Image metadata library Exiv2

Image metadata library and tools

Exiv2 Overview(http://www.exiv2.org)

Exiv2 is a C++ library and a command line utilityto manage image metadata.It provides fast and easy read and write access to the Exif, IPTC and XMP metadata of images in various formats.Exiv2 is available as free software and with a commercial license, and isused in many projects.

The Exiv2 library provides

• fast read and write access to the Exif, IPTC, and XMP metadata of an image
• an easy to use and extensively documented API
• conversions of Exif and IPTC metadata to XMP and vice versa
• a smart IPTC implementation that does not affect data that programs like Photoshop store in the same image segment
• Exif Makernote support:
  • Makernote tags can be read and written just like any other metadata
  • a sophisticated write algorithm avoids corrupting the Makernote
• a simple interface to extract previews embedded in RAW images and Exif thumbnails
• set and delete methods for Exif thumbnails

Examples: read Exif; add, modify, delete Exif; read IPTC; set IPTC; set XMP

Exiv2 is also a command line utility to

• print Exif, IPTC and XMP image metadata in different formats: Exif summary info, interpreted values, or the plain data for each tag (a sample is here)
• set, add and delete Exif, IPTC and XMP image metadata from command line modify commands or command scripts
• adjust the Exif timestamp (that's how it all started...)
• rename Exif image files according to the Exif timestamp
• extract, insert and delete Exif, IPTC and XMP metadata and JPEG comments
• extract previews from RAW images and thumbnails from the Exif metadata
• insert and delete the thumbnail image embedded in the Exif metadata
• print, set and delete the JPEG comment of JPEG images
• fix the Exif ISO setting of picture taken with Canon and Nikon cameras

Future plans include

• a unified metadata container
• support for additional image formats
• more Makernotes

The roadmap has details for the upcoming version.