How to extract metadata from a image using python?

Question

How can I extract metadata from an image using Python?

Answer 1

Use Pillow, it's a fork of PIL that is still in active development, and supports python3. Here I use a dict generator to map the exif data to a dict

from PIL import Image, ExifTags img = Image.open("/path/to/file.jpg") exif = { ExifTags.TAGS[k]: v for k, v in img._getexif().items() if k in ExifTags.TAGS } 

Answer 2

There is couple of ways by which you can get the data from the file.

1. using Exif tool :

for Windows and mac: it is available at ExifTool for linux : You can install ExifTool on Ubuntu using the apt utility sudo apt install libimage-exiftool-perl

You can now run ExifTool anywhere in your terminal by typing exiftool. This is recommended approach to get the meta data as it gives more tags than any other way. It is a command line tool and to use it in Python user have to create a subprocess and pass the tool and image file path as an argument. Please refer the below code snippet to get the meta data using exif tool. (

infoDict = {} #Creating the dict to get the metadata tags exifToolPath = 'D:/ExifTool/exifTool.exe' #for Windows user have to specify the Exif tool exe path for metadata extraction.  #For mac and linux user it is just   """exifToolPath = exiftool""" imgPath = 'D:/Images/12.jpg'  ''' use Exif tool to get the metadata ''' process = subprocess.Popen([exifToolPath,imgPath],stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT,universal_newlines=True)  ''' get the tags in dict ''' for tag in process.stdout:     line = tag.strip().split(':')     infoDict[line[0].strip()] = line[-1].strip()  for k,v in infoDict.items():     print(k,':', v) 

Metadata Result for below image:

Full Tag list is here:

""" ExifTool Version Number : 11.63 File Name : imgMeta.jpg Directory : /Projects/ImageMetaData/Images File Size : 32 kB File Modification Date/Time : 30 File Access Date/Time : 30 File Creation Date/Time : 30 File Permissions : rw-rw-rw- File Type : JPEG File Type Extension : jpg MIME Type : image/jpeg JFIF Version : 1.01 Exif Byte Order : Little-endian (Intel, II) Make : Canon Camera Model Name : Canon PowerShot S40 Orientation : Horizontal (normal) X Resolution : 180 Y Resolution : 180 Resolution Unit : inches Modify Date : 44 Y Cb Cr Positioning : Centered Exposure Time : 1/500 F Number : 4.9 Exif Version : 0220 Date/Time Original : 44 Create Date : 44 Components Configuration : Y, Cb, Cr, - Compressed Bits Per Pixel : 5 Shutter Speed Value : 1/501 Aperture Value : 5.0 Max Aperture Value : 2.8 Flash : Auto, Did not fire Focal Length : 103.7 mm) Macro Mode : Normal Self Timer : Off Quality : Superfine Canon Flash Mode : Auto Continuous Drive : Single Focus Mode : Single Record Mode : JPEG Canon Image Size : Large Easy Mode : Manual Digital Zoom : None Contrast : Normal Saturation : Normal Sharpness : 0 Camera ISO : 100 Metering Mode : Center-weighted average Focus Range : Auto AF Point : Center Canon Exposure Mode : Program AE Lens Type : n/a Max Focal Length : 21.3125 mm Min Focal Length : 7.09375 mm Focal Units : 32/mm Max Aperture : 5 Min Aperture : 8 Flash Activity : 0 Flash Bits : (none) Focus Continuous : Single AE Setting : Normal AE Display Aperture : 4.9 Zoom Source Width : 2272 Zoom Target Width : 2272 Spot Metering Mode : AF Point Focal Type : Zoom Focal Plane X Size : 7.26 mm Focal Plane Y Size : 5.46 mm Auto ISO : 100 Base ISO : 100 Measured EV : 13.63 Target Aperture : 5 Target Exposure Time : 1/501 Exposure Compensation : 0 White Balance : Auto Slow Shutter : Off Shot Number In Continuous Burst : 0 Optical Zoom Code : 6 Flash Guide Number : 0 AF Points In Focus : Center Flash Exposure Compensation : 0 Auto Exposure Bracketing : Off AEB Bracket Value : 0 Control Mode : Camera Local Control Focus Distance Upper : 7.82 m Focus Distance Lower : 0 m Bulb Duration : 0 Camera Type : Compact Canon Image Type : PowerShot S40 JPEG Canon Firmware Version : Firmware Version 1.10 File Number : 117-1771 Owner Name : Andreas Huggel Canon Model ID : PowerShot S40 User Comment :  Flashpix Version : 0100 Color Space : sRGB Exif Image Width : 2272 Exif Image Height : 1704 Interoperability Index : R98 - DCF basic file (sRGB) Interoperability Version : 0100 Related Image Width : 2272 Related Image Height : 1704 Focal Plane X Resolution : 8114.285714 Focal Plane Y Resolution : 8114.285714 Focal Plane Resolution Unit : inches Sensing Method : One-chip color area File Source : Digital Camera Custom Rendered : Normal Exposure Mode : Auto Digital Zoom Ratio : 1 Scene Capture Type : Standard Compression : JPEG (old-style) Thumbnail Offset : 2066 Thumbnail Length : 5448 Image Width : 480 Image Height : 360 Encoding Process : Baseline DCT, Huffman coding Bits Per Sample : 8 Color Components : 3 Y Cb Cr Sub Sampling : 0 (2 2) Drive Mode : Single-frame Shooting ISO : 100 Lens : 34.5 - 103.7 mm) Shooting Mode : Program AE Aperture : 4.9 Image Size : 480x360 Lens ID : Unknown 7-21mm Megapixels : 0.173 Scale Factor To 35 mm Equivalent : 4.9 Shutter Speed : 1/500 Thumbnail Image : (Binary data 5448 bytes, use -b option to extract) Circle Of Confusion : 0.006 mm Depth Of Field : 2.17 m (3.11 - 5.28 m) Field Of View : 19.7 deg Hyperfocal Distance : 15.02 m Light Value : 13.6 """ 

2. using PIL package :

Refer any of the other post for this method. However the drawback of using this method is it doesn't works with all the images.

3. using hachoir package : Similar to exif tool, it is also a command line tool except that it's a python package
and user can install it using pip install hachoir. It can give metadata for most of the file formats but gives less information than Exif tool.

imgPath = 'D:/Images/12.jpg' exeProcess = "hachoir-metadata" process = subprocess.Popen([exeProcess,imgPath],                                            stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT,                                            universal_newlines=True)  for tag in process.stdout:         line = tag.strip().split(':')         infoDict[line[0].strip()] = line[-1].strip()  for k,v in infoDict.items():     print(k,':', v)  """for same image : only 31 tags are identified by hachoir Method however Exif method is giving 131 tags """ 

Full tag list extracted by hachoir is below :

""" Metadata :  Image width : 480 pixels Image height : 360 pixels Image orientation : Horizontal (normal) Bits/pixel : 24 Pixel format : YCbCr Image DPI width : 72 DPI Image DPI height : 72 DPI Creation date : 44 Camera aperture : 2.97 Camera focal : 4.9 Camera exposure : 1/500 Camera model : Canon PowerShot S40 Camera manufacturer : Canon Compression : JPEG (Baseline) Thumbnail size : 5448 bytes EXIF version : 0220 Date-time original : 44 Date-time digitized : 44 Compressed bits per pixel : 5 Shutter speed : 8.97 Aperture : 4.66 Exposure bias : 0 Focal length : 21.3 Flashpix version : 0100 Focal plane width : 8.11e+03 Focal plane height : 8.11e+03 Comment : 75% Format version : JFIF 1.01 MIME type : image/jpeg Endianness : Big endian """ 

Answer 3

You can extract metadata with PIL Exif library for Python :

from PIL import Image
from PIL.ExifTags import TAGS

After you can pass the image file path to open the image and read data of corresponding exif tags :

# path to the image or video
imagename = "IMG_20220306_095310.jpg"

# read the image data using PIL
image = Image.open(imagename)

# extract EXIF data
exifdata = image.getexif()

# iterating over all EXIF data fields
for tag_id in exifdata:
    # get the tag name, instead of human unreadable tag id
    tag = TAGS.get(tag_id, tag_id)
    data = exifdata.get(tag_id)
    print(f"{tag:25}: {data}")