ExifTool – Free Metadata Reader, Writer & Editor

ExifTool is used to read, write, edit and remove metadata stored inside files. Photographers use it to check camera settings and timestamps, privacy-conscious users use it to strip GPS coordinates, archivists use it to keep descriptive information consistent, and developers call it from scripts to process metadata automatically across thousands of files.

Yes. ExifTool is free and open-source software developed by Phil Harvey. There is no paid version, licence key or subscription, and you can use it for personal or professional work. It is distributed under the same terms as Perl itself.

Choose the package for your operating system. Keep a backup of your files before changing metadata.

ExifTool is updated frequently, so any version number written on a web page can go out of date quickly. After installing, run exiftool -ver in a terminal to see the exact version you have, and check the official project at the ExifTool documentation for the most recent release notes.

Yes. ExifTool runs on current Windows versions, including Windows 10 and Windows 11. You can run the Perl distribution with a Perl interpreter installed, or use the standalone Windows executable package published by the developer at the ExifTool documentation.

Yes. On macOS you can run ExifTool directly from the extracted distribution in Terminal, copy it to a folder in your PATH such as /usr/local/bin, use the developer's macOS installer package, or install it with Homebrew using brew install exiftool.

Most Linux distributions package ExifTool. On Debian, Ubuntu and Kali use sudo apt install libimage-exiftool-perl, on Fedora use sudo dnf install perl-Image-ExifTool, and on Arch use sudo pacman -S perl-image-exiftool. You can also run the Perl distribution from the downloaded ZIP.

ExifTool is written in Perl, so the Perl distribution needs a Perl interpreter. Linux and macOS normally include Perl already. On Windows you can install a Perl interpreter, or use the standalone Windows package, which bundles what it needs to run without a separate Perl installation.

You run ExifTool from the command line with a file name and optional options. It parses the file structure, finds the metadata blocks it recognises, such as EXIF, IPTC or XMP, translates them into readable tag names and values, and, when you ask it to, rewrites supported tags while preserving the rest of the file.

ExifTool is a long-established open-source project whose source code is publicly available. Download it from a trusted source, such as the project's own repository used by this site, and keep the default backup behaviour when editing important files so you can always return to the original.

Yes. ExifTool can write and edit many metadata tags in supported image formats, for example Artist, Copyright, Description, keywords and date fields. A typical command looks like exiftool -Artist="Your Name" photo.jpg. Writing support depends on the file format and tag.

Run exiftool -all= image.jpg to remove all writable metadata from a file. ExifTool keeps a backup copy with _original added to the file name unless you add -overwrite_original. To remove only EXIF data, use exiftool -exif:all= image.jpg.

Yes. Use exiftool -gps:all image.jpg to display GPS tags and exiftool -gps:all= image.jpg to delete them. The -geotag= option removes GPS information from both EXIF and XMP locations, which is useful before sharing photos online.

ExifTool reads metadata from a wide range of RAW camera formats, including CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, ORF, RAF, RW2 and DNG, and can write to many of them. Because RAW formats differ by manufacturer, check the official supported file types table for the write status of a specific format.

Yes. ExifTool reads PDF document information such as Title, Author, Creator, Producer, creation date and XMP metadata, and can edit supported PDF metadata fields. Run exiftool document.pdf to see what a file contains.

Yes. ExifTool reads metadata from many video and audio formats, including MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV, MP3, FLAC, WAV and others. Writing is supported for some containers, such as MP4 and MOV, while other formats are read-only.

Yes. You can pass several file names, wildcards or whole folders in one command, and add -r to process subfolders recursively. Options such as -ext jpg limit processing to specific file types, which makes batch work fast and predictable.

Yes. You do not need to program to use ExifTool. A handful of simple commands, such as exiftool photo.jpg to read metadata or exiftool -all= photo.jpg to remove it, cover most everyday needs. Separate third-party graphical front ends also exist for people who prefer a visual interface.

Yes. ExifTool runs entirely on your own computer. Reading, writing and removing metadata are local operations, so your files are never uploaded anywhere. You only need an internet connection to download the software or check for updates.

Official releases, version history and documentation are published by the developer at the ExifTool documentation, and the source code is mirrored in the project's source repository. Package managers on Linux and Homebrew on macOS also deliver updated builds.