the entire corresponding
2202 block of metadata, but deleting a family 2 group (eg. Audio,
2203 Author, Camera, etc.) deletes the individual tags belonging to
2204 that category.
2205 The 'Trailer' group allows all trailers in JPEG and TIFF-format
2207 images to be deleted at once, including unknown trailers. Note
2208 that the JPEG "APP" groups are special, and are used only to delete
2209 application segments which are not associated with another
2210 deletable group. For example, deleting 'APP14:*' will delete other
2211 APP14 segments, but not the APP14 "Adobe" segment.
2212 GetFileType [static]
2214 Get type of file given file name.
2215 my $type = Image::ExifTool::GetFileType($filename);
2217 my $desc = Image::ExifTool::GetFileType($filename, 1);
2218 Inputs:
2220 0) [optional] File name (or just an extension)
2221 1) [optional] Flag to return a description instead of a type.
2223 Default is undef. Set to 0 to also return types of recognized but
2224 unsupported files (otherwise the return value for unsupported files
2225 is undef), or 1 to return descriptions.
2226 Return Value:
2228 A string, based on the file extension, which indicates the basic
2229 format of the file. Note that some files may be based on other
2230 formats (like many RAW image formats are based on TIFF). In list
2231 context, may return more than one file type if the file may be
2232 based on different formats. Returns undef if files with this
2233 extension are not yet supported by ExifTool. Returns a list of
2234 extensions for all supported file types if no input extension is
2235 specified (or all recognized file types if the description flag is
2236 set to 0). Returns a more detailed description of the specific file
2237 format when the description flag is set.
2238 CanWrite [static]
2240 Can the specified file be written?
2241 my $writable = Image::ExifTool::CanWrite($filename);
2243 Inputs:
2245 0) File name or extension
2246 Return Value:
2248 True if ExifTool supports writing files of this type (based on the
2249 file extension).
2250 CanCreate [static]
2252 Can the specified file be created?
2253 my $creatable = Image::ExifTool::CanCreate($filename);
2255 Inputs:
2257 0) File name or extension
2258 Return Value:
2260 True if ExifTool can create files with this extension from scratch.
2261 Currently, this can only be done with XMP, MIE, ICC, VRD, DR4, EXV
2262 and EXIF files.
2263 AddUserDefinedTags [static]
2265 Add user-defined tags to an existing tag table at run time. This
2266 differs from the usual technique of creating user-defined tags via the
2267 %Image::ExifTool::UserDefined hash (see the ExifTool_config file in the
2268 Image::ExifTool distribution) because it allows tags to be added after
2269 a tag table has been initialized.
2270 use Image::ExifTool ':Public';
2272 my %tags = (
2273 TestTagID1 => { Name => 'TestTagName1' },
2274 TestTagID2 => { Name => 'TestTagName2' },
2275 );
2276 my $num = AddUserDefinedTags('Image::ExifTool::PDF::Info', %tags);
2277 Inputs:
2279 0) Destination tag table name
2280 1-N) Pairs of tag ID / tag information hash references for the new
2282 tags
2283 Return Value:
2285 The number of tags added.
2286 Notes
2288 Pre-existing tags with the same ID will be replaced in the
2289 destination table. See lib/Image/ExifTool/README in the full
2290 distribution for full details on the elements of the tag
2291 information hash.
2292
2294 Certain meta information formats allow coded character sets other than
2295 plain ASCII. When reading, most known encodings are converted to the
2296 external character set according to the "Charset" option, or to UTF-8
2297 by default. When writing, the inverse conversions are performed.
2298 Alternatively, special characters may be converted to/from HTML
2299 character entities with the "Escape" HTML option.
2300 A distinction is made between the external character set visible via
2302 the ExifTool API, and the internal character used to store text in the
2303 metadata of a file. These character sets may be specified separately
2304 as follows:
2305 External Character Sets:
2307 The encoding for tag values passed to/from ExifTool API functions
2308 is set via the "Charset" option, which is 'UTF8' by default.
2309 The encoding of file names is specified via the "CharsetFileName"
2311 option. By default, "CharsetFileName" is not defined, and file
2312 names passed to ExifTool are used directly in calls to the system
2313 i/o routines (which expect UTF-8 strings on Mac/Linux, but default
2314 to the system code page on Windows). In this mode on Windows a
2315 warning is issued if a file name contains special characters, but
2316 this warning may be avoided by setting "CharsetFileName" to an
2317 empty string. Setting "CharsetFileName" to any other value causes
2318 file names to be converted from the specified encoding to one
2319 appropriate for the system. In Windows this also has the effect of
2320 activating Unicode filename support via the special Windows wide-
2321 character i/o routines if Win32API::File is available.
2322 Internal Character Sets:
2324 The encodings used to store strings in the various metadata
2325 formats. These encodings may be changed for certain types of
2326 metadata via the "CharsetEXIF", "CharsetID3", "CharsetIPTC",
2327 "CharsetPhotoshop", "CharsetQuickTime" and "CharsetRIFF" options.
2328 Values are returned as byte strings of encoded characters. Perl wide
2330 characters are not used. By default, most returned strings are encoded
2331 in UTF-8. For these, Encode::decode_utf8() may be used to convert to a
2332 sequence of logical Perl characters. Note that some settings of the
2333 PERL_UNICODE environment variable may be incompatible with ExifTool's
2334 character handling.
2335 More specific details are given below about how character coding is
2337 handled for EXIF, IPTC, XMP, PNG, ID3, PDF, Photoshop, QuickTime, AIFF,
2338 MIE and Vorbis information:
2339 EXIF
2341 Most textual information in EXIF is stored in ASCII format (called
2342 "string" in the ExifTool tag name documentation). By default ExifTool
2343 does not convert these strings. However, it is not uncommon for
2344 applications to write UTF-8 or other encodings where ASCII is expected.
2345 To deal with these, ExifTool allows the internal EXIF string encoding
2346 to be specified with "CharsetEXIF", which causes EXIF string values to
2347 be converted from the specified character set when reading, and stored
2348 with this character set when writing. (The MWG recommends using UTF-8
2349 encoding for EXIF strings, and in keeping with this the MWG module sets
2350 the default internal EXIF string encoding to UTF-8, but note that this
2351 will have no effect unless the external encoding is also set to
2352 something other than the default of UTF-8.)
2353 A few EXIF tags (UserComment, GPSProcessingMethod and
2355 GPSAreaInformation) support a designated internal text encoding, with
2356 values stored as ASCII, Unicode (UCS-2) or JIS. When reading these
2357 tags, ExifTool converts Unicode and JIS to the external character set
2358 specified by the "Charset" option, or to UTF-8 by default. ASCII text
2359 is not converted. When writing, text is stored as ASCII unless the
2360 string contains special characters, in which case it is converted from
2361 the external character set (UTF-8 by default), and stored as Unicode.
2362 ExifTool writes Unicode in native EXIF byte ordering by default, but
2363 the byte order may be specified by setting the ExifUnicodeByteOrder tag
2364 (see the Extra Tags documentation).
2365 The EXIF "XP" tags (XPTitle, XPComment, etc) are always stored as
2367 little-endian Unicode (UCS-2), and are read and written using the
2368 specified character set.
2369 IPTC
2371 The value of the IPTC:CodedCharacterSet tag determines how the internal
2372 IPTC string values are interpreted. If CodedCharacterSet exists and
2373 has a value of 'UTF8' (or 'ESC % G') then string values are assumed to
2374 be stored as UTF-8, otherwise Windows Latin1 (cp1252, 'Latin') coding
2375 is assumed by default, but this can be changed with the "CharsetIPTC"
2376 option. When reading, these strings are converted to the character set
2377 specified by the "Charset" option. When writing, the inverse
2378 conversions are performed. No conversion is done if the internal
2379 (IPTC) and external (ExifTool) character sets are the same. Note that
2380 ISO 2022 character set shifting is not supported. Instead, a warning
2381 is issued and the string is not converted if an ISO 2022 shift code is
2382 encountered. See <http://www.iptc.org/IIM/> for the official IPTC
2383 specification.
2384 ExifTool may be used to convert IPTC values to a different internal
2386 encoding. To do this, all IPTC tags must be rewritten along with the
2387 desired value of CodedCharacterSet. For example, the following command
2388 changes the internal IPTC encoding to UTF-8 (from Windows Latin1 unless
2389 CodedCharacterSet was already 'UTF8'):
2390 exiftool -tagsfromfile @ -iptc:all -codedcharacterset=utf8 a.jpg
2392 or from Windows Latin2 (cp1250) to UTF-8:
2394 exiftool -tagsfromfile @ -iptc:all -codedcharacterset=utf8 \
2396 -charset iptc=latin2 a.jpg
2397 and this command changes it back from UTF-8 to Windows Latin1 (cp1252):
2399 exiftool -tagsfromfile @ -iptc:all -codedcharacterset= a.jpg
2401 or to Windows Latin2:
2403 exiftool -tagsfromfile @ -iptc:all -codedcharacterset= \
2405 -charset iptc=latin2 a.jpg
2406 Unless CodedCharacterSet is 'UTF8', applications have no reliable way
2408 to determine the IPTC character encoding. For this reason, it is
2409 recommended that CodedCharacterSet be set to 'UTF8' when creating new
2410 IPTC.
2411 (Note: Here, "IPTC" Refers to the older IPTC IIM format. The more
2413 recent IPTC Core and Extension specifications actually use the XMP
2414 format.)
2415 XMP
2417 ExifTool reads XMP encoded as UTF-8, UTF-16 or UTF-32, and converts
2418 them all to UTF-8 internally. Also, all XML character entity
2419 references and numeric character references are converted. When
2420 writing, ExifTool always encodes XMP as UTF-8, converting the following
2421 5 characters to XML character references: & < > ' ". By default no
2422 further conversion is performed, however if the "Charset" option is
2423 other than 'UTF8' then text is converted to/from the specified
2424 character set when reading/writing.
2425 PNG
2427 PNG TextualData tags are stored as tEXt, zTXt and iTXt chunks in PNG
2428 images. The tEXt and zTXt chunks use ISO 8859-1 encoding, while iTXt
2429 uses UTF-8. When reading, ExifTool converts all PNG textual data to
2430 the character set specified by the "Charset" option. When writing,
2431 ExifTool generates a tEXt chunk (or zTXt with the "Compress" option) if
2432 the text doesn't contain special characters or if Latin encoding is
2433 specified; otherwise an iTXt chunk is used and the text is converted
2434 from the specified character set and stored as UTF-8.
2435 JPEG Comment
2437 The encoding for the JPEG Comment (COM segment) is not specified, so
2438 ExifTool reads/writes this text without conversion.
2439 ID3
2441 The ID3v1 specification officially supports only ISO 8859-1 encoding (a
2442 subset of Windows Latin1), although some applications may incorrectly
2443 use other character sets. By default ExifTool converts ID3v1 text from
2444 Latin to the character set specified by the "Charset" option. However,
2445 the internal ID3v1 charset may be specified with the "CharsetID3"
2446 option. The encoding for ID3v2 information is stored in the file, so
2447 ExifTool converts ID3v2 text from this encoding to the character set
2448 specified by the "Charset" option. ExifTool does not currently write
2449 ID3 information.
2450 PDF
2452 PDF text strings are stored in either PDFDocEncoding (similar to
2453 Windows Latin1) or Unicode (UCS-2). When reading, ExifTool converts to
2454 the character set specified by the "Charset" option. When writing,
2455 ExifTool encodes input text from the specified character set as Unicode
2456 only if the string contains special characters, otherwise
2457 PDFDocEncoding is used.
2458 Photoshop
2460 Some Photoshop resource names are stored as Pascal strings with unknown
2461 encoding. By default, ExifTool assumes MacRoman encoding and converts
2462 this to UTF-8, but the internal and external character sets may be
2463 specified with the "CharsetPhotoshop" and "Charset" options
2464 respectively.
2465 QuickTime
2467 QuickTime text strings may be stored in a variety of poorly document
2468 formats. ExifTool does its best to decode these according to the
2469 "Charset" option setting. For some QuickTime strings, ExifTool assumes
2470 a default encoding of MacRoman, but this may be changed with the
2471 "CharsetQuickTime" option.
2472 AIFF
2474 AIFF strings are assumed to be stored in MacRoman, and are converted
2475 according to the "Charset" option when reading.
2476 RIFF
2478 The internal encoding of RIFF strings (eg. in AVI and WAV files) is
2479 assumed to be Latin unless otherwise specified by the RIFF CSET chunk
2480 or the "CharsetRIFF" option.
2481 MIE
2483 MIE strings are stored as either UTF-8 or ISO 8859-1. When reading,
2484 UTF-8 strings are converted according to the "Charset" option, and ISO
2485 8859-1 strings are never converted. When writing, input strings are
2486 converted from the specified character set to UTF-8. The resulting
2487 strings are stored as UTF-8 if they contain multi-byte UTF-8 character
2488 sequences, otherwise they are stored as ISO 8859-1.
2489 Vorbis
2491 Vorbis comments are stored as UTF-8, and are converted to the character
2492 set specified by the "Charset" option.
2493
2495 Copyright 2003-2021, Phil Harvey
2496 This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
2498 under the same terms as Perl itself.
2499
2501 Many people have helped in the development of ExifTool through their
2502 bug reports, comments and suggestions, and/or additions to the code.
2503 See the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS in the individual Image::ExifTool modules and
2504 in html/index.html of the Image::ExifTool distribution package for a
2505 list of people who have contributed to this project.
2506
2508 exiftool(1), Image::ExifTool::TagNames(3pm),
2509 Image::ExifTool::Shortcuts(3pm), Image::ExifTool::Shift(3pm),
2510 Image::Info(3pm), Image::MetaData::JPEG(3pm)
2511perl v5.34.0 2022-01-25 Image::ExifTool(3)