exifread

library3.5.1pypypi✓ verified 23d ago

ExifRead is a Python library to read Exif metadata from TIFF and JPEG files, with support for additional formats like HEIC, WebP, and PNG. Current version is 3.5.1, released under the BSD license. Release cadence is irregular, with updates every few months.

data

pip install exifread

github ↗package ↗changelog ↗

INSTALL

IMPORT

SIG · EXIFREAD

exifread

datapythonv3.5.1

Install

1.5s avg

Import

109ms

Disk

16MB

Pass rate

10/ 10

Env Coverage10 / 10

glibc

3.9–3.13

musl

3.9–3.13

Install & Compatibility

Where this runs

tested against v3.5.1 · pip install

no network on importno background threads

Install × environment matrix

Each cell = how many times install + import succeeded across repeated harness runs. Partial = flaky.
glibc = Debian/Ubuntu slim · musl = Alpine Linux

musl

py 3.10–3.95 runs

installs and imports cleanly · install 0.0s · import 0.118s · 18.3MB

glibc

py 3.10–3.95 runs

installs and imports cleanly · install 1.5s · import 0.100s · 19MB

16MB installed

● package 16MB

Code

Verified usage

Verified import paths — ran on the pinned version, not inferred.

process_file

✓ from exifread import process_file

✗ import exifread

Many users incorrectly import the module directly, but the main function is process_file.

EXIF_TAGS

✓ from exifread import EXIF_TAGS

✗ from exifread.tags import EXIF_TAGS

In older versions, EXIF_TAGS was in exifread.tags, but since 3.0.0 it is directly available from exifread.

HeuristicRecorder

✓ from exifread.heuristics import HeuristicRecorder

Open an image file in binary mode, process EXIF tags, and print all tags except binary/thumbnail fields.

import exifread with open('image.jpg', 'rb') as f: tags = exifread.process_file(f) for tag in tags.keys(): if tag not in ('JPEGThumbnail', 'TIFFThumbnail', 'ThumbnailOffset', 'ThumbnailLength', 'EXIF MakerNote'): print(f"{tag}: {tags[tag]}")

Debug

Known issues

breakingIn version 3.0.0, type hints were added and Python 2 support was dropped. Code relying on Python 2 strings (e.g., str/unicode) will break.

fix

Update code to Python 3 only and adapt to type hints.

affects: >=3.0.0

gotchaThe process_file() function returns an IFD (Image File Directory) object-like dictionary containing Exif tags. Many fields are still in the raw IFD format; they need to be printed or converted manually.

fix

Use str(tag) or tag.printable to get a human-readable string, or access the values via .values, .printable.

affects: all

deprecatedThe extract_thumbnail parameter in process_file() is deprecated as of version 3.1.0. Use process_file() with the default setting and access thumbnail via tags['JPEGThumbnail'].

fix

Remove extract_thumbnail=True and instead retrieve thumbnail data from tags['JPEGThumbnail'].

affects: >=3.1.0

Errors

Common errors & fixes

AttributeError: module 'exifread' has no attribute 'process_file'

Importing the module incorrectly, e.g. 'import exifread' and then 'exifread.process_file()'.

fix

Use 'from exifread import process_file' and then call 'process_file()'.

KeyError: 'Image ImageWidth'

Trying to access a tag using a format that includes an IFD prefix, like 'Image ImageWidth' instead of the actual key.

fix

Print the dictionary keys to see the exact tag names, e.g. 'ImageWidth' often has the IFD name 'Image ImageWidth' but the dictionary key includes the IFD. Use print(tags.keys()) to inspect.

Upgrade

Version history

3.5.1latest on PyPI · released Aug 23, 2025

Audit

Dependencies

No dependency data recorded yet.

Agent activity

13 hits · last 30 days

node

Resources

githubhttps://github.com/ianare/exif-py ↗

packagehttps://pypi.org/project/exifread/ ↗

changeloghttps://github.com/ianare/exif-py/blob/master/ChangeLog.rst ↗