Download ExifTool 12.22 for Mac for free, without any viruses, from Uptodown. Try the latest version of ExifTool 2021 for Mac. ExifTool is a practical tool for checking, editing, and writing metadata for any photo you have stored on your Mac. In fact, the application is compatible with multiple formats, including EXIF, GPS, IPTC, XMP, JFIF, GeoTIFF, ICC Profile, Photoshop IRB, FlashPix, and AFCP. Follow these instructions to run ExifTool: Launch the Terminal application from your /Applications/Utilities folder. Type 'exiftool' followed by a SPACE in the Terminal window. Drag and drop files and folders on the Terminal window.
Image::ExifTool::MacOS - Read/write MacOS system tags
This module is used by Image::ExifTool
This module contains definitions required by Image::ExifTool to extract MDItem* and XAttr* tags on MacOS systems using the 'mdls' and 'xattr' utilities respectively. It also reads metadata directly from the MacOS '_.' sidecar files that are used on some filesystems to store file attributes. Writable tags use 'xattr', 'setfile' or 'osascript' for writing.
Copyright 2003-2021, Phil Harvey (philharvey66 at gmail.com)
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
'MacOS Tags' in Image::ExifTool::TagNames, Image::ExifTool(3pm)
To install Image::ExifTool::MacOS, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.
For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.
A pile of great photos at hand? But the locations only in your head? Here’s how to geotag those photos using Bash and ExifTool.
Ever since I discovered geotagging, I’ve never gone back — I make sure to geotag all my photos! This way, the information of where I took each photo is contained inside the photo itself.
Most of the time, I rely on my GPS tracker to provide me with a GPS track and then let Bash and ExifTool do all the heavy lifting as described in Why I Geotag My Photos.
But once in a while, I am faced with a problem I thought to belong to the dark ages.
Great photos at hand. But the location information only in my head (and rapidly fading). Because I forgot to bring my GPS Tracker, the photos predate the purchase of the GPS tracker, or any other excuse I could come up with.
So, how to make sure those great photos are properly geotagged?
The good news is that it’s fairly easy to geotag a pile of photos without a GPS Track at hand. It’s just a bit more cumbersome.
All you really need for the job is Bash and ExifTool. What they are, why it makes sense to only use those tools, and how to install them on a recent Mac is described in article Why I Geotag My Photos.
The rest of this article assumes that you have ExifTool installed and are familiar with Bash to some degree.
Suppose you know that the below photo, called
university_of_greenwich.jpg
, was actually taken at the University of Greenwich — just as it says on the tin.You’ve also located the position of the photo to be
51.483822 N, 0.006572 W
with the help of Google Maps by clicking the corresponding location on the map and taking the location information from the small overlay towards the bottom of the window.Adding a GPS Location
The corresponding location information can then be embedded into
university_of_greenwich.jpg
with exiftool
via the following commandFusion 360 3dconnexion. In case you only have the location information in degrees minutes seconds (DMS) such as
51 deg 29' 1.76' N, 0 deg 0' 23.66' W
, then a free online conversion tool comes in handy to convert it to decimal degree (DD) 51.483822 N, 0.006572 W
.At this point, the location information in
university_of_greenwich.jpg
isAdding a GPS Date Stamp
The above step adds the GPS location information to the photo but leaves the GPS Date Stamp untouched. It’s only a nuance. But it shows in Preview on a Mac. And it’s easy to fix given the date stamp of when the photo was take is available.
The following command copies the modified date of the photo into the GPS Date Stamp
At this point, the location information in
university_of_greenwich.jpg
isIn case all EXIF dates (except for the GPS Date Stamp) are behind by one year, they can all be adjusted via
Here, the general input format for
AllDates
is [Y]{1,4}:mm:dd HH:MM:SS
with additional nuances and specialties available. Fill your boots!Note that in order to also shift the GPS Date Stamp, simply repeat the above step of copying the modified date of the photo into the GPS Date Stamp.
If the above steps are too much hassle then you can also copy all EXIF tags from
source.jpg
to target.jpg
via![Exiftool Mac Exiftool Mac](/uploads/1/3/7/6/137678313/717560935.jpg)
Note that this operation merely copies the metadata. It does not adjust it. This means that metadata such as aperture, resolution, and size do not get updated in the process. Hence, this is most useful when working with identical photos.
All GPS tags in
university_of_greenwich.jpg
can be deleted viaAll EXIF tags in
university_of_greenwich.jpg
can be deleted viaThe command is also one of the pillars of my Bash script that I use to prepare all images for publication. This way, I Leave No Trace and don’t litter the internet with additional and potentially harmful EXIF tags.
ExifTool plays it safe by default and keeps a copy of each original file around. This is why after updating
university_of_greenwich.jpg
, a new file called university_of_greenwich.jpg_original
suddenly appears. This can be suppressed by enabling in place updates via flagWhen working with larger batches,
exiftool
can be incentivised to show progress via flagMoreover, the verbosity of
exiftool
can be increased via flagThe full documentation of ExifTool can be found on the corresponding
exiftool
Application Documentation. Or right inside your Bash shell via man exiftool
. All you really need is Bash!Bash and ExifTool get the job done for me when it comes to a pile of photos for which I want to get the locations out of my head and inside the photos. Text book geotagging.
Think this is all rubbish and I should much rather use
the-one-special-tool-that-really-does-it-all-and-is-also-clearly-better-than-everything-else
?! Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn and teach me something new!Windows Exiftool
As always, prove me wrong and I’ll buy you a pint!
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