Piexif

1.1.3 · active · verified Sat Apr 11

Piexif is a pure Python library designed to simplify EXIF data manipulation. It enables reading, writing, and removing EXIF tags from JPEG, WebP, and TIFF image files without relying on external image processing libraries. The library's current version is 1.1.3, and releases are made as needed to address issues or add features.

Warnings

breaking Version 1.0.0 introduced significant breaking changes. `piexif.ZerothIFD` was renamed to `piexif.ImageIFD`, and the `dump` function's argument signature changed from accepting three separate IFD dictionaries to a single combined dictionary.
Fix: Update code to use `piexif.ImageIFD` for 0th IFD tags and pass a single dictionary (e.g., `{'0th': zeroth_ifd, 'Exif': exif_ifd, 'GPS': gps_ifd}`) to `piexif.dump()`.
gotcha Piexif has known issues when handling negative GPS coordinates (longitude/latitude). Directly passing negative values can lead to errors during `piexif.dump()` due to expected unsigned values.
Fix: Convert negative coordinates to positive values and explicitly set the `GPSLatitudeRef` ('N' or 'S') and `GPSLongitudeRef` ('E' or 'W') tags to indicate the correct hemisphere. Custom helper functions for this conversion are often required.
gotcha When loading EXIF data from an image, especially when integrating with Pillow (`PIL.Image.open(filename).info["exif"]`), attempting to access `img.info["exif"]` directly might raise a `KeyError` if the image file contains no EXIF data.
Fix: Always check for the existence of the 'exif' key using `.get()` before attempting to load: `exif_bytes = img.info.get('exif'); if exif_bytes: exif_dict = piexif.load(exif_bytes)`.
gotcha Functions like `piexif.dump()` or `piexif.transplant()` can raise an `InvalidImageDataError` if the input image data is malformed, corrupted, or contains an empty thumbnail segment, which `piexif` cannot process. This was partially addressed in version 1.0.12 with more explicit error handling.
Fix: Ensure input JPEG data is valid and well-formed. Implement robust error handling (e.g., `try-except InvalidImageDataError`) around `piexif` operations when dealing with user-provided or potentially malformed image files. Inspect the source image or thumbnail data if this error occurs.
gotcha When resizing an image with Pillow and then saving it with modified EXIF data, the `XResolution` and `YResolution` tags in the `0th IFD` might not automatically update to reflect the new dimensions. This can lead to EXIF metadata that doesn't match the actual image size.
Fix: Manually update `exif_dict["0th"][piexif.ImageIFD.XResolution]` and `exif_dict["0th"][piexif.ImageIFD.YResolution]` with the new `(width, 1)` and `(height, 1)` tuples respectively, after resizing the image and before dumping the EXIF data.

Install

pip install piexif Install with pip

Imports

piexif
```
import piexif
```
ImageIFD, ExifIFD, GPSIFD, InteropIFD, TAGS
```
import piexif
# Access constants like:
piexif.ImageIFD.Make
piexif.TAGS['Exif'][piexif.ExifIFD.DateTimeOriginal]
```
IFD constants and TAGS dictionary are attributes of the top-level piexif module.

Quickstart

This quickstart demonstrates how to load EXIF data from a JPEG image, modify a tag (e.g., the camera make), and then save the image with the updated EXIF information using piexif, often in conjunction with Pillow for image handling.

import piexif
from PIL import Image
import os

# Create a dummy JPEG file for demonstration
dummy_image_path = "dummy_image_with_exif.jpg"
new_image_path = "output_image_with_modified_exif.jpg"

# Create a simple image (requires Pillow)
img = Image.new('RGB', (60, 30), color = 'red')
img.save(dummy_image_path)

# 1. Load EXIF data
try:
    # Create a minimal EXIF dictionary
    zeroth_ifd = {
        piexif.ImageIFD.Make: "PiexifTest",
        piexif.ImageIFD.XResolution: (72, 1),
        piexif.ImageIFD.YResolution: (72, 1)
    }
    exif_ifd = {
        piexif.ExifIFD.DateTimeOriginal: "2026:04:11 12:34:56"
    }
    exif_dict_initial = {"0th": zeroth_ifd, "Exif": exif_ifd, "GPS": {}, "Interop": {}, "1st": {}, "thumbnail": None}
    exif_bytes_initial = piexif.dump(exif_dict_initial)

    img.save(dummy_image_path, exif=exif_bytes_initial)

    exif_dict = piexif.load(dummy_image_path)
    print("Original Camera Make:", exif_dict["0th"][piexif.ImageIFD.Make])

    # 2. Modify an EXIF tag
    exif_dict["0th"][piexif.ImageIFD.Make] = "PiexifModified"

    # 3. Dump the modified EXIF data to bytes
    exif_bytes = piexif.dump(exif_dict)

    # 4. Insert the new EXIF data into an image (or save with Pillow)
    img_to_modify = Image.open(dummy_image_path)
    img_to_modify.save(new_image_path, exif=exif_bytes)

    # 5. Verify the change
    modified_exif_dict = piexif.load(new_image_path)
    print("Modified Camera Make:", modified_exif_dict["0th"][piexif.ImageIFD.Make])

finally:
    # Clean up dummy files
    if os.path.exists(dummy_image_path):
        os.remove(dummy_image_path)
    if os.path.exists(new_image_path):
        os.remove(new_image_path)

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