File Metadata Analyzer

What Is File Metadata Analysis

File metadata is structured information embedded within files that describes properties beyond the visible content — creation dates, modification timestamps, author names, software versions, GPS coordinates, camera settings, and more. This metadata exists in formats like EXIF (images), ID3 (audio), XMP (Adobe files), and document properties (Office, PDF) and is often invisible to casual users.

File metadata analysis is critical for digital forensics, privacy protection, and security investigations. Metadata can reveal who created a document, when and where a photo was taken, what software was used, and even the history of edits — information that the file's creator may not realize they are sharing.

Common Metadata Types

Common Use Cases

• Digital forensics: Extract timestamps, author information, and software identifiers from files during investigations to establish provenance and timeline
• Privacy auditing: Check files before publication to ensure they do not contain sensitive metadata like GPS coordinates, author names, or internal file paths
• Document discovery: During legal eDiscovery, extract metadata from thousands of documents to filter by date, author, and modification history
• Malware analysis: Examine PE headers and embedded metadata in suspicious executables to identify compile times, development tools, and potential attribution data
• Photography verification: Verify the authenticity of images by checking EXIF data for consistency with claimed capture conditions

Best Practices

1. Strip metadata before publishing — Remove EXIF data (especially GPS coordinates) from images before sharing publicly. Many social media platforms do this automatically, but email and direct file sharing do not.
2. Use metadata for forensic timelines — File creation, modification, and access timestamps from metadata combined with filesystem timestamps help reconstruct sequences of events during investigations.
3. Cross-reference metadata across files — Compare author names, software versions, and timestamps across multiple files to identify common origins or detect forgeries.
4. Be aware of metadata persistence — Converting file formats or copying content may or may not preserve metadata. EXIF survives many image operations but is lost in screenshots. Office metadata persists across save-as operations.
5. Document your analysis — When using metadata as evidence, document the extraction process, tools used, and chain of custody. Metadata can be modified, so its evidentiary value depends on proper handling.

Every digital photo contains hidden metadata called EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) data. This metadata is automatically embedded by your camera or smartphone when you take a photo, recording dozens of technical details about how the image was captured.\n\n### What EXIF Records\n\nCamera Information: The make and model of the camera or smartphone, along with the specific lens used. This helps photographers track which equipment produced which results.\n\nExposure Settings: Aperture (f-stop), shutter speed, ISO sensitivity, and focal length. These settings are essential for photographers learning to reproduce similar shots or understanding why an image turned out a certain way.\n\nProcessing Details: White balance, metering mode, exposure program (manual, aperture priority, etc.), flash status, and color space. These reveal the camera's automatic processing decisions.\n\nTimestamps: The exact date and time the photo was taken, which may differ from the file system modification date if the file was copied or edited.\n\n### Common EXIF Fields\n\n| Field | Example Value | Purpose |\n|-------|---------------|----------|\n| Camera Model | Canon EOS R5 | Identify equipment |\n| Lens | RF 24-70mm f/2.8 | Lens identification |\n| Aperture | f/2.8 | Depth of field control |\n| Shutter Speed | 1/250s | Motion freeze/blur |\n| ISO | 400 | Light sensitivity |\n| Focal Length | 50mm | Zoom/perspective |\n| Flash | Off | Lighting conditions |

Many smartphones and GPS-enabled cameras embed geographic coordinates directly into photo metadata. This GPS data records exactly where a photo was taken, which can be both useful and a privacy concern.\n\n### How GPS Data Is Stored\n\nGPS coordinates are stored in the EXIF data as latitude and longitude values, typically in degrees, minutes, and seconds (DMS) format. Some images also include altitude data. This tool converts these values to both DMS notation and decimal degrees for easy use with mapping services.\n\n### Privacy Implications\n\nGPS-tagged photos can inadvertently reveal:\n- Home address: Photos taken at home expose your exact location\n- Workplace: Regular photos from the same location reveal work patterns\n- Daily routine: Time-stamped GPS data can map your movements\n- Children's locations: School and activity photos can expose children's whereabouts\n\n### Recommendations\n\n1. Audit before sharing: Use this tool to check what GPS data is in your photos before posting to social media\n2. Disable geotagging: Turn off location services for your camera app if you don't need it\n3. Strip metadata: Use EXIF removal tools before sharing photos publicly\n4. Social media settings: Most platforms strip EXIF data on upload, but verify this for your platform

SHA-256 (Secure Hash Algorithm 256-bit) generates a unique cryptographic fingerprint for any file. Even a single bit change in the file produces a completely different hash value, making it an essential tool for verifying file integrity.\n\n### Use Cases for File Hashing\n\nSoftware verification: Compare a downloaded file's hash against the publisher's checksum to confirm it has not been tampered with or corrupted during transfer.\n\nBackup validation: Hash files before and after backup to confirm backups are exact copies of the originals. This is critical for disaster recovery planning.\n\nDigital forensics: In legal and forensic contexts, file hashes serve as evidence that a file has not been altered since it was collected.\n\nDeduplication: Identify duplicate files across different directories or storage systems by comparing their hash values rather than their names.

PDF files contain an Info dictionary with metadata about the document's origin and content. This metadata is often overlooked but can reveal important information about who created the document and how.\n\n### Fields Extracted from PDFs\n\n- Title & Author: The document's title and author as set in the authoring application\n- Creator & Producer: The software used to create the PDF (e.g., Microsoft Word, Adobe InDesign) and the PDF library that generated it (e.g., Adobe PDF Library, wkhtmltopdf)\n- Creation & Modification Dates: When the document was first created and last modified\n- Page Count: Total number of pages in the document\n- PDF Version: The PDF specification version (1.0 through 2.0)\n- Encryption Status: Whether the PDF is password-protected\n\n### Privacy Considerations\n\nPDF metadata can inadvertently expose the author's name, their organization, the software they use, and the operating system version. Before distributing sensitive PDFs, consider reviewing and sanitizing this metadata.

Audio files store metadata in structured tag formats that music players and library managers use to organize and display track information.\n\n### Tag Formats Supported\n\n- ID3v1/ID3v2: Used in MP3 files. ID3v2 supports rich metadata including album art, lyrics, and extended fields\n- Vorbis Comments: Used in OGG, FLAC, and Opus files\n- APE Tags: Used in APE (Monkey's Audio) and WavPack files\n- MP4/M4A Tags: Used in AAC and Apple Lossless files\n\n### Fields Extracted\n\n| Tag Field | Description |\n|-----------|-------------|\n| Title | Song or track title |\n| Artist | Performing artist |\n| Album | Album name |\n| Year | Release year |\n| Genre | Music genre classification |\n| Track | Track number and total |\n| Duration | Playback length |\n| Bitrate | Data rate (kbps) |\n| Sample Rate | Audio sample frequency (kHz) |\n| Codec | Audio compression format |\n| Album Art | Embedded cover image |

Microsoft Office documents (DOCX, XLSX, PPTX) and OpenDocument formats (ODT, ODS, ODP) are ZIP archives containing XML files. The metadata is stored in two key files within the archive.\n\n### Core Properties (docProps/core.xml)\n\nBased on the Dublin Core metadata standard:\n- Creator: Original document author\n- Last Modified By: Person who last saved the document\n- Created/Modified: Timestamps for creation and last edit\n- Title, Subject, Keywords: Document classification metadata\n- Category & Description: Organizational metadata\n- Revision: Number of times the document has been saved\n\n### Application Properties (docProps/app.xml)\n\n- Application: Software used (e.g., Microsoft Office Word)\n- App Version: Exact application version number\n- Company: Organization name from the application settings\n- Pages, Words, Characters: Document statistics (Word)\n- Slides: Slide count (PowerPoint)\n- Template: Document template used\n\n### Security Implications\n\nOffice metadata commonly leaks: employee names, internal company names, software licensing details, revision history showing editing patterns, and template paths that reveal internal file structures. Audit documents before external distribution.