Picture Downloader and Metadata Viewer

A powerful Python tool for downloading images, extracting detailed metadata including EXIF data and GPS information, and modifying or creating custom metadata.

Features

• 📥 Download images directly from URLs with validation and error handling
• 🏷️ Extract EXIF metadata from JPEG images comprehensively
• 🗺️ Parse GPS coordinates and convert from DMS to decimal format
• 📊 Display metadata in beautifully formatted tables using Rich library
• ✏️ Modify metadata - Edit, remove, or strip EXIF data interactively
• ➕ Create custom metadata - Add your own metadata tags when none exist
• 🖼️ Image format handling - Automatically converts incompatible image modes to JPEG-compatible formats
• ✅ Robust error handling - Network errors, file issues, and corrupted data handled gracefully
• 🎨 Rich terminal output - Color-coded information with beautiful formatting

Requirements

• Python 3.7+
• PIL (Pillow)
• requests
• rich
• piexif

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/Nciibi/picture-downloader-and-metadata-viewer.git
cd picture-downloader-and-metadata-viewer

2. Install dependencies:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Or install manually:

pip install pillow requests rich

Usage

Run the script:

python metadata.py

Workflow

1. Download or load image - Choose to download from URL or load a local file
2. View metadata - See EXIF and GPS information in formatted tables
   • If no EXIF exists, option to create custom metadata
3. Modify metadata (optional) - Edit individual tags, remove GPS data, or strip all EXIF
4. Save modified image - Save the modified image with updated metadata as *_modified.jpg

Modification Options

When modifying metadata, you can:

• Modify existing tags: Update any EXIF tag value
• Remove GPS data: Strip GPS coordinates while keeping other metadata
• Strip all EXIF: Remove all metadata from the image
• Save: Write changes to a new file with _modified.jpg suffix
• Exit without saving: Discard all changes

Creating Custom Metadata

If an image has no EXIF data, you can create custom metadata including:

• Common fields: Make, Model, DateTime, Artist, Copyright, Software, etc.
• Custom tag names and values
• Save the metadata directly to the image

Example Workflow

$ python metadata.py
Welcome to JPG Info & Metadata Extractor
Download an image? (yes/no): no
Enter the path to the JPG image: photo.jpg

Basic Image Info
Path        : photo.jpg
Format      : JPEG
Mode        : RGB
Size (WxH)  : 4000 x 3000 pixels
File size   : 2457652 bytes

EXIF Metadata
[Table with metadata]

Would you like to modify the metadata? (yes/no): yes

Metadata Modification Menu
Choose an option:
1. Modify existing EXIF tag
2. Remove GPS data
3. Strip all EXIF data
4. Save modified image
5. Exit without saving

Enter your choice (1-5): 1
Enter tag name to modify: Artist
Enter new value for 'Artist': John Doe
Updated 'Artist' to 'John Doe'

[Menu repeats or continue with more modifications]

Enter your choice (1-5): 4
Modified image saved as: photo_modified.jpg

Output

The tool displays:

• Basic Image Info: Format, dimensions, file size
• EXIF Metadata: Camera settings, date taken, manufacturer, etc.
• GPS Information: GPS coordinates in both DMS (Degrees, Minutes, Seconds) and decimal formats
• Map Link: Decimal coordinates ready to paste into Google Maps

Error Handling

The script includes robust error handling for:

• Invalid URLs
• Network connection failures
• Request timeouts
• Missing or corrupted image files
• Missing EXIF metadata
• Invalid GPS coordinate data
• User interruption (Ctrl+C)

Functions

validate_url(url: str) -> bool

Validates if a string is a properly formatted URL with http/https schema.

get_exif_dict(img: Image.Image) -> Dict

Extracts EXIF data from an image and returns it as a dictionary with tag names as keys.

get_gps_info(exif: Dict) -> Optional[Dict]

Extracts GPS information from EXIF data and converts DMS coordinates to decimal format. Handles edge cases like zero denominators and invalid coordinate data.

download_image(url: str, filename: str) -> bool

Downloads an image from a URL with comprehensive error handling for network issues, timeouts, and HTTP errors.

create_custom_metadata() -> Dict

Interactive function allowing users to create custom EXIF metadata from scratch with common fields and custom tags.

display_custom_metadata(metadata: Dict)

Displays custom metadata in a formatted Rich table.

modify_metadata(image_path: str, exif: Dict) -> bool

Interactive menu for modifying EXIF metadata with options to edit tags, remove GPS, strip all data, or save changes. Loops to allow multiple modifications before saving.

save_exif_to_image(image_path: str, exif: Dict) -> bool

Saves modified EXIF data back to the image file as *_modified.jpg. Automatically converts incompatible image modes (palette, grayscale) to RGB for JPEG compatibility. Includes fallback to save without EXIF if piexif encoding fails.

main()

Main execution function that orchestrates the entire workflow from user input to metadata display and modification.

Error Handling

The script includes robust error handling for:

• Network issues: Connection failures, timeouts, HTTP errors
• File operations: Missing files, corrupted image files, permission errors
• EXIF operations: Invalid or missing EXIF data, GPS coordinate conversion errors
• Image format issues: Palette/grayscale images automatically converted to RGB
• User input: Invalid URLs, empty filenames, non-existent tags
• Keyboard interrupts: Graceful exit on Ctrl+C

Limitations

• Primarily designed for JPEG images (works with other formats but EXIF support varies)
• Requires images to have EXIF metadata embedded for full functionality (can create custom)
• GPS information only available if camera had GPS enabled when photo was taken
• Some EXIF tags are read-only and cannot be modified through piexif

Improvements Made

• Type hints throughout for better code documentation
• Comprehensive error handling for network, file, and image issues
• Input validation with URL and filename checks
• GPS coordinate validation preventing division by zero errors
• Image mode handling - Converts incompatible formats to JPEG-compatible RGB
• Graceful degradation - Falls back to saving without EXIF if encoding fails
• Interactive modification menu with looping for multiple edits
• Custom metadata creation when EXIF data doesn't exist

Future Enhancements

Possible additions for future versions:

• Support for more image formats (PNG with EXIF, WebP, TIFF)
• IPTC and XMP metadata support
• Batch processing multiple images
• GUI interface using tkinter or web framework
• Metadata comparison between images
• Template-based metadata application

License

This project is open source and available on GitHub.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request.

Support

If you encounter any issues or have questions, please open an issue on the GitHub repository.