MCP ExifTool Server
mcp-name: io.github.joshmsimpson/exiftool
An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that provides access to ExifTool for reading, writing, and removing metadata from a wide range of file types.
Features
- Read metadata from over 150 file formats
- Write metadata to files with automatic backup creation
- Remove metadata selectively or completely from files
- Extract specific tags or retrieve all available metadata
- Support for multiple metadata standards: EXIF, IPTC, XMP, GPS, and manufacturer-specific formats
Supported File Formats
Image Formats:
- RAW Camera Formats: ARW, CR2, CR3, CRW, DNG, ERF, FFF, GPR, IIQ, K25, KDC, MEF, MRW, NEF, NRW, ORF, PEF, RAF, RAW, RW2, RWL, SR2, SRF, SRW, X3F
- Raster Images: BMP, FLIF, GIF, HDR, HEIC, HEIF, JPEG, JPEG 2000, JXL, JXR, PCX, PGF, PNG, PPM, TIFF, WebP
- Specialized Images: AVIF, BPG, DPX, EXR, FITS, FLIR, FPX, ICO, LFP, MIFF, PSD, PSP, QTIF, SVG
Video Formats:
- Containers: 3GP, AVI, F4V, FLV, GLV, M2TS, MOV, MP4, MKV, MPEG, R3D, VOB, WebM, WTV
- Other Video: DV, DVR-MS, INSV, LRV, MQV
Audio Formats:
- Lossless: AIFF, FLAC, LA, OFR, PAC, WAV, WV
- Lossy: AAC, APE, DSF, M4A, MP3, MPC, OGG, OPUS, RA, WMA
Document Formats:
- Office: DOC, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, XLS, KEY, NUMBERS, PAGES
- Other Documents: PDF, EPS, RTF, TXT, XML, JSON
- eBooks: EPUB, MOBI, AZW
Archive Formats:
Other Formats:
- Fonts: AFM, OTF, PFA, TTF
- And many more specialized formats
Prerequisites
ExifTool must be installed on your system. This MCP server is a wrapper that calls the ExifTool command-line tool.
Installing ExifTool
macOS:
Ubuntu/Debian:
sudo apt-get install libimage-exiftool-perl
Windows:
Download from https://exiftool.org/
Verify installation:
Installation
Usage
With Claude Desktop
Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"exiftool": {
"command": "exiftool-mcp"
}
}
}
With Other MCP Clients
The server communicates via stdio and follows the Model Context Protocol specification.
Available Tools
read_metadata
Read metadata from a file using ExifTool.
Parameters:
file_path (required): Path to the file (absolute or relative)tags (optional): Array of specific metadata tags to extract (e.g., ["DateTimeOriginal", "Make", "Model"])
Example:
{
"file_path": "/path/to/image.jpg",
"tags": ["DateTimeOriginal", "Make", "Model", "GPSLatitude", "GPSLongitude"]
}
write_metadata
Write or update metadata tags in a file using ExifTool. Creates a backup by default.
Parameters:
file_path (required): Path to the file (absolute or relative)tags (required): Dictionary of metadata tags to write (e.g., {"Artist": "John Doe", "Copyright": "2025"})overwrite_original (optional): If true, overwrites the original file without creating a backup. Default is false.
Example:
{
"file_path": "/path/to/image.jpg",
"tags": {
"Artist": "John Doe",
"Copyright": "2025",
"Comment": "Beautiful sunset"
},
"overwrite_original": false
}
remove_metadata
Remove metadata from a file using ExifTool. Can remove all metadata or specific tags.
Parameters:
file_path (required): Path to the file (absolute or relative)tags (optional): Array of specific metadata tags to remove (e.g., ["GPS*", "Comment"]). If not specified, all metadata is removed.overwrite_original (optional): If true, overwrites the original file without creating a backup. Default is false.
Example:
{
"file_path": "/path/to/image.jpg",
"tags": ["GPS*", "Location*"],
"overwrite_original": false
}
list_supported_formats
List all file formats supported by ExifTool.
Parameters: None
Examples
Reading all metadata from an image
Use the read_metadata tool with file_path: "photo.jpg"
Reading specific EXIF tags
Use the read_metadata tool with:
- file_path: "photo.jpg"
- tags: ["DateTimeOriginal", "Make", "Model", "LensModel"]
Writing metadata to a file
Use the write_metadata tool with:
- file_path: "photo.jpg"
- tags: {"Artist": "Jane Smith", "Copyright": "2025", "Rating": "5"}
Removing GPS data from a photo
Use the remove_metadata tool with:
- file_path: "photo.jpg"
- tags: ["GPS*"]
Removing all metadata from a file
Use the remove_metadata tool with:
- file_path: "photo.jpg"
(no tags specified removes all metadata)
Checking supported formats
Use the list_supported_formats tool
Development
Setup
git clone https://github.com/joshmsimpson/exiftool_mcp.git
cd exiftool_mcp
pip install -e .
Running locally
python -m exiftool_mcp.server
License
MIT
Contributing
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.
Links