Python-XMP-Metadata-Tool

This is a Python program that reads and writes XMP metadata using Python XMP Toolkit. The program accomplishes several tasks:

1. Reads XMP metadata from images (files) and saves values to a csv file.
2. Reads a csv file with metadata values and writes XMP metadata to images (files).
3. Merges data from Flickr json files with XMP metadata in images (files).

One of the primary purposes of this program is to facilitate data migration from the Flickr photo platform to a digital asset management system. One strategy for migrating metadata is to embed all XMP metadata in the images for the new DAM to extract. When exporting original images from Flickr, any metadata that was modified after upload to the platform will not be embedded in the exported images, but will be provided in JSON files. This Python program scans a directory of original Flickr images and merges annotations from the JSON files with XMP metadata in the original images.

What is XMP metadata?

The Adobe Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) specification describes a widely used method for embedding descriptive metadata within images. XMP tags are stored within the image header of all common image formats (JPEG, TIFF, PNG, GIF, PSD) and can be read by popular image processing and cataloging packages. The XMP standard is also widely used by photographers and the publication industry. Users of consumer and professional digital cameras may already be familiar with Exchangeable Image File Format (EXIF) metadata tags that include camera and exposure information within the digital photo file as a set of XMP tags. In practice an XMP header is a block of XML text included in the header block of the image file and is only supported in image types with header/comment blocks.

The advantages of embedded image identity metadata are numerous. Including metadata effectively makes the images self-documenting, which is particularly useful when the source URL for an image is lost. This information can now be accessed by multimedia management packages, or indexed by databases designed to read the embedded information. For instance, an online or desktop planetarium program could load an image from the web and extract the appropriate metadata to place it in the proper position in the sky.

Python XMP Toolkit

Python XMP Toolkit is a library for working with XMP metadata, as well as reading/writing XMP metadata stored in many different file formats.

Python XMP Toolkit is wrapping Exempi (using ctypes), a C/C++ XMP library based on Adobe XMP Toolkit, ensuring that future updates to the XMP standard are easily incorporated into the library with a minimum amount of work.

Usage

usage: xmp_tool.py [-h] -p PATH [-r] [-w] [-i IMPORT_CSV | -f FLICKR]

Read and write XMP metadata in image files

optional arguments:
  -h, --help                show this help message and exit
  -p PATH, --path PATH      path to input file or directory
  -r, --read                extract XMP metadata and save to a csv file
  -w, --write               embed XMP metadata in file
  -i IMPORT_CSV,
  --import_csv IMPORT_CSV   path to csv file with XMP metadata to import
                            and embed in input file
  -f FLICKR,
  --flickr FLICKR           path to directory with flickr json files,
                            merge flickr annotations with xmp metadata

Provide a path to a single image or a directory of many images. Use the -r flag to extract XMP metadata from the input files and save a csv file with metadata values. The XMP properties to extract values from are defined in the SCHEMA dictionary.

python xmp_tool.py -p path/to/images/ -r

Use the -i flag and provide a path to a csv file to import XMP metadata. Use the -w flag to write any changes to the metadata in the file. The XMP properties to import values to are defined in the SCHEMA dictionary.

python xmp_tool.py -p path/to/images/ -i path/to/csv/metadata.csv -w

Use the -f flag and provide a path to a directory with json files from Flickr to import XMP metadata. Use the -w flag to write any changes to the metadata in the file. The Flickr annotations and their mappings to XMP metadata properties are defined in the FLICKR_SCHEMA dictionary.

python xmp_tool.py -p path/to/images/ -f path/to/directory/json/files/ -w

Files

• xmp_tool.py - Contains the main python script.
• xmp_functions.py - Class and Functions for xmp_tool.py that perform various steps of the process.
• schemas.py - Contains dictionaries of schemas to work with XMP metadata

Dependencies

Python 3.9
pandas 1.5.3
python-xmp-toolkit 2.0.1
Exempi 2.2.0+