If you have gone looking for a way to read or write photo metadata properly, you have arrived at ExifTool. It is the reference implementation for this entire problem: Phil Harvey has maintained it since 2003, it understands more formats and more tags than anything else in existence, and it is free.

This guide covers installing it, the handful of commands that cover most real work, and — honestly — the point at which a graphical layer over the top starts to pay for itself.

What ExifTool is, and why everything else defers to it

ExifTool is a command-line program that reads and writes metadata in image, video and audio files. EXIF, IPTC, XMP, GPS, maker notes, the proprietary corners of every RAW format — it handles all of it, and where formats disagree it usually knows the exception.

This is why so much photo software quietly ships it rather than reimplementing it. Archyv bundles ExifTool too, and it is not a small dependency: every change the Metadata Editor writes goes through ExifTool, and Photographer Attribution writes images through it as well, with videos and RAW files handled by it exclusively. When Archyv reads 40 formats and writes metadata to 32 of them, that reach is ExifTool’s.

That is worth saying plainly, because it frames what follows. Nothing here argues that ExifTool is the wrong tool. It is the right tool. The question is only what sits in front of it.

Installing it on macOS

Two straightforward routes.

Homebrew, if you have it:

brew install exiftool

The official installer from exiftool.org — a standard .pkg for macOS, no package manager required.

Check it worked:

exiftool -ver

The commands worth knowing

Most real work is a handful of patterns.

Read everything in a file:

exiftool photo.jpg

Read one tag, or a group of them:

exiftool -DateTimeOriginal -Artist -Copyright photo.jpg

Write a tag across a whole folder:

exiftool -Artist="Jane Rivera" -Copyright="© 2026 Jane Rivera" /path/to/folder

Strip location data before publishing:

exiftool -gps:all= /path/to/folder

Rename files from the capture date:

exiftool '-FileName<DateTimeOriginal' -d %Y%m%d-%%.4nc.%%e /path/to/folder

Two things to know before running any of those. ExifTool writes _original backup copies alongside your files by default — reassuring, and it will double the size of the directory until you clear them. And -overwrite_original suppresses that, which is the flag that turns a mistake into a permanent one.

Where the command line stops being pleasant

None of this is an argument against ExifTool. It is an observation about a specific shape of job.

You cannot see what will happen before it happens. There is no preview. You reason about the command, run it, and inspect the damage afterwards. On five files that is fine. On five thousand it is a leap.

There is no undo across a batch. The _original copies help — until you have used -overwrite_original, or the operation moved or renamed things.

The syntax does not stay learned. Date formatting, the difference between -TAG= and -TAG<, group prefixes, how a given RAW format wants to be written — this is knowledge you re-acquire from Stack Overflow every few months.

Nothing reports back. A run over a mixed folder where a hundred files silently failed looks identical to one where everything worked.

Composing operations is manual. “Rename from the capture date, then file into dated folders, then write the copyright, and tell me which ones had no date” is four commands, an ordering problem, and a shell loop you now maintain.

What a front end over the same engine adds

Archyv is a native Mac app driving the same ExifTool underneath. What you are paying for is precisely the five gaps above.

A preview before the write. Simulation Mode performs the whole run and changes nothing, writing every intended change to the log. On a large batch, reading that first is the difference between confidence and hope.

A change history. Operations that modify files in place are recorded and can be undone for a retention period you choose. There is also a setting to copy each file before any metadata write.

Validation as you type. The Metadata Editor checks emails, URLs, dates and coordinates against their field types, and enforces IPTC’s own limits — the Category field really is capped at three characters, and finding that out from a rejection notice is worse than being told up front.

A per-file report. The log shows each file’s previous and new values, and what succeeded, skipped or failed.

Composed operations. Renaming, folder generation, transfer, conversion and metadata editing are separate processes over one selection, driven by saved templates.

What it does not replace

Be clear about the boundaries.

If you need a tag ExifTool exposes and Archyv’s field list does not surface, the command line is still where you go. If your workflow is a cron job or a build step, a GUI is the wrong shape entirely — script ExifTool. And if you are comfortable in a terminal and your batches are small, ExifTool alone is a complete answer, and you should not spend money to replace it.

ExifTool remains free, and Archyv is a one-time $99 per seat. The honest case for paying is scale and consequence: many files, files you cannot recreate, or work you have to hand a client and be able to verify. If that is not your situation, the free tool is genuinely the right call.

Next: if the front-end case is the one you recognise, Metadata Editor covers the ten field categories and Photographer Attribution covers writing creator and date fields across a batch. For renaming from the capture date without touching a terminal, see renaming photos by date taken.