provocativo_
back to the arsenal
// arsenal·Recon & OSINTBeginnerFOSS

ExifTool

Phil Harvey's ubiquitous tool for reading and writing image/document metadata.

Recon & OSINT

$ exiftool --help

ExifTool

// what it is

Description

Perl tool that reads every metadata format that exists — EXIF, IPTC, XMP, GPS, PDF, Office, audio/video. The first stop for any photo or document OSINT investigation.

// use cases

What people use it for

  • Extract GPS coordinates from social-media photos
  • Identify camera/scanner used to create a leaked image
  • Strip metadata from operator-uploaded artifacts

// commands

The commands you'll type

Read all metadata

$ exiftool photo.jpg

Strip all metadata in place

$ exiftool -all= photo.jpg

// facts

category
Recon & OSINT
platforms
LIN · WIN · MAC
license
FOSS
difficulty
Beginner

// related in Recon & OSINT