Viewing image metadata
Overview
In addition to the images themselves, digital pictures contain a wealth of metadata information from the type of camera, resolution, GPS coordinates, date, etc.
Below is output from the following tools: macOS preview, exif tools, and imagemagick. Some tools, mainly from the CLI, tend to return more information.
Details
macOS Preview
EXIF tools
jemurray@shell:~$ exif DSC02149.JPG
EXIF tags in 'DSC02149.JPG' ('Intel' byte order):
--------------------+----------------------------------------------------------
Tag |Value
--------------------+----------------------------------------------------------
Image Description |
Manufacturer |SONY
Model |CYBERSHOT
Orientation |Top-left
X-Resolution |72
Y-Resolution |72
Resolution Unit |Inch
Date and Time |2007:12:05 12:04:18
YCbCr Positioning |Co-sited
Compression |JPEG compression
Manufacturer |SONY
Model |CYBERSHOT
Orientation |Top-left
X-Resolution |72
Y-Resolution |72
Resolution Unit |Inch
Date and Time |2007:12:05 12:04:18
Exposure Time |1/400 sec.
F-Number |f/2.8
Exposure Program |Normal program
ISO Speed Ratings |100
Exif Version |Exif Version 2.1
Date and Time (Origi|2007:12:05 12:04:18
Date and Time (Digit|2007:12:05 12:04:18
Components Configura|Y Cb Cr -
Compressed Bits per | 2
Exposure Bias |0.00 EV
Maximum Aperture Val|2.00 EV (f/2.0)
Metering Mode |Spot
Light Source |Unknown
Flash |Flash did not fire
Focal Length |15.8 mm
Maker Note |54 bytes undefined data
FlashPixVersion |FlashPix Version 1.0
Color Space |sRGB
Pixel X Dimension |1600
Pixel Y Dimension |1200
File Source |DSC
Scene Type |Directly photographed
Interoperability Ind|R98
Interoperability Ver|0100
--------------------+----------------------------------------------------------
EXIF data contains a thumbnail (4257 bytes).
Imagemagick
jemurray@shell:~$ identify -verbose DSC02149.JPG
Image: DSC02149.JPG
Format: JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group JFIF format)
Mime type: image/jpeg
Class: DirectClass
Geometry: 1600x1200+0+0
Resolution: 72x72
Print size: 22.2222x16.6667
Units: PixelsPerInch
Colorspace: sRGB
Type: TrueColor
Base type: Undefined
Endianess: Undefined
Depth: 8-bit
Channel depth:
red: 8-bit
green: 8-bit
blue: 8-bit
Channel statistics:
Pixels: 1920000
Red:
min: 0 (0)
max: 255 (1)
mean: 117.89 (0.462316)
standard deviation: 59.8836 (0.234838)
kurtosis: -1.09441
skewness: 0.279962
entropy: 0.950011
Green:
min: 0 (0)
max: 251 (0.984314)
mean: 117.175 (0.459511)
standard deviation: 61.3972 (0.240773)
kurtosis: -1.13271
skewness: 0.30788
entropy: 0.946928
Blue:
min: 0 (0)
max: 255 (1)
mean: 117.032 (0.45895)
standard deviation: 68.8315 (0.269928)
kurtosis: -1.15877
skewness: 0.39023
entropy: 0.958954
Image statistics:
Overall:
min: 0 (0)
max: 255 (1)
mean: 117.366 (0.460259)
standard deviation: 63.3708 (0.248513)
kurtosis: -1.10722
skewness: 0.335183
entropy: 0.951965
Rendering intent: Perceptual
Gamma: 0.454545
Chromaticity:
red primary: (0.64,0.33)
green primary: (0.3,0.6)
blue primary: (0.15,0.06)
white point: (0.3127,0.329)
Background color: white
Border color: srgb(223,223,223)
Matte color: grey74
Transparent color: black
Interlace: None
Intensity: Undefined
Compose: Over
Page geometry: 1600x1200+0+0
Dispose: Undefined
Iterations: 0
Compression: JPEG
Quality: 94
Orientation: TopLeft
Properties:
date:create: 2021-01-06T22:02:35+00:00
date:modify: 2021-01-06T22:02:35+00:00
exif:ColorSpace: 1
exif:ComponentsConfiguration: 1, 2, 3, 0
exif:CompressedBitsPerPixel: 2/1
exif:DateTime: 2007:12:05 12:04:18
exif:DateTimeDigitized: 2007:12:05 12:04:18
exif:DateTimeOriginal: 2007:12:05 12:04:18
exif:ExifOffset: 218
exif:ExifVersion: 48, 50, 49, 48
exif:ExposureBiasValue: 0/10
exif:ExposureProgram: 2
exif:ExposureTime: 10/4000
exif:FileSource: 3
exif:Flash: 0
exif:FlashPixVersion: 48, 49, 48, 48
exif:FNumber: 28/10
exif:FocalLength: 158/10
exif:ImageDescription:
exif:InteroperabilityOffset: 642
exif:LightSource: 0
exif:Make: SONY
exif:MakerNote: 83, 79, 78, 89, 32, 68, 83, 67, 32, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 14, 7, 0, 28, 0, 0, 0, 102, 2, 0, 0, 80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 49, 48, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0
exif:MaxApertureValue: 20/10
exif:MeteringMode: 3
exif:Model: CYBERSHOT
exif:Orientation: 1
exif:PhotographicSensitivity: 100
exif:PixelXDimension: 1600
exif:PixelYDimension: 1200
exif:ResolutionUnit: 2
exif:SceneType: 1
exif:thumbnail:Compression: 6
exif:thumbnail:DateTime: 2007:12:05 12:04:18
exif:thumbnail:InteroperabilityIndex: R98
exif:thumbnail:InteroperabilityVersion: 48, 49, 48, 48
exif:thumbnail:JPEGInterchangeFormat: 851
exif:thumbnail:JPEGInterchangeFormatLength: 4257
exif:thumbnail:Make: SONY
exif:thumbnail:Model: CYBERSHOT
exif:thumbnail:Orientation: 1
exif:thumbnail:ResolutionUnit: 2
exif:thumbnail:XResolution: 72/1
exif:thumbnail:YResolution: 72/1
exif:XResolution: 72/1
exif:YCbCrPositioning: 2
exif:YResolution: 72/1
icc:copyright: Copyright 2003 Apple Computer Inc., all rights reserved.
icc:description: Camera RGB Profile
jpeg:colorspace: 2
jpeg:sampling-factor: 2x1,1x1,1x1
signature: 69746be0dd2ec1e5e8658391db4e9faa64168ac47249d92a7a877a0f7c5350d1
Profiles:
Profile-exif: 5115 bytes
Profile-icc: 1352 bytes
Artifacts:
filename: DSC02149.JPG
verbose: true
Tainted: False
Filesize: 897923B
Number pixels: 1920000
Pixels per second: 48MB
User time: 0.040u
Elapsed time: 0:01.040
Version: ImageMagick 6.9.10-23 Q16 x86_64 20190101 https://imagemagick.org