EXIV2

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: May 9, 2015
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NAME

exiv2 - Image metadata manipulation tool  

SYNOPSIS

exiv2 [options] [action] file ...
 

DESCRIPTION

exiv2 is a program to read and write Exif, IPTC, XMP metadata and image comments and can read many vendor makernote tags. The program optionally converts between Exif tags, XMP properties and IPTC datasets as recommended by the Exif Standard, the IPTC Standard, the XMP specification and Metadata Working Group guidelines.
The following image formats are supported:

Type	Exif	IPTC	XMP	Image comments
EXV	Read/Write	Read/Write	Read/Write	Read/Write
CR2	Read/Write	Read/Write	Read/Write	-
CRW	Read/Write	-	-	Read/Write
MRW	Read	Read	Read	-
TIFF	Read/Write	Read/Write	Read/Write	-
DNG	Read/Write	Read/Write	Read/Write	-
NEF	Read/Write	Read/Write	Read/Write	-
PEF	Read/Write	Read/Write	Read/Write	-
ARW	Read	Read	Read	-
RW2	Read	Read	Read	-
SR2	Read	Read	Read	-
SRW	Read/Write	Read/Write	Read/Write	-
ORF	Read/Write	Read/Write	Read/Write	-
PNG	Read/Write	Read/Write	Read/Write	Read/Write
PGF	Read/Write	Read/Write	Read/Write	Read/Write
RAF	Read	Read	Read	-
EPS	-	-	Read/Write	-
XMP	-	-	Read/Write	-
GIF	-	-	-	-
PSD	Read/Write	Read/Write	Read/Write	-
TGA	-	-	-	-
BMP	-	-	-	-
JP2	Read/Write	Read/Write	Read/Write	-

*

Support for GIF, TGA and BMP images is minimal: the image format is recognized, a MIME type assigned to it and the height and width of the image are determined.

*

Reading other TIFF-like RAW image formats, which are not listed in the table, may also work.

 

ACTIONS

The action argument is only required if it is not clear from the options which action is implied.

pr | print

Print image metadata. This is the default action, i.e., the command exiv2 image.jpg will print a summary of the image Exif metadata.

ex | extract

Extract metadata to *.exv, XMP sidecar (*.xmp) and thumbnail image files. Modification commands can be applied on-the-fly.

in | insert

Insert metadata from corresponding *.exv, XMP sidecar (*.xmp) and thumbnail files. Use option -S .suf to change the suffix of the input files. Since files of any supported format can be used as input files, this command can be used to copy the metadata between files of different formats. Modification commands can be applied on-the-fly.

rm | delete

Delete image metadata from the files.

ad | adjust

Adjust Exif timestamps by the given time. Requires at least one of the options -a time, -Y yrs, -O mon or -D day.

mo | modify

Apply commands to modify (add, set, delete) the Exif, IPTC and XMP metadata of image files. Requires option -c, -m or -M.

mv | rename

Rename files and/or set file timestamps according to the Exif create timestamp. Uses the value of tag Exif.Photo.DateTimeOriginal or, if not present, Exif.Image.DateTime to determine the timestamp. The filename format can be set with -r fmt, timestamp options are -t and -T.

fi | fixiso

Copy the ISO setting from one of the proprietary Nikon or Canon makernote ISO tags to the regular Exif ISO tag, Exif.Photo.ISOSpeedRatings. Does not overwrite an existing standard Exif ISO tag.

fc | fixcom

Fix the character encoding of Exif Unicode user comments. Decodes the comment using the auto-detected or specified character encoding and writes it back in UCS-2. Use option -n to specify the current encoding of the comment if necessary.

 

COMMAND SUMMARY

exiv2 [ opt [arg] ]+ [ act ] file ...

option [arg]    long option     description
-a      tim     --adjust        Modify time stamps.  [+|-]HH[:MM[:SS[.mmm]]]
-b              --binary        Show large binary values (default is to suppress them).
-c      txt     --comment       JPEG comment string to set in the image ('modify' action).  ...
-d      tgt     --delete        Delete target(s) for the 'delete' action. ...
-D      +-n     --days  Time  adjustment by a positive or negative number of days ...
-e      tgt     --extract       Extract target(s) for the 'extract' action.
-f              --force Do not prompt before overwriting existing  files ...
-F              --Force Do not prompt before renaming files (Force rename) ...
-g      key     --grep  Only output info for this Exiv2 key (grep).
-h              --help  Display help and exit.
-i      tgt     --insert        Insert target(s) for the 'insert' action. ...
-k              --keep  Preserve file timestamps when updating files (keep)
-K      Key     --key   Report key.  Similar to -g (grep) however key must match exactly.
-l      dir     --location      Location (directory) for files to be inserted or extracted.
-m      file    --modify        read commands from cmd-file
-M      cmd     --Modify        Command line for the 'modify' action. ...
-n      enc     --encode        Charset to decode Exif Unicode user comments. See: man 3 iconv_open
-O      +-n     --months        Time adjustment by a positive or negative number of months, ...
-p      mod     --print Print report (common reports)
-P      flg     --Print Print report (fine grained control)
-q              --quiet Silence warnings and error messages from the Exiv2 library ...
-Q      lvl     --log   Set the log-level to 'd'(ebug), 'i'(nfo), 'w'(arning), 'e'(rror)
-r      fmt     --rename        Filename format for the 'rename' action. ...
-S      suf     --suffix        Use suffix .suf for source files for insert command.
-t              --timestamp     Set the file timestamp according to the Exif create timestamp ...
-T              --Timestamp     Only set the file timestamp according to Exif create timestamp ...
-u              --unknown       Show unknown tags ...
-v              --verbose       verbose
-V              --version       Show the program version and exit.
-Y      +-n     --years Time adjustment by a positive or negative number of years ...

act             pr | ex | in | rm | ad | mo | mv | fi | fc
                print, extract, insert, delete, adjust, modify, rename, fixiso,fixcom

cmd             See "Commands" below.

flg             E | I | X | x | g | k | l | n | y | c | s | v | t | h
                Exif , IPTC, XMP, num, grp, key, label, name , type, count, size, vanilla, translated, hex

fmt             Default format is %Y%m%d_%H%M%S.

lvl             d | i | i | w | e
                debug, info, warning, error

mod             s | a | t | v | h | i | x | c | p | i | S | X :
                summary, add, translated, vanilla, hex ...
                iptc ,xmp, comment, preview, Structure,XMP raw

tgt             a | c | e | i | t | x
                all, comment, exif, iptc, thumb, xmp

 

OPTIONS

-h

Display help and exit.

-V

Show the program version and exit.
When -V is combined with -v (Verbose version), build information is printed to standard output along with a list of shared libraries which have been loaded into memory. Verbose version is supported on Windows (MSVC, Cygwin and MinGW builds), MacOSX and Linux and is provided for test and debugging.

-v

Be verbose during the program run.

-q

Silence warnings and error messages from the Exiv2 library during the program run (quiet). Note that options -v and -q can be used at the same time.

-Q lvl

Set the log-level to 'd'(ebug), 'i'(nfo), 'w'(arning), 'e'(rror) or 'm'(ute). The default log-level is 'w'. -Qm is equivalent to -q. All log messages are written to standard error.

-b

Show large binary values (default is to suppress them).

-u

Show unknown tags (default is to suppress tags which don't have a name).

-g key

Only keys which match the given key (grep).
Multiple -g options can be used to grep info for several keys. This option uses the system regular expression engine: see man 3 regex. Platforms which do not support regex use key for a substring match. You can determine the availability of regex using the command: exiv2 -v -V -g have_regex

exiv2 -g Date -pt R.jpg
Exif.Image.DateTime           Ascii      20  2012:08:07 16:01:05
Exif.Photo.DateTimeOriginal   Ascii      20  2011:09:18 16:25:48
Exif.Photo.DateTimeDigitized  Ascii      20  2011:09:18 16:25:48

-K key

Only report data for given key.
Multiple -K options can be used to report more than a single key.

exiv2 -K Exif.Photo.DateTimeDigitized -K Exif.Photo.DateTimeOriginal -pt R.jpg
Exif.Photo.DateTimeOriginal   Ascii      20  2011:09:18 16:25:48
Exif.Photo.DateTimeDigitized  Ascii      20  2011:09:18 16:25:48

-n enc

Charset to use to decode Exif Unicode user comments. enc is a name understood by iconv_open(3), e.g., 'UTF-8'.

-k

Preserve file timestamps when updating files (keep). Can be used with all options which update files. The flag is ignored by read-only options.

-t

Set the file timestamp according to the Exif create timestamp in addition to renaming the file (overrides -k). This option is only used with the 'rename' action.

-T

Only set the file timestamp according to the Exif create timestamp, do not rename the file (overrides -k). This option is only used with the 'rename' action. Note: On Windows you may have to set the TZ environment variable for this option to work correctly.

-f

Do not prompt before overwriting existing files (force overwrite).

-F

Do not prompt before renaming files (Force rename). Appends '_1' ('_2', ...) to the name of the new file.

-a time

Time adjustment in the format [-]HH[:MM[:SS]]. This option is only used with the 'adjust' action. Examples: 1 adds one hour, 1:01 adds one hour and one minute, -0:00:30 subtracts 30 seconds.

-Y yrs

Time adjustment by a positive or negative number of years, for the 'adjust' action.

-O mon

Time adjustment by a positive or negative number of months, for the 'adjust' action.

-D day

Time adjustment by a positive or negative number of days, for the 'adjust' action.

-p mode

Print mode for the 'print' action. Possible modes are:
s : print a summary of the Exif metadata (the default)
a : print Exif, IPTC and XMP metadata (shortcut for -Pkyct)
t : interpreted (translated) Exif tags (-PEkyct)
v : plain Exif tag values (-PExgnycv)
h : hexdump of the Exif data (-PExgnycsh)
i : IPTC datasets (-PIkyct)
x : XMP properties (-PXkyct)
c : JPEG comment
p : list available image previews, sorted by preview image size in pixels
S : print image structure information (jpg, png and tiff only)
X : print "raw" XMP (jpg, png and tiff only)

-P flgs

Print flags for fine control of the tag list ('print' action). Allows control of the type of metadata as well as data columns included in the print output. Valid flags are:
E : include Exif tags in the list
I : IPTC datasets
X : XMP properties
x : print a column with the tag number
g : group name
k : key
l : tag label
n : tag name
y : type
c : number of components (count)
s : size in bytes
v : plain data value
t : interpreted (translated) data
h : hexdump of the data

-d tgt

Delete target(s) for the 'delete' action. Possible targets are:
a : all supported metadata (the default)
e : Exif section
t : Exif thumbnail only
i : IPTC data
x : XMP packet
c : JPEG comment

-i tgt

Insert target(s) for the 'insert' action. Possible targets are the same as those for the -d option, plus an optional modifier:

X : Insert metadata from an XMP sidecar file <file>.xmp. The remaining insert targets determine what metadata to insert from the sidecar file. Possible are Exif, IPTC and XMP and the default is all of these. Note that the inserted XMP properties include those converted to Exif and IPTC.
This is option is intended for "filter" operations on the XMP such as:
$ exiv2 -e{tgt}- filename | xmllint .... | exiv2 -i{tgt}- filename

Only JPEG thumbnails can be inserted (not TIFF thumbnails), they need to be named file-thumb.jpg.

-e tgt

Extract target(s) for the 'extract' action. Possible targets are the same as those for the -d option, plus a target to extract preview images and a modifier to generate an XMP sidecar file:
p[<n>[,<m> ...]] : Extract preview images. The optional comma separated list of preview image numbers is used to determine which preview images to extract. The available preview images and their numbers are displayed with the 'print' option -pp.

X : Extract metadata to an XMP sidecar file <file>.xmp. The remaining extract targets determine what metadata to extract to the sidecar file. Possible are Exif, IPTC and XMP and the default is all of these.

- : Output sidecar file to stdout (see -i tgt for example)

-r fmt

Filename format for the 'rename' action. The format string follows strftime(3) and supports the following keywords:
:basename: - original filename without extension
:dirname: - name of the directory holding the original file
:parentname: - name of parent directory
Default filename format is %Y%m%d_%H%M%S.

-c txt

JPEG comment string to set in the image ('modify' action). This option can also be used with the 'extract' and 'insert' actions to modify metadata on-the-fly.

-m file

Command file for the 'modify' action. This option can also be used with the 'extract' and 'insert' actions to modify metadata on-the-fly.

-M cmd

Command line for the 'modify' action. This option can also be used with the 'extract' and 'insert' actions to modify metadata on-the-fly. The format for the commands is the same as that of the lines of a command file.

-l dir

Location (directory) for files to be inserted or extracted.

-S .suf

Use suffix .suf for source files in 'insert' action.

 

COMMANDS

Commands for the 'modify' action can be read from a command file, e.g.,

   exiv2 -m cmd.txt image.jpg

or given on the command line, as in

   exiv2 -M"add Iptc.Application2.Credit String Mr. Smith" image.jpg

Note the quotes. Multiple -m and -M options can be combined, and a non-standard XMP namespace registered.

   exiv2 -M"reg myprefix http://ns.myprefix.me/" -M"add Xmp.myprefix.Whom Mr. Smith" -M"set Exif.Image.Artist Mr. Smith" image.jpg

When writing Exif, IPTC and XMP metadata, exiv2 enforces only a correct metadata structure. It is possible to write tags with types and values different from those specified in the standards, duplicate Exif tags, undefined tags, or incomplete metadata. While exiv2 is able to read all metadata that it can write, other programs may have difficulties with images that contain non standard-conforming metadata.  

Command format

The format of a command is

set | add | del key [[type] value]

set

Set the value of an existing tag with a matching key or add the tag.

add

Add a tag (unless key is a non-repeatable IPTC key; nothing prevents you from adding duplicate Exif tags).

del

Delete all occurrences of a tag (requires only a key).

key

Exiv2 Exif, IPTC or XMP key.

type

Byte | Ascii | Short | Long | Rational | Undefined | SShort | SLong | SRational | Comment for Exif keys,
String | Date | Time | Short | Undefined for IPTC keys, and
XmpText | XmpAlt | XmpBag | XmpSeq | LangAlt for XMP keys.

A default type is used if none is explicitly given. The default is determined based on key.

value

The remaining text on the line is the value. It can optionally be enclosed in single quotes ('value') or double quotes ("value").

The value is optional. Not providing any value is equivalent to an empty value ("") and is mainly useful to create an XMP array property, e.g., a bag.

The format of Exif Comment values includes an optional charset specification at the beginning:
[charset=Ascii|Jis|Unicode|Undefined ]comment

Undefined is used by default if the value doesn't start with a charset definition.

The format for an IPTC Date value is:

    YYYY-MM-DD (year, month, day)

The format for an IPTC Time value is:

    HH:MM:SS (hours, minutes, seconds)
and may optionally be followed by:

   -HH:MM or +HH:MM (hours, minutes ahead/behind UTC)

The format of Rational (and SRational) is one of:

    integer

    integer-numerator/integer-denominator

    Fnumber

    fnumber

Rational Examples:

    exiv2 "-Mset Exif.Photo.MaxApertureValue 557429/62500" X.jpg

    exiv2 "-Mset Exif.Photo.MaxApertureValue F5.6" X.jpg

The Rational format Fnumber (or fnumber) is for the convenience of setting aperture values. Aperture values are stored in Exif is an APEX value which can be evaluated by the expression:

    apex-value  =    log(Fnumber) * 2.0 / log(2.0)

    Fnumber     = exp(apex-value * log(2.0) / 2.0)

The Rational format Fnumber is valid for any Rational, even when the key is not an Aperture. More information about APEX value is available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APEX_system

The format of XMP LangAlt values includes an optional language qualifier:
lang=language-code text

lang="x-default" is used if the value doesn't start with a language qualifier.

    exiv2 -M'set Xmp.dc.title lang="de-DE" Euros' X.jpg

    exiv2 -M'set Xmp.dc.title lang="en-GB" Pounds' X.jpg

    exiv2 -M'set Xmp.dc.title lang="en-US" In God We Trust' X.jpg

    exiv2 -M'set Xmp.dc.title All others pay cash' X.jpg

To remove a language specification, set the value to '' (empty string)

    exiv2 -M'set Xmp.dc.title lang="en-US"' X.jpg

To remove all language specifications, delete the key:

    exiv2 -M'del Xmp.dc.title' X.jpg

To register additional XMP namespaces, combine the command with:

reg prefix namespace

 

Command file format

Empty lines and lines starting with # in a command file are ignored (comments). Remaining lines are commands as described above.  

EXAMPLES

exiv2 *.jpg

Prints a summary of the Exif information for all JPEG files in the directory.

exiv2 -pi image.jpg

Prints the IPTC metadata of the image.

exiv2 rename img_1234.jpg

Renames img_1234.jpg (taken on 13-Nov-05 at 22:58:31) to 20051113_225831.jpg

exiv2 -r':basename:_%Y%m' rename img_1234.jpg

Renames img_1234.jpg to img_1234_200511.jpg

exiv2 -et img1.jpg img2.jpg

Extracts the Exif thumbnails from the two files into img1-thumb.jpg and img2-thumb.jpg.

exiv2 -it img1.jpg img2.jpg

Inserts (copies) metadata from img1.exv to img1.jpg and from img2.exv to img2.jpg.

exiv2 -ep1,2 image.jpg

Extracts previews 1 and 2 from the image to the files image-preview1.jpg and image-preview2.jpg.

exiv2 -eiX image.jpg

Extracts IPTC datasets into an XMP sidecar file image.xmp and in the process converts them to "IPTC Core" XMP schema.

exiv2 -iixX image.jpg

Inserts IPTC and XMP metadata from an XMP sidecar file image.xmp into image.jpg. The resulting IPTC datasets are converted from the "IPTC Core" XMP schema properties in the sidecar file to the older IPTC IIM4 format. The inserted XMP properties include those in the "IPTC Core" XMP schema.

exiv2 -M"set Exif.Photo.UserComment charset=Ascii New Exif comment" image.jpg

Sets the Exif comment to an ASCII string.

exiv2 -M"set Exif.GPSInfo.GPSLatitude 4/1 15/1 33/1" \
-M"set Exif.GPSInfo.GPSLatitudeRef N" image.jpg

Sets the latitude to 4 degrees, 15 minutes and 33 seconds north. The Exif standard stipulates that the GPSLatitude tag consists of three Rational numbers for the degrees, minutes and seconds of the latitude and GPSLatitudeRef contains either 'N' or 'S' for north or south latitude respectively.

exiv2 insert -l/tmp -S.CRW /data/*.JPG

Copy all metadata from CRW files in the /tmp directory to JPG files with corresponding basenames in the /data directory. Note that this copies metadata as is, without any modifications to adapt it to the requirements of the target format. Some tags copied like this may not make sense in the target image.

 

SEE ALSO

http://www.exiv2.org/sample.html#modify

Sample command files.

http://www.exiv2.org/metadata.html

Taglists with key and default type values.

 

AUTHORS

exiv2 was written by Andreas Huggel and others. The Exiv2 project web site is http://exiv2.org

This manual page was originally created for the Debian project by KELEMEN Peter <fuji@debian.org>.

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Index

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

ACTIONS

COMMAND SUMMARY

OPTIONS

COMMANDS

Command format

Command file format

EXAMPLES

SEE ALSO

AUTHORS