How can I copy custom altitude EXIF/XMP tags between images with ExifTool?
Asked 1/11/2016
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2 answers
0
I’m using ExifTool to copy metadata from one JPEG to another with:
exiftool -tagsfromfile orig.jpg -all:all new.jpg
Standard GPS altitude tags copy correctly, but DJI-specific altitude fields such as AbsoluteAltitude and RelativeAltitude do not. ExifTool shows them when reading the source image, but they are missing from the destination after copying.
Is there a way to copy all metadata automatically, including these custom altitude tags, or do those tags need to be defined or copied explicitly first?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
10y ago
2 Answers
1
As you say, AbsoluteAltitude and RelativeAltitude do not appear to be defined tags. exiftool cannot copy them if it does not know how they are defined. In Phil Harvey's (author of exiftool) answer in this discussion at exiftool's forum, you must create a user-defined tag in order for exiftool to write it.
Please see the exiftool sample config file for details and examples.
Originally by user11924. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user11924
10y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
-all:all will copy tags ExifTool knows how to write, but not unknown/custom tags. In your case, AbsoluteAltitude and RelativeAltitude appear to be nonstandard DJI metadata, so ExifTool can read them but won’t copy/write them unless they’re defined as writable user-defined tags.
If you only want to copy standard EXIF, you can try:
exiftool -tagsfromfile orig.jpg -exif new.jpg
But for those custom altitude fields, the key point is: ExifTool must know how they are defined before it can write them. The usual solution is to create user-defined tags in an ExifTool config file, as described in the sample config and FAQ/forum guidance from the author.
So the short answer: standard tags can be copied automatically; unknown custom tags generally cannot unless you define them first or target the correct writable metadata group explicitly.
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