Image metadata

Every image that you upload to Sirv contains potentially useful data - in EXIF, IPTC and XMP formats. Information such as creation date, copyright, GPS coordinates, camera settings often exists within the image. Use it in all kinds of ways - to overlay unique text on your images; geolocate images on maps; categorize your images; or protect your ownership rights.

View your EXIF, IPTC and XMP metadata

Sirv reads the metadata of your images and saves it into a conveniently accessible JSON text file.

To see the file, simply add ?info to any image URL. For example:

https://demo.sirv.com/example.jpg?info

Open that URL and you'll see a layout like this:

The metadata also shows any dynamic image options you may have applied, for example:

https://demo.sirv.com/example.jpg?h=400&saturation=-50&brightness=-15&vignette.value=30

Metadata in text overlays

One powerful usage of metadata is for text overlays. By referencing the metadata name inside curly braces ${}, it will be displayed on the image. For example, ${EXIF.Copyright} will display the EXIF copyright data.

This example adds two metadata fields: EXIF.Model (the camera model) and IPTC.By-line (the artist). See how it is overlayed in the bottom right corner of the image:

https://demo.sirv.com/example.jpg?text.size=90%&text.color=white&text=Shot on ${EXIF.Model} by ${IPTC.By-line}

The example below has text positioned to the south, with a partially transparent background and red Kreon font:

https://demo.sirv.com/example.jpg?text=Credit: ${IPTC.CopyrightNotice}&text.position=south&text.color=771820&text.size=82%&text.background.opacity=27&text.background.color=white&text.font.family=Kreon

The image customizer in your Sirv account will help you style your text the way you want it. Choose the location, color, font, outline and background of the text overlays. Copy the URL once you're happy with the text:

Metadata for photographers

Image metadata usually contains a lot of interesting information for photographers. Digital cameras automatically record the exposure, aperture, flash, ISO, geolocation and more. The example below displays the status of the camera flash when photographed:

https://demo.sirv.com/example.jpg?h=400&text.color=white&text.size=30%&text.font.family=Rock%20Salt&text=Flash: ${XMP.FlashMode}

You can add several parameters, with line breaks in between using , %0A like so:

https://demo.sirv.com/example.jpg?h=400&text.color=white&text.size=50%&text.align=right&text.font.family=Shadows%20Into%20Light%20Two&text=Aperture ${EXIF.ApertureValue}%0AISO ${EXIF.ISO}%0AExposure ${EXIF.ExposureTime}

An image can contain up to 4 sections of text, placed anywhere on the image. Each section can contain as many meta parameters as you wish, with up to 100 characters.

Metadata in ecommerce

XMP, IPTC and EXIF data can be useful for marketing automation in ecommerce. For example, if your product names, prices or descriptions are included in the metadata, you can automatically overlay relevant text on every image:

Your entire product range could have such overlays - the next image has identical options in the URL, yet shows different text, thanks to its meta:

You could even create personalized, targeted messages containing your customers' names. Compare the two images below:

Both those images have the same options, except for the names Jack & Jill, which could be fetched automatically from your customer database. This mass-personalization of imagery allows you to create highly targeted social media and campaigns.

There are all kinds ways to use your EXIF data. Consider how a photographic tour company might overlay metadata in its marketing campaigns:

https://demo.sirv.com/Examples/strabo-sahara.jpg?text.0.text=Join our next tour %26 take photos like this!&text.1.text=${EXIF.ImageDescription}&text.2.text=Coordinates: ${EXIF.GPSLatitude}, ${EXIF.GPSLongitude}&text.0.color=white&text.1.color=white&text.2.color=white&text.0.position=north&text.1.position.gravity=southwest&text.1.position.x=0&text.1.position.y=-40&text.2.position=southwest&text.0.font.family=Fjalla%20One&text.1.font.family=Fjalla%20One&text.2.font.family=Fjalla%20One&text.1.size=15&text.2.size=40&text.0.size=60&text.1.opacity=70&text.2.opacity=70&watermark=/Examples/strabo-logo.png&watermark.opacity=70&watermark.scale.height=40&watermark.position=southeast&watermark.canvas.height=150%&watermark.canvas.width=112%

Meta stripping

Sirv automatically removes metadata immediately before processing an image, as part of its image optimization process. This helps reduce image file size, for faster loading. (Meta is always preserved in the original master image).

If you prefer to keep your copyright and other EXIF/XMP/IPTC data in your served images, go to your Default profile and change 'Strip image metadata' to 'Disabled':

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