README

A lightweight, dependency-free EXIF reader with human-friendly formatting. Designed for photographers who want clean, readable exposure data.

Created by Krisztian Szalay.

Features

Read EXIF metadata from JPEG files:
- camera model
- focal length
- aperture
- shutter speed
- ISO
- orientation
- creation date
- GPS (converted to decimal lat/lng)
Returns both raw EXIF strings and human-formatted values.
Exposure formatting modes:
- raw – original EXIF values (280/10)
- human – clean numeric values (28, 4.6, 1/125)
- human_with_units – photographer-friendly (28 mm, f/4.6, 1/125 s)
Robust date extraction with fallback chain: DateTimeOriginal → DateTimeDigitized → DateTime
Optional: keep full raw EXIF arrays in the output.
Simple and tiny — ideal for hobby, portfolio, or micro-CMS photo systems.

Requirements

PHP 8.1+
PHP exif extension
PHP gd extension (optional, only needed for orientation tools)
Composer

Note: PNG, WebP and many web formats do not contain EXIF metadata.

Installation

composer require szalayk/get-exif

Basic usage

use Szalayk\GetExif\GetExif;

$g = new GetExif();

// Read only exposure data, formatted with units
$data = $g->read('/path/to/photo.jpg', [
    'fields' => GetExif::FIELDS_EXPOSURE,
    'format' => GetExif::FORMAT_HUMAN_WITH_UNITS
]);

print_r($data);

Full Example (all fields)

$data = $g->read('/path/to/photo.jpg', [
    'fields' => GetExif::FIELDS_ALL,
    'format' => GetExif::FORMAT_HUMAN,
    'keep_raw_keys' => true
]);

echo $data['created'];       // "2020-05-26 14:32:18"
echo $data['camera'];        // "Nikon D850"
print_r($data['geolocation']); // ['lat' => ..., 'lng' => ...]

API Details

`read(string $filePath, array $options = []): array`

Option	Type	Default	Description
`fields`	int	`FIELDS_EXPOSURE`	Which EXIF groups to return.
`format`	int	`FORMAT_RAW`	Formatting style for exposure values.
`keep_raw_keys`	bool	false	Keep full, untouched EXIF keys in output.

Available field sets

Constant	Description
`GetExif::FIELDS_EXPOSURE`	focal length, aperture, shutter, ISO
`GetExif::FIELDS_BASIC`	camera, created, exposure
`GetExif::FIELDS_ALL`	all EXIF data the library supports

Formatting modes

Constant	Example	Description
`FORMAT_RAW`	`280/10`	untouched EXIF
`FORMAT_HUMAN`	`28`, `4.6`, `1/125`	readable numbers
`FORMAT_HUMAN_WITH_UNITS`	`28 mm`, `f/4.6`, `1/125 s`	photographer-friendly

Example Output

{
  "camera": "Nikon D850",
  "created": "2020-05-26 14:32:18",
  "exposure": {
    "focal_length": {
      "raw": "280/10",
      "value": "28",
      "value_with_unit": "28 mm"
    },
    "aperture": {
      "raw": "46/10",
      "value": "4.6",
      "value_with_unit": "f/4.6"
    },
    "shutter_speed": {
      "raw": "10/1250",
      "value": "1/125",
      "value_with_unit": "1/125 s"
    },
    "iso": 400
  },
  "geolocation": {
    "lat": 47.12345,
    "lng": 19.98765
  }
}

Error Handling

The library throws GetExifException for:

file not found / unreadable
not a JPEG file
EXIF block missing or corrupted
invalid EXIF format

All exceptions contain human-readable error messages.

Tips

For large uploads, configure upload_max_filesize and post_max_size.
For web apps: consider adding auto-rotation from EXIF Orientation (feature in development).
Best results when photographing in RAW+JPEG — some camera brands store richer EXIF in JPEG.

Contributing

Pull requests are welcome. For issues, bug reports or feature suggestions, please open a GitHub Issue.

License

This project is released under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for full details.

szalayk / get-exif

Maintainers

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