Metadata Explorer

Inspect image metadata structures, search technical tag values, and export metadata details

Metadata Explorer is for users who want to inspect the technical metadata stored inside image files.

It shows the parsed metadata tree for the selected image, including TIFF and EXIF structures, Nikon MakerNote areas when they can be read, virtual summary fields, raw tag offsets, tag data types, and memory views for selected tag data. It is useful when you need to verify camera-written metadata, investigate file differences, build a search rule, or export metadata detail for further analysis.

Metadata Explorer reads source images. It does not write metadata back to image files.

Main workflows

Use Metadata Explorer when you need to:

  1. Review the metadata structure and tag values for one image.
  2. Follow the Image Browser selection into a metadata view.
  3. Search a folder for images whose selected metadata tags contain specific values.
  4. Export metadata details for external analysis, comparison, or support work.

Loading an image

There are two main ways to load an image.

  1. Enable Sync to load the currently selected Image Browser image into Metadata Explorer.
  2. Use Open image metadata to choose a supported file directly.

Supported still-image file types include NEF, JPG, JPEG, TIF, and TIFF.

When Sync is enabled, changing the selected image in the Image Browser also loads that image in Metadata Explorer. This is the fastest way to move through a folder while inspecting the same tag path across many files.

If an image has little or no readable metadata, the page can show an empty or minimal structure. That means the file was selected but no supported metadata structure was available to display.

Tag tree

The tag list shows the metadata structure as a flattened tree.

Typical nodes include:

  1. tiff: the root parsed TIFF or EXIF structure.
  2. ifd0, ifd1, and nested IFDs: image file directories that contain groups of tags.
  3. EXIF tags, such as date/time, exposure, lens, dimensions, and camera model.
  4. MakerNote tags, when the camera maker stores proprietary metadata in the file.
  5. Virtual tags, which are app-created summary values such as filename, file size, and exposure summaries.

Selecting a tag updates the Properties panel and the memory panels.

The Properties panel shows technical details such as:

  1. Tag id and interpreted tag name.
  2. Full metadata path.
  3. Byte order.
  4. Header offset and length.
  5. Data offset, length, count, and EXIF data type.
  6. Interpreted value when the app can decode it.

The Header data and Value Data panels show the underlying bytes for the selected tag where that data is available.

Search panel

Use Toggle the search panel to search a folder for metadata values.

The search engine checks supported image files in the selected folder. When Include subfolders is enabled, it also checks supported images below that folder.

Search uses three inputs:

  1. Search folder: the folder to scan.
  2. Date from and Date to: the DateTimeOriginal range used to limit candidate images.
  3. Search paths and search text: the metadata paths and text values to match.

Double-click a tag in the tag list to add that tag path to Search paths. Double-click an existing search path to remove it. The app keeps at least one search path so the search has a target.

Search text can contain one or more comma-separated values. For example:

1/60,Z50,NIKON

An image is a match when:

  1. The image can be parsed as supported metadata.
  2. Its DateTimeOriginal is inside the selected date range.
  3. At least one selected search path exists in the image.
  4. The selected tag value contains at least one of the comma-separated search terms.

For a shutter-speed search, first load an image that has the shutter-speed tag, double-click that tag to add its metadata path, enter the shutter speed text you want to find, then start the search.

Example:

  1. Select an image with a known shutter speed.
  2. Select the ExposureTime tag.
  3. Double-click the tag to add its path to Search paths.
  4. Enter 1/60 in Search.
  5. Choose the folder, subfolder option, and date range.
  6. Press Start search.

Search results list the matching file paths. Select a result to load it in Metadata Explorer. Double-click a result to load that image in the Image Browser.

Press Cancel search to stop a long search.

Export

Use Export data to write metadata detail for the current image.

Export is intended for further analysis outside the app. It can be useful when comparing two files, sending metadata evidence to support, or inspecting tag offsets and embedded data with other tools.

Export does not modify the source image.

Nikon body metadata fields

Metadata Explorer is useful for checking camera-written fields such as Artist Name, Copyright, and User Comment.

Those fields matter when you use capture-time @ASK or @SCASK metadata templates. The app does not write metadata into existing image files after capture. Instead, the camera writes supported body metadata fields before the image is saved, which preserves the source image as camera-produced output.

For capture-time body metadata behavior, see Body Metadata.

For ASK and SCASK field syntax, see ASK.

MakerNote limits

Metadata Explorer intentionally exposes a lot of detail, but not every tag value can be decoded.

Camera MakerNotes are proprietary. Some fields are documented, some are partly understood, and some are undocumented, encrypted, compressed, model-specific, or firmware-specific. A MakerNote tag may show a useful value, a raw byte view, an unknown tag id, or no interpreted value.

That is normal. A missing interpreted value does not necessarily mean the image is damaged. It often means the tag exists but the app does not have enough reliable public information to decode it safely.

Performance notes

Metadata reading is designed to be fast because the same parser supports the Image Browser metadata cache.

A folder search can still take time because it has to open and inspect many files. Searching fewer folders, disabling Include subfolders, narrowing the date range, or using fewer search paths can reduce scan time.

Malformed files, renamed non-images, and images with no EXIF metadata are skipped or shown as minimal metadata rather than stopping the whole workflow.

Tips

  1. Keep Sync enabled when you are browsing many images and inspecting the same tag path.
  2. Use the Image Browser for visual review, then use Metadata Explorer for the technical structure.
  3. Double-click tags to build precise search paths instead of typing metadata paths by hand.
  4. Use comma-separated search values when the same search should match more than one expected value.
  5. Export metadata when you need a stable text artifact for comparison or support.