How to read JPEG file attributes with Java?

Question

I want to read information from an image (jpg) which has some extra information included from a digital camera like creation date, focus, flash on off, ... How can I get this information.

My first idea was.

BufferedImage image = ImageIO.read(filePicture);
if (image().getPropertyNames() != null) {
    for (int j = 0; j < image().getPropertyNames().length; j++) {
        String key = image().getPropertyNames()[j];
        String value = (String) image().getProperty(key);
        System.out.println(key + ": " + value);
    }
}

But the getPropertyNames() returns null!

Answer 1

Another simple option is to use metadata-extractor:

Metadata metadata = ImageMetadataReader.readMetadata(imagePath);

To iterate all values in the file:

for (Directory directory : metadata.getDirectories()) {
    for (Tag tag : directory.getTags()) {
        System.out.println(tag);
    }
}

You can also read specific values from specific directories:

// obtain the Exif SubIFD directory
ExifSubIFDDirectory directory 
    = metadata.getFirstDirectoryOfType(ExifSubIFDDirectory.class);

// query the datetime tag's value
Date date = directory.getDate(ExifSubIFDDirectory.TAG_DATETIME_ORIGINAL);

The library is available for Maven users too.

(Full disclosure: I am the author of this library)