the Exif Print Logo

Exchangeable image file format (Exif) is a specification for the image file format used by digital cameras. The specification uses the existing JPEG, TIFF Rev. 6.0, and RIFF WAV file formats, with the addition of specific metadata tags. It is not supported in JPEG 2000, PNG, or GIF. A filename extension is a suffix to the name of a computer file applied to indicate its type. ... Image file formats provide a standardized method of organizing and storing image data. ... Look up image in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A file format is a particular way to encode information for storage in a computer file. ... Look up digital camera in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... JPG redirects here. ... This article is about TIFF, the computer image format. ... The Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF) is a generic meta-format for storing data in tagged chunks. ... WAV (or WAVE), short for Waveform audio format, is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing audio on PCs. ... Metadata is data about data. ... JPEG 2000 is a wavelet-based image compression standard. ... PNG (Portable Network Graphics), sometimes pronounced as ping, is a relatively new bitmap image format that is becoming popular on the World Wide Web and elsewhere. ... An example of a GIF image. ...

Background

Exif was created by the Japan Electronic Industries Development Association (JEIDA). Version 2.1 of the specification is dated June 12, 1998, and the latest, version 2.2 dated April 2002, is also known as Exif Print. Though the specification is not currently maintained by any industry or standards organisation, its use by camera manufacturers is nearly universal. The Japan Electronic Industry Development Association , JEIDA) was an industry research, development, and standards body for electronics in Japan. ... is the 163rd day of the year (164th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar). ... “Standard” redirects here. ...

The metadata tags defined in the Exif standard cover a broad spectrum:

• Date and time information. Digital cameras will record the current date and time and save this in the metadata.
• Camera settings. This includes static information such as the camera model and make, and information that varies with each image such as orientation, aperture, shutter speed, focal length, metering mode, and ISO speed information.
• A thumbnail for previewing the picture on the camera's LCD screen, in file managers, or in photo manipulation software.
• Descriptions and copyright information.

a big (1) and a small (2) aperture For other uses, see Aperture (disambiguation). ... Shutter speed can have a dramatic impact on the appearance of moving objects. ... This article is about focal length related to lenses and systems of lenses. ... In photography, the metering mode refers to the way in which a camera determines the correct exposure. ... Film speed is the measure of a photographic films sensitivity to light. ... The ThumbsPlus image file manager showing folder tree in the upper left and 12 thumbnail-size images to the right. ...

Technical

The Exif tag structure is taken from that of TIFF files. On several image specific properties, there is a large overlap between the tags defined in the TIFF, Exif, TIFF/EP and DCF standards. For descriptive metadata, there is an overlap between Exif and IPTC info, which also can be embedded in a JPEG file. “TIFF” redirects here. ... Tag Image File Format / Electronic Photography (TIFF/EP) is an digital image file format standard - ISO 12234-2, titled Electronic still-picture imaging -- Removable memory -- Part 2: TIFF/EP image data format. This is different from the Tagged Image File Format, which is a standard administered by Adobe TIFF currently... Design rule for Camera File system (DCF) is an ISO specification which defines the file system for digital cameras, including the directory structure, file naming method, character set and file format. ... The International Press Telecommunications Council, based in Windsor, UK, is a consortium of the worlds major news agencies and news industry vendors. ...

When Exif is employed for JPEG files, the Exif data is stored in one of JPEG's defined utility Application Segments, the APP1 (segment marker 0xFFE1), which in effect holds an entire TIFF file within. When Exif is employed in TIFF files (also when used as "an embedded TIFF file" mentioned earlier), the TIFF Private Tag 0x8769 defines a sub-Image File Directory (IFD) that holds the Exif specified TIFF Tags. In addition, Exif also defines a GPS sub-IFD using the TIFF Private Tag 0x8825, obviously holding location information, and a "Interoperability IFD" specified within the Exif sub-IFD, using the Exif tag 0xA005. JPG redirects here. ... This article is about TIFF, the computer image format. ...

Geolocation

The Exif format has standard tags for location information. Currently, only very few cameras, such as the Ricoh 500SE, have a built-in GPS receiver and store the location information in the Exif header when the picture is taken. But GPS data can be added to any digital photograph on a computer, either by correlating the time stamps of the photographs with a GPS record from a hand-held GPS receiver or manually using a map or mapping software. The process of adding geographic information to a photograph is known as geocoding. Ricoh Company, Ltd. ... Above: Map showing photographers view () of two buildings at a distance of 270 meters () and 1200 meters (). Below: Which of the three locations should be associated with the resulting photo? Assisted GeoTagging inside of Zooomr A geocoded photo is an image which is associated with a geographical location. ...

Program support

Exif data is embedded within the image file itself. While many recent image manipulation programs recognize and preserve Exif data when writing to a modified image, this is not the case for most older programs. Many image gallery programs also recognise Exif data and optionally display it alongside the images. In computer graphics, graphics software or image editing software is a program or collection of programs that enable a person to manipulate visual images on a computer. ...

Problems

Apart from not being a maintained standard, the Exif format has a number of drawbacks, mostly relating to its use of legacy file structures.

• The derivation of Exif from the TIFF file structure using offset pointers in the files means that data can be spread anywhere within a file, which means that software is likely to corrupt any pointers or corresponding data that it doesn't decode/encode. This is the reason most image editors damage or remove the Exif metadata to some extent upon saving.

• The standard defines a MakerNote tag, which allows camera manufacturers to place any custom format metadata in the file. This is used increasingly by camera manufacturers to store a myriad of camera settings not listed in the Exif standard, such as shooting modes, post-processing settings, serial number, focusing modes, etc. As this tag format is proprietary and manufacturer-specific, it can be prohibitively difficult to retrieve this information from an image (or properly preserve it when rewriting an image). Some manufacturers encrypt portions of the information; for example, Nikon encrypts the detailed lens data in their newer MakerNote data versions.^[1]

• The standard only allows TIFF or JPEG files — there is no provision for a "raw" file type which would be a direct data dump from the sensor device. This has caused camera manufacturers to invent many proprietary, incompatible "raw" file formats. To solve this problem, Adobe developed the DNG format (a TIFF-based raw file format), in hopes that manufacturers would standardize on a single, raw file format.

• The Exif standard specifically states that color depth is always 24 bits.^[2] However, many modern cameras, such as the Nikon D70 which captures 36 bits of color per pixel, can capture significantly more. Since Exif/DCF files cannot represent this color depth, many manufacturers have developed proprietary, non-compatible RAW image formats.
• Most digital cameras can also capture video — the Exif standard has no provision for video files.
• Exif is very often used in images created by scanners, however the standard makes no provisions for any scanner specific information.
• Photo manipulation software sometimes fails to update the embedded thumbnail after an editing operation, possibly causing the user to inadvertently publish compromising information.^[3]

• Exif metadata is restricted in size to 64 kB in JPEG images because according to the specification this information must be contained within a single JPEG APP1 segment. Although the FlashPix extensions allow information to span multiple JPEG APP2 segments, these extensions are not commonly used. This has prompted some camera manufacturers to develop non-standard techniques for storing the large preview images used by some digital cameras for LCD review. These non-standard extensions are commonly lost if a user re-saves the image using image editor software, possibly rendering the image incompatible with the original camera that created it.
• There is no way to record time-zone information along with the time, thus rendering the stored time ambiguous.
• There is no field to record readouts of a camera's accelerometers or inertial navigation system. Such data could help to establish the relationship between the image sensor’s XYZ coordinate system and the gravity vector (i.e., which way is down in this image). It could also establish relative camera positions or orientations in a sequence of photos.

“TIFF” redirects here. ... “TIFF” redirects here. ... JPG redirects here. ... In digital photography, the Digital Negative (DNG) file format is an ostensibly royalty free raw image format designed by Adobe Systems. ... The Nikon D70 is a digital SLR camera model. ... A raw image file contains minimally processed data from the image sensor of a digital camera or image scanner. ... JPG redirects here. ... JPG redirects here. ... JPG redirects here. ... LCD redirects here. ... An accelerometer or gravimeter is a device for measuring acceleration and the effects of gravity. ... An inertial navigation system measures the position and altitude of a vehicle by measuring the accelerations and rotations applied to the systems inertial frame. ... Look up vector in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Competitors

Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) was created by Adobe Systems as a better metadata format for photography and image processing. However, it is generally unsupported in cameras. The Extensible Metadata Platform or XMP is a specific type of extensible markup language used in PDF, photography and photo editing applications. ... Adobe Systems (pronounced a-DOE-bee IPA: ) (NASDAQ: ADBE) (LSE: ABS) is an American computer software company headquartered in San Jose, California, USA. Adobe was founded in December 1982[1] by John Warnock and Charles Geschke, who established the company after leaving Xerox PARC in order to develop and sell...

Viewing and editing Exif data

Eye of Gnome screenshot showing Exif data of an image on a Linux system

In Windows XP and later Microsoft operating systems, a subset of the Exif information may be viewed by right clicking on an image file and clicking properties; from the properties dialog click the Summary tab. However, this can damage certain Exif headers if changes are applied.^[4] Other Windows software like Exif Harvester may be more reliable. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1280x1024, 559 KB) Summary Above Image displays a screenshot of eog tool on Linux system. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1280x1024, 559 KB) Summary Above Image displays a screenshot of eog tool on Linux system. ... Eye of GNOME is a simple image viewer for the GNOME desktop environment. ... Screenshot of a KDE desktop. ... See also Category:Graphics file formats Here is a summary of the most common graphics file formats: Some file formats, e. ...

On Mac OS X 10.4 and above, this information may be viewed in the Finder by doing Get Info on a file and expanding the More Info section. (Or not. This doesn't work under Mac OS X 10.5.2.) Mac OS X (pronounced ) is a line of graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. ...

On Unix systems using the GNOME desktop environment, a subset of Exif data can be seen by right clicking the file in the Nautilus file manager and selecting properties. In KDE, it can be seen by right clicking, selecting "Properties" and then "Meta info". Most Unix image viewers give the full set of Exif data. Filiation of Unix and Unix-like systems Unix (officially trademarked as UNIX®, sometimes also written as or ® with small caps) is a computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Douglas McIlroy. ... This article is about the mythical creature. ... Information in this article or section has not been verified against sources and may not be reliable. ... Nautilus is the official file manager for the GNOME desktop. ... For the NYSE stock ticker symbol KDE, see 4Kids Entertainment. ...

There are many software tools available which allow both viewing and editing of Exif data. The Opanda IExif Viewer is a free stand-alone application, and also a plug-in for MSIE and Firefox on Windows platforms, that allows examination of detailed Exif data online by right clicking on an image. FxIF and Exif Viewer are multi-platform extensions for Firefox that display Exif data in the image properties dialog. This feature is native in the web browser, Opera under image properties. Opera is a web browser and Internet suite developed by the Norwegian Opera Software company. ...

Retrieval of detailed Exif data not usually displayed by other programs can be accomplished using ExifTool which runs in Perl, and is available for all platforms. Wikibooks has a book on the topic of Perl Programming Perl is a dynamic programming language created by Larry Wall and first released in 1987. ...

For AmigaOS/MorphOS 'SView5' covers a lot of the previously mentioned functionality.

Example

Konqueror screenshot showing Exif data

The following table shows Exif data for a photo made with a typical digital camera. Notice that authorship and copyright information is generally not provided in the camera's output, so it must be filled in during later stages of processing. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (430x635, 37 KB) This is a demonstration screenshot of free software. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (430x635, 37 KB) This is a demonstration screenshot of free software. ... Konqueror is a file manager, web browser and file viewer, which was developed as part of the K Desktop Environment (KDE) by volunteers and runs on most Unix-like operating systems. ...

FlashPix is a bitmapped Computer graphics file format where the image is saved in more than one resolution. ...

FlashPix extensions

The Exif specification also includes a description of FPXR (FlashPix-Ready) information which may be stored in APP2 of JPEG images using a structure similar to that of a FlashPix file.^[5] These FlashPix extensions allow meta information to be preserved when converting between FPXR JPEG images and FlashPix images. FPXR information may be found in images from some models of digital cameras by Kodak and Hewlett-Packard. Below is an example of the FPXR information found in a JPEG image from a Kodak EasyShare V570 digital camera: JPG redirects here. ... FlashPix is a bitmapped Computer graphics file format where the image is saved in more than one resolution. ... Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE: EK) is a large multinational public company producing photographic equipment. ... The Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ), commonly known as HP, is a very large, global company headquartered in Palo Alto, California, United States. ... Kodak EasyShare V570 front view The Kodak EasyShare V570 is a digital camera manufactured by Eastman Kodak. ...

Exif audio files

The Exif specification describes the RIFF file format used for WAV audio files, and defines a number of tags for storing meta information such as artist, copyright, creation date, and more in these files.^[6] The following table gives an example of Exif information found in a WAV file written by the Pentax Optio WP digital camera: The Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF) is a generic meta-format for storing data in tagged chunks. ... WAV (or WAVE), short for Waveform audio format, is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing audio on PCs. ... The Pentax Optio series is a line of consumer digital cameras manufactured by Pentax Corporation. ...

MakerNote data

The 'MakerNote' tag contains image information normally in a proprietary binary format. Some of these manufacture specific formats have been decoded:

• OZHiker: Agfa, Canon, Casio, Epson, Fujifilm, Konica/Minolta, Kyocera/Contax, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax/Asahi, Ricoh, Sony ^[7]

• Kamisaka: Canon, Casio, FujiFilm, ISL, KDDI, Konica/Minolta, Mamiya, Nikon, Panasonic, Pentax, Ricoh, Sigma, Sony, WWL^[8]

• X3F Info: Sigma/Foveon^[9]

• ExifTool: Canon, Casio, FujiFilm, JVC/Victor, Kodak, Leaf, Konica-Minolta, Nikon, Olympus/Epson, Panasonic/Leica, Pentax/Asahi, Ricoh, Sanyo, Sigma/Foveon, Sony^[10]

• Olypedia: Olympus^[11]

See also

• Digital photography
• Image processing
• Steganography

• Image file formats
• Tag Image File Format / Electronic Photography (TIFF/EP)
• Geocoded photo
• eXtensible Metadata Platform (XMP)
• Point of interest

• Design rule for Camera File system (DCF)
• International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC)

10 MP Nikon D200 and a Nikon film scanner The Canon EOS 350D The Canon PowerShot A95 Digital photography is a form of photography that utilizes digital technology to make digital images of subjects. ... UPIICSA IPN - Binary image Image processing is any form of information processing for which the input is an image, such as photographs or frames of video; the output is not necessarily an image, but can be for instance a set of features of the image. ... This article is about hidden messages. ... Image file formats provide a standardized method of organizing and storing image data. ... Tag Image File Format / Electronic Photography (TIFF/EP) is an digital image file format standard - ISO 12234-2, titled Electronic still-picture imaging -- Removable memory -- Part 2: TIFF/EP image data format. This is different from the Tagged Image File Format, which is a standard administered by Adobe TIFF currently... Above: Map showing photographers view () of two buildings at a distance of 270 meters () and 1200 meters (). Below: Which of the three locations should be associated with the resulting photo? Assisted GeoTagging inside of Zooomr A geocoded photo is an image which is associated with a geographical location. ... The Extensible Metadata Platform or XMP is a specific type of extensible markup language used in PDF, photography and photo editing applications. ... A point of interest, or POI, is a specific point location that someone may find useful or interesting. ... Design rule for Camera File system (DCF) is an ISO specification which defines the file system for digital cameras, including the directory structure, file naming method, character set and file format. ... The International Press Telecommunications Council, based in Windsor, United Kingdom, is a consortium of the worlds major news agencies and news industry vendors. ...

References

Technical Standardization Committee on AV & IT Storage Systems and Equipment (April 2002). "Exchangeable Image File Format for Digital Still Cameras (JEITA CP-3451)" (.PDF). Version 2.2. Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association. Retrieved on 2008-01-28. 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 28th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 28th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 28th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 29th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 29th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... March 26 is the 85th day of the year (86th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 29th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 29th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 28th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Exif 2.2 Specification as PDF file or as HTML
• Exif Print info on Cipa site
• Exif in the TIFF Tags Directory