Working with IPTC IIM metadata Leave feedback

What is IPTC IIM?

The IPTC Information Interchange Model (IIM) is a set of metadata properties that can be applied to text, images, and other media types. The standard also defines a complex data structure that is utilized to store the properties. The IPTC IIM was developed by the International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC) to expedite the international exchange of news among newspapers and news agencies. Nowadays it’s also commonly used by photographers. IPTC IIM metadata can be embedded into a variety of image formats such as JPEG, TIFF, etc.

Note
For more information on the IPTC IIM standard please refer to https://www.iptc.org/std/IIM/4.2/specification/IIMV4.2.pdf.

Reading basic IPTC IIM properties

To access IPTC metadata in a file of any supported format, GroupDocs.Metadata provides the IIptc.iptc_package property. The following are the steps to read IPTC metadata:

Load a file that contains IPTC metadata
Extract the IPTC metadata package using the IIptc.iptc_package property
Read properties of the IptcApplicationRecord and IptcEnvelopeRecord class instances

The following code snippet gets IPTC properties of a JPEG image and displays them on the screen.

advanced_usage.working_with_metadata_standards.iptc.read_basic_iptc_properties

def run():
    with gm.Metadata(constants.jpeg_with_iptc) as metadata:
        root = metadata.get_root_package()
        if hasattr(root, "iptc_package") and root.iptc_package is not None:
            if root.iptc_package.envelope_record is not None:
                print(root.iptc_package.envelope_record.date_sent)
                print(root.iptc_package.envelope_record.destination)
                print(root.iptc_package.envelope_record.file_format)
                print(root.iptc_package.envelope_record.file_format_version)

                # ...

            if root.iptc_package.application_record is not None:
                print(root.iptc_package.application_record.headline)
                print(root.iptc_package.application_record.by_line)
                print(root.iptc_package.application_record.by_line_title)
                print(root.iptc_package.application_record.caption_abstract)
                print(root.iptc_package.application_record.city)
                print(root.iptc_package.application_record.date_created)
                print(root.iptc_package.application_record.release_date)

                # ...

Reading all IPTC IIM datasets

In some cases, it’s necessary to read all IPTC datasets (metadata properties) from a file, including custom ones. To achieve this the GroupDocs.Metadata API provides direct access to the IPTC datasets extracted from a file.

Load a file that contains IPTC metadata
Extract the IPTC metadata package using the IIptc.iptc_package property
Iterate through all IPTC datasets

advanced_usage.working_with_metadata_standards.iptc.read_iptc_datasets

def run():
    with gm.Metadata(constants.psd_with_iptc) as metadata:
        root = metadata.get_root_package()
        if hasattr(root, "iptc_package") and root.iptc_package is not None:
            for dataset in root.iptc_package.to_dataset_list():
                print(dataset.record_number)
                print(dataset.dataset_number)
                print(dataset.alternative_name)
                if dataset.value.type == gm.common.MetadataPropertyType.PROPERTY_VALUE_ARRAY:
                    for val in dataset.value.to_array(gm.common.PropertyValue):
                        print(f"{val}, ", end="")
                    print()
                else:
                    print(dataset.value)

Updating IPTC IIM properties

The GroupDocs.Metadata API facilitates the user to update IPTC metadata in a convenient way - using the IptcRecordSet class properties. Follow the below steps to update IPTC metadata in a file of any supported format.

Load a file that contains IPTC metadata
Extract the IPTC metadata package using the IIptc.iptc_package property
Assign values to desired IPTC properties
Save the changes

advanced_usage.working_with_metadata_standards.iptc.update_iptc_properties

def run():
    with gm.Metadata(constants.input_jpeg) as metadata:
        root = metadata.get_root_package()
        # Set the IPTC package if it's missing
        if not hasattr(root, "iptc_package") or root.iptc_package is None:
            root.iptc_package = gm.standards.iptc.IptcRecordSet()

        if root.iptc_package.envelope_record is None:
            root.iptc_package.envelope_record = gm.standards.iptc.IptcEnvelopeRecord()
        root.iptc_package.envelope_record.date_sent = datetime.now()
        root.iptc_package.envelope_record.product_id = str(uuid.uuid4())

        # ...

        if root.iptc_package.application_record is None:
            root.iptc_package.application_record = gm.standards.iptc.IptcApplicationRecord()
        root.iptc_package.application_record.by_line = "GroupDocs"
        root.iptc_package.application_record.headline = "test"
        root.iptc_package.application_record.by_line_title = "code sample"
        root.iptc_package.application_record.release_date = date.today()

        # ...

        metadata.save(constants.output_jpeg)

Adding or updating custom IPTC IIM datasets

The GroupDocs.Metadata API allows adding or updating custom datasets in an IPTC package.

Load a file that contains IPTC metadata
Extract the IPTC metadata package using the IIptc.iptc_package property
Set the IPTC package if it’s missing
Add any number of custom datasets to the package
Save the changes

advanced_usage.working_with_metadata_standards.iptc.set_custom_iptc_dataset

def run():
    with gm.Metadata(constants.psd_with_iptc) as metadata:
        root = metadata.get_root_package()
        if not hasattr(root, "iptc_package") or root.iptc_package is None:
            root.iptc_package = gm.standards.iptc.IptcRecordSet()

        # Add a known property using the DataSet API
        root.iptc_package.set(gm.standards.iptc.IptcDataSet(int(gm.standards.iptc.IptcRecordType.APPLICATION_RECORD), int(gm.standards.iptc.IptcApplicationRecordDataSet.BYLINE_TITLE), "test code sample"))

        # Add a custom IPTC DataSet
        root.iptc_package.set(gm.standards.iptc.IptcDataSet(255, 255, bytes([1, 2, 3])))

        metadata.save(constants.output_psd)

Adding repeatable IPTC IIM datasets

According to the IPTC IIM specification some datasets can be added to a record multiple times. The code snippet below demonstrates how to add a repeatable dataset to a record.

advanced_usage.working_with_metadata_standards.iptc.add_repeatable_iptc_dataset

def run():
    with gm.Metadata(constants.psd_with_iptc) as metadata:
        root = metadata.get_root_package()
        if not hasattr(root, "iptc_package") or root.iptc_package is None:
            root.iptc_package = gm.standards.iptc.IptcRecordSet()
        root.iptc_package.add(gm.standards.iptc.IptcDataSet(int(gm.standards.iptc.IptcRecordType.APPLICATION_RECORD), int(gm.standards.iptc.IptcApplicationRecordDataSet.KEYWORDS), "keyword 1"))
        root.iptc_package.add(gm.standards.iptc.IptcDataSet(int(gm.standards.iptc.IptcRecordType.APPLICATION_RECORD), int(gm.standards.iptc.IptcApplicationRecordDataSet.KEYWORDS), "keyword 2"))
        root.iptc_package.add(gm.standards.iptc.IptcDataSet(int(gm.standards.iptc.IptcRecordType.APPLICATION_RECORD), int(gm.standards.iptc.IptcApplicationRecordDataSet.KEYWORDS), "keyword 3"))
        metadata.save(constants.output_psd)

    # Check the output file
    with gm.Metadata(constants.output_psd) as metadata:
        root = metadata.get_root_package()
        keywords_property = root.iptc_package.application_record[int(gm.standards.iptc.IptcApplicationRecordDataSet.KEYWORDS)]
        for value in keywords_property.value.to_array(gm.common.PropertyValue):
            print(value)

Removing IPTC IIM metadata

To remove the IPTC package from a file just assign None to the IIptc.iptc_package property. The code sample below shows how to remove IPTC metadata from a file.

advanced_usage.working_with_metadata_standards.iptc.remove_iptc_metadata

def run():
    with gm.Metadata(constants.jpeg_with_iptc) as metadata:
        root = metadata.get_root_package()
        if hasattr(root, "iptc_package"):
            root.iptc_package = None
            metadata.save(constants.output_jpeg)

More resources

GitHub examples

You may easily run the code above and see the feature in action in our GitHub examples:

Free online document metadata management App

Along with full featured Python via .NET library we provide simple, but powerful free Apps. You are welcome to view and edit metadata of PDF, DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX, XLS, XLSX, emails, images and more with our free online Free Online Document Metadata Viewing and Editing App.

We value your opinion. Your feedback will help us improve our documentation.