This table lists special Composite tags which are used to access other tags
based on the Metadata Working Group 1.01 recommendations. These tags are
only accessible when the MWG module is loaded (via -use MWG
on the
command line, or use Image::ExifTool::MWG
in the API). When reading, the
value of each MWG tag is Derived From the specified tags based on the MWG
guidelines. When writing, the value of the IPTCDigest tag is updated
automatically when the IPTC is changed if either the IPTCDigest tag didn't
exist beforehand or its value agreed with the original IPTC digest
(indicating that the XMP is synchronized with the IPTC). IPTC information
is written only if the original file contained IPTC. For more information
about the MWG recommendation, see http://www.metadataworkinggroup.org/.
Loading the MWG module activates "strict MWG conformance mode", which has
the effect of causing EXIF, IPTC and XMP in non-standard locations to be
ignored when reading, as per the MWG recommendations. Instead, a "Warning"
tag is generated when non-standard metadata is encountered. This feature
may be disabled by setting $Image::ExifTool::MWG::strict = 0
in the
ExifTool config file (or from your Perl script when using the API). Note
that the behaviour when writing is not changed: ExifTool always creates new
records only in the standard location, but writes new tags to any
EXIF/IPTC/XMP records that exist.
A problem with the MWG specification is that although XMP:Creator and IPTC:By-line are list-type tags, the corresponding EXIF tag, EXIF:Artist, is not. So, short of changing the EXIF specification to allow EXIF:Artist to store a list of strings, the only reasonable alternative is to NOT allow MWG:Creator to be written as a list. (It is insufficient to say that EXIF:Artist may store multiple strings separated with semicolons because there is nothing in any of the MWG, EXIF, XMP or IPTC specifications that states an individual Creator string may not contain a semicolon, and for this to be feasible all of these specifications would require this restriction.) For this reason, the MWG:Creator tag is written as a single string. Multiple names may of course be written within the string (and it would be reasonable to separate them with semicolons as suggested by the MWG and EXIF specifications), but this tag is not treated as a list by ExifTool when writing.
Tag Name Writable Derived From Values / Notes City Y IPTC:City
XMP-photoshop:City
CurrentIPTCDigest
IPTCDigestCopyright Y EXIF:Copyright
IPTC:CopyrightNotice
XMP-dc:Rights
CurrentIPTCDigest
IPTCDigestCountry Y IPTC:Country-PrimaryLocationName
XMP-photoshop:Country
CurrentIPTCDigest
IPTCDigestCreateDate Y EXIF:CreateDate
EXIF:SubSecTimeDigitized
IPTC:DigitalCreationDate
IPTC:DigitalCreationTime
XMP-xmp:CreateDate
CurrentIPTCDigest
IPTCDigest("creation date of the digital representation" - MWG) Creator Y EXIF:Artist
IPTC:By-line
XMP-dc:Creator
CurrentIPTCDigest
IPTCDigest(NOT a list-type tag. See "A problem with the MWG specification" above) DateTimeOriginal Y EXIF:DateTimeOriginal
EXIF:SubSecTimeOriginal
IPTC:DateCreated
IPTC:TimeCreated
XMP-photoshop:DateCreated
CurrentIPTCDigest
IPTCDigest("creation date of the intellectual content being shown" - MWG) Description Y EXIF:ImageDescription
IPTC:Caption-Abstract
XMP-dc:Description
CurrentIPTCDigest
IPTCDigestKeywords Y+ IPTC:Keywords
XMP-dc:Subject
CurrentIPTCDigest
IPTCDigestLocation Y IPTC:Sub-location
XMP-iptcCore:Location
CurrentIPTCDigest
IPTCDigestModifyDate Y EXIF:ModifyDate
EXIF:SubSecTime
XMP-xmp:ModifyDate
CurrentIPTCDigest
IPTCDigest("modification date of the digital image file" - MWG) Orientation Y EXIF:Orientation 1 = Horizontal (normal)
2 = Mirror horizontal
3 = Rotate 180
4 = Mirror vertical
5 = Mirror horizontal and rotate 270 CW
6 = Rotate 90 CW
7 = Mirror horizontal and rotate 90 CW
8 = Rotate 270 CWRating Y XMP-xmp:Rating State Y IPTC:Province-State
XMP-photoshop:State
CurrentIPTCDigest
IPTCDigest