Question 1

How to install Exiv2 on Windows?

Accepted Answer

Use Visual Studio with Conan for dependencies or CMake presets, as outlined in the README for Visual Studio builds. Ensure Python3 and CMake are installed, and follow the steps in the Build and Install section.

Question 2

Exiv2 vs exiftool: which is better for command-line metadata editing?

Accepted Answer

Exiv2 is a C++ library with a CLI tool, ideal for integration into C++ applications, while exiftool is Perl-based and more script-friendly. Exiv2 offers thread safety and extensive C++ API, but exiftool has broader format support out-of-the-box.

Question 3

How to read EXIF data from an image using Exiv2 in C++?

Accepted Answer

Include <exiv2/exiv2.hpp>, initialize the XMP parser, and use the ImageFactory to open an image. Sample code is provided in README-SAMPLES.md, such as exifprint.cpp for basic metadata extraction.

Question 4

Can Exiv2 handle HEIC and AVIF files?

Accepted Answer

Yes, with BMFF support enabled via the CMake option -DEXIV2_ENABLE_BMFF=ON, which allows reading metadata from formats like CR3, HEIF, HEIC, and AVIF, as noted in the BMFF section.

Question 5

Is Exiv2 thread-safe for multi-threaded applications?

Accepted Answer

Partially: Exif and IPTC code is reentrant, but XMP requires initialization with Exiv2::XmpParser::initialize() before threads start, and namespace registration is not thread-safe, as detailed in the Thread Safety section.

Question 6

How to build Exiv2 from source on Linux?

Accepted Answer

Use CMake with commands like cmake -S . -B build and cmake --build build, as shown in the Build, Install, Use on UNIX-like systems section. Dependencies like zlib and expat may need installation via package managers.

Exiv2

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