ExifXplorer · for macOS

Read the whole frame.

Your camera writes a hundred-plus fields every time the shutter fires. ExifXplorer turns them into something you can actually see, compare, and fix — maker notes and AF points included.

macOS 12+·Apple Silicon·11 MB·7-day free trial

The ExifXplorer library grid — a shoot filtered to one folder, each frame captioned with aperture and shutter, the folder tree and filter bar alongside.

The library grid — a real shoot, filtered to one folder, every value in mono the way a camera info display shows it.

01The gap

Your camera writes a hundred fields per frame. Your tools show you a dozen.

Lightroom surfaces the basics — camera, lens, exposure — and stops there. ExifTool exposes everything, as a wall of raw tags only an engineer reads for fun.

In between sits the data that actually explains a photograph: the AF point you focused on, the drive mode, the lens-correction profile, the film simulation, the firmware quirk behind why this frame looks different from the rest of the set.

ExifXplorer lives in that gap — everything ExifTool can read, laid out the way a photographer thinks.

02–07Features
02Map & GPX

Put the shoot back on the map.

Drop and drag pins, reverse-geocode to real place names, or import a GPX track and geotag a whole day by matching timestamps — the GeoSetter workflow, rebuilt and actually maintained. Preview every match before it's written; undo the whole batch in one step.

Map view — pins + GPX track
03Apply from a reference

Copy one value, or a whole group.

Drag a single field — lens, copyright, GPS — from an open photo straight onto others in the grid. Or pick a reference frame and sync whole field-groups across a selection of two hundred. No wizard, no dialog tree.

Drag-to-apply + reference field picker
04Rename & keyword

Batch rename with a live preview.

Date, location, camera, and sequence tokens; collision detection before anything is written; the original filename preserved in XMP so there's always a way back. Build a keyword set once and apply it to an entire shoot in a click, with autocomplete against your existing vocabulary.

Rename modal — token template + preview
05Export

Hand off a copy, minus what shouldn't travel.

Copy a selection to a new folder with exactly the metadata you choose to keep — strip GPS and serial numbers for a client, keep everything for the archive, from the same shoot. Name collisions get Finder-style suffixes; the originals and their sidecars are never touched.

Export dialog — per-category metadata strip
06Maker notes

Maker notes, in plain English.

Canon, Nikon, Fujifilm, Sony, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax, Leica, Sigma — the model- and firmware-specific data every other tool dumps as raw enums, translated. Shooting mode, drive mode, stabilization, dynamic-range optimizer, film simulation, lifetime shutter count. And where the camera focused, the actual AF point drawn on the frame.

Inspector — maker-note panel
07Compare

Diff two frames like code.

Side by side, with only the fields that differ highlighted. Why does this shot look off from the rest of the set? Did the batch edit actually land? Pin a keeper, arrow-key through the candidates, and copy a differing value across with one click.

Compare view — field-by-field diff
08Outputs

Turn the shoot into a document.

Not just a folder of exported files — a CSV shoot log a producer opens in Numbers, and a printable PDF a client marks up. Every one reads from the current view: whatever you've selected, filtered, or scoped to a folder, in that order.

OrientationPortraitLandscape
ThemeLightDark
travel-collection-log.csv110 rows · 18 columns
filenamedate_takenmakemodellensfocalfshutterisogps_lat
_DSC9531.NEF2010-10-08 09:25:43NIKOND90AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED62mm7.11/800s200
_DSC9584.NEF2010-10-09 09:01:48NIKOND90AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED56mm81/1000s200
DSC_2342.NEF2011-02-26 12:32:38NIKOND7000AF Micro-Nikkor 60mm f/2.8D60mm6.71/250s200
DSC01165.JPG2011-09-27 17:24:16SONYDSC-HX9V4.28-68.48mm f/3.3-5.924mm51/320s10035.33171
DSC01235.JPG2011-09-28 12:06:34SONYDSC-HX9V4.28-68.48mm f/3.3-5.968mm141/200s10035.33170
DSC01327.JPG2011-09-29 10:22:08SONYDSC-HX9V4.28-68.48mm f/3.3-5.96mm3.51/800s10035.33180

filename → file path · GPS split into plottable lat / lon · proper quoting

A page of a Classic contact-sheet PDF — a 4-by-5 grid of frames from a real shoot on a white page, each captioned with its filename and capture time.
Classic, light — a grid of frames, filename and time under each. More per row in landscape.
A page of a Contact Table PDF — a true-black page, one row per frame: a large preview beside two columns of labelled fields (camera, lens, exposure, place, keywords, credit, dimensions).
Table, dark — a large preview beside two columns of the fields that matter.

Export CSV

The current view as a spreadsheet — a fixed, sensible column set from filename through file path, GPS split into lat and lon for plotting.

Classic sheet

A contact-print grid, each frame captioned with its filename and capture date. Column count follows the page size, not a fixed guess.

Contact table

One row per frame: a large preview beside exposure, place, keywords, credit and dimensions in two tidy columns.

09Craft

Built like an instrument, not a dashboard.

Native & fast

A real Mac app built on Rust, not a browser in a costume. The virtualized grid scrolls a 10,000-photo library without a stutter; ExifTool reads and writes in a background pool that never freezes the window.

Non-destructive

Edits are written to XMP sidecars — your original RAW and JPEG files are never touched. Prefer writing in place? That's opt-in, and ExifTool keeps a backup of the first pre-edit state.

Yours, offline

No account, no sign-in, no telemetry. Map tiles and place-name lookups use the network when you're online; everything else works with the Wi-Fi off. Your library and its metadata never leave your Mac.

Powered by ExifTool

The bundled, current ExifTool binary does the actual reading and writing — twenty years of reverse-engineered maker-note coverage for every major brand. ExifXplorer is the interface it never had.

10Formats

It reads what you shoot.

Everyday formats and RAW from every major brand, plus the awkward ones — medium-format backs, Foveon files, action-cam RAW. If ExifTool can open it, so can ExifXplorer.

JPEGPNGHEICPSDTIFF
  • Canon · CR2 / CR3 / CRW
  • Nikon · NEF
  • Sony · ARW
  • Fujifilm · RAF
  • Adobe · DNG
  • Panasonic · RW2
  • Olympus / OM · ORF
  • Ricoh / Pentax
  • Leica
  • Sigma · X3F
  • Phase One · IIQ
  • Hasselblad · 3FR
  • Minolta · MRW
  • Samsung · SRW
  • GoPro · GPR
11Pricing

Try it on your own library first.

Download the 7-day trial and point it at a real shoot. Every feature, your own library, no card required. At the end of the week the app asks you to buy a license to keep going — a one-time $7.99, no subscription, and free updates within this major version.

ExifXplorermacOS
$7.99one-time purchase

free updates within this major version

  • Every feature — no gates, no upsells
  • Runs on all the Macs you own
  • Reads and writes offline; no account
  • 14 days refund, no questions

Secure checkout via Paddle

12FAQ
Does it change my photos?+

By default, no. Edits are written to XMP sidecar files next to your originals — the RAW and JPEG files themselves are untouched, exactly how Lightroom and Bridge work. Writing directly into the file is an opt-in setting, and even then ExifTool keeps a backup of the first pre-edit version.

Does it need an internet connection?+

No. Map tiles and reverse-geocoding (turning coordinates into place names) use the network when you're online, and that's it. Reading, editing, renaming, exporting — all fully offline. There's no account and nothing to sign into.

Is there a Windows version?+

Not yet. macOS is the focus for launch. A Windows build is on the roadmap but not scheduled — the honest answer is it depends on demand after launch.

Can I get the metadata out as a spreadsheet?+

Yes. Export CSV writes the current view — every filtered or selected photo, in the order shown — as a spreadsheet with a fixed, sensible column set: filename, capture date, camera, lens, exposure, GPS (split into lat and lon), place, keywords, credit, dimensions, and file path. For a reference you can print or mark up there are PDF contact sheets in two layouts — a classic grid or a detailed table — each in portrait or landscape, light or dark.

Which ExifTool does it use?+

A current ExifTool binary is bundled with the app and updated with every release. That means new camera formats and maker-note fixes reach you on the app's schedule, not whenever a system-wide ExifTool happens to get upgraded.

How does the trial work?+

Seven days, every feature, no card. When the week is up the app stops opening your library and shows a single screen asking you to buy a license — a one-time $7.99. Your photos and any edits you saved are on disk exactly as you left them; only the app is locked until you enter a license.

Refunds?+

Within 14 days of purchase, email support@exifxplorer.com and you'll get a full refund — no questions. Checkout and refunds are handled by Paddle as the merchant of record.

Get ExifXplorer

See what your camera actually recorded.

Version 0.1.6  ·  macOS 12+  ·  Apple Silicon  ·  11 MB  ·  signed & notarized