How to extract metadata from .heic image files on Windows 11 with Python?

I found a way to extract the metadata in Python 3.10 on Windows 11:

import subprocess

def get_photo_metadata(filepath):
    filepath = filepath.replace('/', '\\')
    filepath = filepath.replace('\\', '\\\\')
    cmd = f'cmd.exe /c wmic datafile "{filepath}" list full'
    output = subprocess.Popen(
        cmd,
        stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
        stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
        shell=True,
    ).communicate()[0]
    output_utf = output.decode('utf-8', errors='ignore')
    return output_utf

print(
    get_photo_metadata("path/to/img.HEIC")
)

This prints:

AccessMask=1507775
Archive=TRUE
Caption=C:\Backup\Pictures_2023\CHINA\202308_b\IMG_0620.HEIC
Compressed=FALSE
CompressionMethod=
CreationClassName=CIM_LogicalFile
CreationDate=20230817080632.333836+120
CSCreationClassName=Win32_ComputerSystem
CSName=SKIKK-2022
Description=C:\Backup\Pictures_2023\CHINA\202308_b\IMG_0620.HEIC
Drive=c:
EightDotThreeFileName=c:\backup\pictures_2023\china\202308_b\img_06~3.hei
Encrypted=FALSE
EncryptionMethod=
Extension=HEIC
FileName=IMG_0620
FileSize=1823601
FileType=HEIC File
FSCreationClassName=Win32_FileSystem
FSName=NTFS
Hidden=FALSE
InstallDate=20230817080632.333836+120
InUseCount=
LastAccessed=20230904163653.526369+120
LastModified=20230808123918.000000+120
Manufacturer=
Name=C:\Backup\Pictures_2023\CHINA\202308_b\IMG_0620.HEIC
Path=\backup\pictures_2023\china\202308_b\
Readable=TRUE
Status=OK
System=FALSE
Version=
Writeable=TRUE

Note: I made the following script to extract dates from the photo:

import subprocess
import re
import datetime

p = re.compile(r'(20\d\d)(\d\d)(\d\d)(\d\d)(\d\d)(\d\d)\.(\d*)')

def get_photo_dates(filepath) -> datetime.datetime:
    filepath = filepath.replace('/', '\\')
    filepath = filepath.replace('\\', '\\\\')
    cmd = f'cmd.exe /c wmic datafile "{filepath}" list full'
    output = subprocess.Popen(
        cmd,
        stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
        stderr=subprocess.PIPE,
        shell=True,
    ).communicate()[0]
    output_utf = output.decode('utf-8', errors='ignore')
    dates = []
    for m in p.finditer(output_utf):
        dates.append(
            datetime.datetime(
                year        = int(m.group(1)),
                month       = int(m.group(2)),
                day         = int(m.group(3)),
                hour        = int(m.group(4)),
                minute      = int(m.group(5)),
                second      = int(m.group(6)),
                microsecond = int(m.group(7)),
            )
        )
    return sorted(dates)

I too have been struggling with this. Exiftool works well, but only supports windows (I'm tearing my hair out trying to find an OS-agnostic alternative that can be installed easily from requirements.txt).

Anyhoo, here you go:

import exiftool               # Install PyExifTool
exiftool_path = os.path.abspath("./exiftool.exe")
os.environ['EXIFTOOL_PATH'] = exiftool_path

def get_metadata(files):
    metadata = []
    with exiftool.ExifToolHelper() as et:
        metadata = et.get_metadata(files)
        return metadata

Download & rename exiftool as per https://exiftool.org/install.html but instead of putting it in your windows folder, put it in the same folder as your script. My import statement takes care of the 'PATH' stuff.

The 'files' variable can be a path, or a list of paths (for working with batches). It returns a list of dicts - one for each file.

Apparently downgrading to exifread 2.x also solves this issue. See comment here: https://github.com/ianare/exif-py/issues/184#issuecomment-1856296220vn

For a more OS-agnostic approach, this piece of code retrieves the original date and time from the file while also returning all EXIF tags.

from PIL import Image
from PIL.ExifTags import TAGS
from pillow_heif import register_heif_opener

def get_date_taken_from_heic(heic_file_path):
    """
    Extracts the 'Date Taken' (DateTimeOriginal) from a HEIC file.

    Args:
        heic_file_path (str): The path to the HEIC file.

    Returns:
        str or None: The date and time string if found, otherwise None.
    """
    try:
        # Register the HEIF opener to allow Pillow to open HEIC files
        register_heif_opener()

        with Image.open(heic_file_path) as img:
            exif_data = img.getexif()

            if exif_data:
                # Print all EXIF tags and values
                for key, value in exif_data.items():
                    tag_name = TAGS.get(key, key)
                    print(f"Tag: {tag_name}, Value: {value}")

                # Find the tag for DateTime
                for tag_id, value in exif_data.items():
                    tag_name = TAGS.get(tag_id, tag_id)
                    # if tag_name == 'DateTimeOriginal':
                    if tag_name == 'DateTime':
                        return value
            return None
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error processing {heic_file_path}: {e}")
        return None

# Example usage:
heic_file = "your_image.heic"  # Replace with the actual path to your HEIC file
date_taken = get_date_taken_from_heic(heic_file)

if date_taken:
    print(f"Date Taken for '{heic_file}': {date_taken}")
else:
    print(f"Date Taken information not found in '{heic_file}'.")