EXIF Data Extractor

EXIF Data Extractor is a powerful Python tool that extracts all available EXIF and metadata from image files in a folder using multiple methods. It supports popular libraries and even system-installed utilities to ensure maximum extraction depth. Each image’s metadata is saved in a well-organized .txt file named after the original image.

Created by Denis (@BeforeMyCompileFails), 2025

---

📆 Features

• ✅ Multi-method extraction for thorough coverage:
  • PIL (Pillow)
  • Piexif
  • ExifRead (if installed)
  • ExifTool command-line (if available)
• 📂 Processes all images in a folder
• 📄 Outputs metadata into per-image .txt files with nicely formatted and categorized content
• 🔍 Searches for ICC profile date/time, including inside raw binary data
• ⚖ Optional auto-install of:
  • Python dependencies: Pillow, piexif, ExifRead, PyExifTool
  • ExifTool for Windows
• 📷 Supports major image formats: .jpg, .jpeg, .tiff, .png, .bmp, .heic, .nef, .cr2, .arw, and more

---

🚀 Usage

Basic usage:

python exif_extractor.py /path/to/image/folder

With dependency installation:

python exif_extractor.py /path/to/image/folder --install-deps

On Windows - install ExifTool automatically:

python exif_extractor.py /path/to/image/folder --install-exiftool

---

📝 Output

For every image, a .txt file will be generated containing its EXIF data, grouped and formatted like:

================================================================================
EXIF Data Extraction - 2025-04-24 16:35:00
================================================================================

[FILE]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FILE_NAME: example.jpg
FILE_SIZE: 153248
FILE_CREATED: 2025-04-20 12:10:05
...

[Exif]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Exif_DateTimeOriginal: 2024:12:31 23:59:59
Exif_Make: Canon
Exif_Model: EOS R5
...

[ICC]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ICC_PROFILE_DATE: 2024-12-31
ICC_PROFILE_TIME: 23:59:59
...

---

🛠 Recommended Setup

Install Python libraries:

pip install Pillow piexif ExifRead PyExifTool

Install ExifTool manually or use the --install-exiftool flag on Windows.

---

🔍 Tip

For the most complete metadata (especially profile_date_time), having ExifTool installed is highly recommended.

---

📂 Supported Formats

JPEG, TIFF, PNG, BMP, HEIC, HEIF, NEF, CR2, ARW, and other common photo formats.

---

📄 License

MIT License. Use freely and modify as needed.