Comparison of metadata editors
This article presents a comparison of digital image metadata viewers and metadata editors.
A metadata editor is a computer program that allows users to view and edit metadata tags interactively on the computer screen and save them in the graphics file. Usually a metadata viewer is preferred over a metadata editor for viewing tags.
A number of metadata editors for various platforms exist. Users choose among them based on factors such as the availability for the user's platform, the feature set and usability of the user interface (UI).
The Metadata Working Group (MWG) is a consortium of leading companies in the digital media industry.[1] The MWG publishes technical specifications that describe how to effectively store metadata into digital media files. These royalty-free specifications are made available to software developers, manufacturers and service providers so that they may create products that use metadata in a consistent way, and that allow consumers to better describe, organize and find their media. Where possible, these specifications rely on existing standards, and aim to create a unified and cohesive approach to applying these standards.[2]
Features
| Software | Platform | License | Latest version | Last release year | Size (MB) |
Description | Number (*1) |
Supported metadata standards (*2) |
Supported file formats (*3) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exif | GPS | IPTC | XMP | Maker | Other | JPG | TIF | RAW | Other | ||||||||
| Auto ISO Tool | Windows | Freeware | 2007 | 0.2 | GUI for ExifTool to patch Canon ISO information. | 0 | W | - | - | - | R | - | Yes | - | - | - | |
| AvPicFaceXmpTagger | Windows Linux |
Freeware | 1.7 | 2010 | 3.7 | Write Picasa face recognition information as XMP to your images. | 0 | - | - | - | RW | - | - | Yes | - | - | - |
| Daminion | Windows | Freeware and Shareware | 3.7 | 2015 | 41,6 | A tool that can update EXIF/IPTC/XMP/ID3/Office metadata in images, video, audio, Office documents, Camera RAW images and vector images. Uses ExifTool and own metadata handling libraries. | >70 | REW | REW | REW | REW | R | REW | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| DBGallery | Windows | Shareware | 6.8 | 2014 | 63 | Image management software which can update IPTC and XMP metadata in images, video, and audio. Uses Adobe's XMP Toolkit to read/write metadata. | 32 | R | REW | REW | REW | - | - | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Description Explorer | Windows | Freeware | 0.5.2 | 2009 | 10.7 | Collection of tools for XMP metadata. | 15 | - | - | - | EW | - | - | Yes | - | - | - |
| Easy Exif Delete | Windows | Freeware | 1.0 | 2010 | 0.8 | Clean any Exif unwanted data from your digital pictures. | 0 | D | D | - | - | - | -i | Yes | - | - | - |
| EXIF-O-Matic | Windows MacOS Linux |
Freeware | 1.2 | 2012 | 0.2 | View Exif tags. | 0 | R | R | - | - | - | - | Yes | - | - | - |
| ExifAuto | Windows | Freeware | 2.2 | 2007 | 0.4 | GUI front-end for ExifTool to perform simple operations. | 5 | EW | - | - | - | - | - | Yes | Yes | - | - |
| EXIF Browser | Windows | Freeware | 0.9 | 2007 | 0.9 | Extract Exif information from image files. | 0 | R | R | - | - | - | - | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Exif Copier | Windows | Freeware | 0.9 | 2010 | 5.0 | Copy metadata between sets of multiple images using ExifTool. | 0 | W | W | W | W | W | W | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ExifCleaner | Windows | Shareware | 1.6 | 2011 | 1.2 | Lets you to erase/remove photographic metadata. | 0 | D | D | D | D | D | D | Yes | - | - | - |
| EXIF Date Changer | Windows | Shareware | 3.1 | 2013 | 3.7 | Allows you change the time and date information stored in the metadata of your photos. | 7 | EW | - | EW | - | - | - | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ExifDropper | Windows | Freeware | 0.9 | 2009 | 0.1 | Graphical front-end for ExifTool with drag-and-drop and command-line parameters. | >200 | EW | EW | EW | EW | EW | EW | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ExifMixer | Windows | Freeware | 0.50 | 2008 | 0.4 | GUI extension for the ExifTool with command-line parameters. | >200 | EW | EW | EW | EW | EW | EW | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Exif Pilot | Windows | Freeware | 4.4 | 2011 | 2.1 | Software for viewing, editing, and creating metadata. | 26 | REW | REW | REW | R | R | R | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Exif Stats | Windows | Freeware | 2006 | 2.0 | Extract some tags using ExifTool. | 0 | R | R | R | R | R | R | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Exif Tag Remover | Windows | Shareware | 4.1 | 2011 | 3.5 | Allows you to easily delete all metadata tags. | 0 | D | D | D | D | D | D | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ExifTool | Windows MacOS Linux |
GPLv1 | 9.58 | 2014 | 3.6 | Powerful command line utility. | >200 | REW | REW | REW | REW | REW | REW | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ExifTool GUI | Windows | Freeware | 5.15 | 2012 | 1.3 | GUI for the ExifTool with some editing features. | 64 | REW | REW | REW | REW | R | R | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| EXIFutils | Windows MacOS Linux |
Shareware | 3.1.4 | 2011 | 3.5 | Set of command line utilities that extract, add, remove, copy, and replace metadata. | >200 | REW | REW | REW | REW | REW | REW | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ExifyMe | Windows | Freeware | 1.0 | 2010 | 3.3 | Restore Exif metadata from an original image. | 0 | W | W | - | - | - | - | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Exiv2 | Windows Linux |
GPL/Proprietary (Dual licensed) | 0.25 | 2015 | 1.6 | Command line utility. | >200 | REW | REW | REW | REW | REW | - | Yes | Yes | Yes | - |
| ExposurePlot | Windows | Freeware | 1.14 | 2009 | 0.6 | Analyze your usage of the focal length of your lenses, ISO, shutter speed and aperture. | 0 | R | - | - | - | - | - | Yes | - | - | - |
| Free EXIF Eraser | Windows | Freeware | 1.1 | 2011 | 0,8 | Allows you to easily and effectively delete entire Exif/IPTC/XMP information from image files. | 0 | D | D | D | D | D | D | Yes | - | - | - |
| GUI2 | Windows | Freeware | 1.3 | 2010 | 15.7 | GUI extension for the ExifTool. | 12 | R | REW | R | R | R | R | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Image Info Toolkit | Windows MacOS |
Shareware | 3.0 | 2012 | 4.9 | Editor for IPTC and XMP metadata. | 36 | R | R | REW | REW | - | - | Yes | Yes | - | Yes |
| ImBatch | Windows | Free for non-commercial use | 3.1 | 2014 | 11.9 | Batch image processing tool | >50 | REW | - | REW | - | - | - | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| IPTC-PLUS Photo Metadata Toolkit | Windows | Freeware | 4 | 2011 | 1.2 | Editor for IPTC and PLUS photo metadata with Adobe CS3 to CS5. | 150 | - | - | REW | REW | - | - | Yes | Yes | - | Yes |
| iTag | Windows | Shareware | 478 | 2011 | 9.1 | A tool that adds title, description and keyword tags to photos. | 10 | - | - | REW | REW | - | - | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| JExifViewer | Windows Linux |
GPL | 1.8 | 2010 | 5.3 | View Exif information stored in JPG files. | 0 | R | R | - | - | - | - | Yes | - | - | - |
| JPEG & PNG Stripper | Windows | Freeware | 1.5.4 | 2012 | 0.1 | A tool for stripping/cleaning/removing unnecessary metadata. | 0 | D | D | D | D | D | D | Yes | - | - | Yes |
| MAT | Linux MacOS |
GPLv2 | 0.5.2 | 2014 | 3.1 | MAT is a toolbox composed of a GUI application, a CLI application and a library, to anonymize/remove metadata | <1 | D | D | D | D | D | D | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| MetadataFox | Windows | Shareware | 1.1 | 2010 | 0.4 | A tool to explore files by their XMP metadata. | 0 | - | - | - | R | - | - | Yes | - | - | Yes |
| MetadataTouch | Windows | Shareware | 5.2 | 2011 | 0.6 | A tool to view and edit IPTC and XMP metadata. | 70 | - | - | EW | EW | - | - | Yes | - | - | Yes |
| MetaEditor | Windows | Freeware | 3.2.6.0 | 2011 | 6.3 | Allows you read and edit metadata within your digital photos. | >200 | REW | REW | REW | REW | - | - | Yes | Yes | - | - |
| MetaLith | Windows | Shareware | 6.00 | 2014 | 12.2 | Allows you read, analyze and edit metadata. The main feature of the program is the ability to simultaneously edit any number of files. | >200 | REW | REW | REW | REW | - | R | Yes | Yes | - | - |
| Opanda PowerExif | Windows | Shareware | 1.22 | 2013 | 1.6 | A powerful GUI tool with batch processing to edit Exif/GPS data and completely remove all data (include Exif) in images. | >130 | REW | REW | - | - | - | - | Yes | Yes | - | - |
| PhotoME | Windows | Freeware | 0.8ß2 | 2009 | 3.1 | Powerful tool to show and edit the metadata of image files. Thanks to the well organized layout and intuitive handling, it's possible to analyze and modify Exif and IPTC-NAA data as well as analyze ICC profiles. | >200 | REW | REW | RE | - | REW | R | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| XNView | Windows | Freeware (for private and educational use) | 2.22 | 2014 | 14,5 | Powerful picture viewer, editor with loads of features (slide show, scan module, ..) | ? | ? | ? | ? | - | ? | R | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Notes
- *1
- Number of editable tags
- *2
- Exif - Exchangeable image file format for digital still cameras
- GPS - The global positioning system
- IPTC - IPTC-NAA Information Interchange Model
- XMP - Extensible Metadata Platform
- Maker - Proprietary Maker Notes
- Other - Other standards, for example: IRB Adobe Photoshop image resource blocks, MPF - Multu-Picture Format
- R - Can Read tags
- E - Can Edit tags
- W - Can Write tags
- D - Can Delete tags
- *3
- JPG - JPEG, ISO/IEC IS 10918-1 1993(E)
- TIF - TIFF, Tagged Image File Format
- RAW - Proprietary RAW formats
- Other - Other formats, for example: PSD Adobe Photoshop, DNG Digital Negative, JP2 JPEG2000
- Yes - Format is supported
See also
- Digital photography
- Exchangeable image file format (Exif)
- IPTC Information Interchange Model
- eXtensible Metadata Platform (XMP)
- Image file formats
References
- ↑ http://www.metadataworkinggroup.org/info/pdf/photokina_pr_2008_09_24.pdf Metadata Working Group Introduces First Specification for Interoperability and Preservation of Metadata in Digital Photography
- ↑ http://www.metadataworkinggroup.org/pdf/mwg_guidance.pdf Guidelines for Handling Image Metadata