Exifcopy

Exifcopy is a cross-platform command-line tool and Rust library for copying JPEG metadata with precision and integrity.
It preserves EXIF, XMP, IPTC and other embedded segments 1:1 from a source file to a target file — including multiple segments of the same type.

Originally developed to restore metadata after lossy image compression, Exifcopy is now a robust utility for workflows requiring exact metadata preservation.

Features

• Copies all recognised metadata types (EXIF, XMP, IPTC, ICC, etc.)
• Handles multiple segments of the same type (e.g. multiple APP1/XMP)
• Clean, modular architecture — usable as CLI or as Rust library
• Optional preservation of filesystem timestamps (CreateDate, ModifyDate)
• Special support for NTFS creation timestamps (Windows only)

Usage

exifcopy [options] <source.jpg> <target.jpg>

To view all available options, run:

exifcopy --help

The help screen includes version, build date, license, author and repository information.

Options

• --help / -h
  Show help screen with usage and all available parameters

• --log / -l
  Enable debug logging for verbose output (writes a .log file)

• --keepdate=<n> / -kd <n>
  Preserve filesystem timestamps:

Value	Behaviour
0	No change
1	Copy from target file (default)
2	Copy from source file
3	Extract from metadata if available

Build & Development

Exifcopy uses a build.rs script to embed the current UTC build date and year into the binary.
These values are automatically shown in the --help screen to track builds precisely.

The codebase is fully modular and can be reused as a library in other Rust tools.
To include Exifcopy as a local dependency:

[dependencies]
exifcopy = { path = "../exifcopy" }

License

This project is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later (AGPL-3.0-or-later).

If you would like to use exifcopy under different licensing terms (e.g. for proprietary or commercial purposes),
please get in touch via the GitHub project page:

🫠 https://github.com/HBB-ThinkTank/exifcopy

Requests for dual-licensing or custom agreements are generally welcome.