exif

library1.6.1pypypi✓ verified 90d ago

A Python library to read and modify image EXIF metadata with a simple, intuitive API. Current version 1.6.1 requires Python >=3.7. Releases are infrequent, but the library is stable and widely used.

serialization

pip install exif

package ↗homepage ↗

INSTALL

IMPORT

SIG · EXIF

exif

serializationpythonv1.6.1

Install

1.6s avg

Import

133ms

Disk

17MB

Pass rate

10/ 10

Env Coverage10 / 10

glibc

3.9–3.13

musl

3.9–3.13

Install & Compatibility

Where this runs

tested against v1.6.1 · 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 0.138s · 18.7MB

glibc

py 3.10–3.95 runs

installs and imports cleanly · install 1.6s · import 0.128s · 19MB

17MB installed

● package 17MB

Code

Verified usage

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

Image

✓ from exif import Image

✗ import exif.Image

exif submodules are not directly importable; use the from syntax.

Open a JPEG file, read EXIF tags, and print common attributes.

from exif import Image with open('image.jpg', 'rb') as f: img = Image(f) if img.has_exif: print(f"Make: {img.make}") print(f"Model: {img.model}") print(f"Date/Time Original: {img.datetime_original}") else: print("No EXIF data found.")

Debug

Known issues

breakingVersion 1.0.0 changed from returning None to raising AttributeError when a tag does not exist. Accessing a tag not present in the image will raise an AttributeError, not return None.

fix

Use hasattr() or the tag's 'get' method (e.g., img.get('make', 'Unknown')).

affects: >=1.0.0

gotchaYou must open the image file in binary read mode ('rb'), not text mode. Opening in text mode will cause UnicodeDecodeError or corrupt EXIF parsing.

fix

Always use open('image.jpg', 'rb') when reading images with exif.

affects: all

gotchaWriting EXIF data requires the file to be opened in 'rb+' mode and the image to be seekable. Many users forget to open with write permission or close the file before writing.

fix

Open with 'rb+', modify tags, then call img.write() before closing.

affects: all

Errors

Common errors & fixes

AttributeError: 'Image' object has no attribute 'make'

The tag 'make' is not present in the EXIF data. The library raises AttributeError for missing tags since v1.0.0.

fix

Use getattr(img, 'make', 'Unknown') or the .get() method: img.get('make').

UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0xff in position 0: invalid start byte

The image was opened in text mode instead of binary mode.

fix

Open the file with open('image.jpg', 'rb') (binary read mode).

OSError: [Errno 9] Bad file descriptor

Trying to write EXIF data to a file opened in read-only mode ('rb') or after the file has been closed.

fix

Open with 'rb+' (read and write binary) and ensure the file is not closed before calling img.write().

Upgrade

Version history

1.6.1latest on PyPI · released Dec 10, 2024

Audit

Dependencies

No dependency data recorded yet.

Agent activity

14 hits · last 30 days

node

Resources

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

homepagehttps://gitlab.com/TNThieding/exif ↗