A high-performance Rust implementation of ExifTool for metadata extraction and manipulation.

OxiDex is a memory-safe, drop-in replacement for the Perl-based ExifTool. It provides the same comprehensive metadata support (32,677+ tags across 140+ formats) with significantly better performance through Rust's zero-cost abstractions and parallel processing.

• 3.7-9.7x faster than Perl ExifTool (see benchmarks)
• Memory safe - No buffer overflows, use-after-free, or data races
• Drop-in compatible - Same CLI arguments as original ExifTool
• Cross-platform - Static binaries for Linux, macOS, and Windows
• Library + CLI - Use as a Rust crate or standalone binary

Pre-built binaries available on the Releases page.

# Extract all metadata
oxidex photo.jpg

# Extract specific tags
oxidex -Make -Model -DateTimeOriginal photo.jpg

# Write metadata
oxidex -Artist="Your Name" photo.jpg

# Batch processing
oxidex -r /path/to/photos/

# JSON output
oxidex -json photo.jpg

• User Guide - Installation, usage, and format support
• Benchmarks - Performance comparison with Perl ExifTool
• API Reference - Rust library documentation
• GitHub Issues - Bug reports and feature requests

Install development tools via Homebrew:

brew install cargo-watch cargo-nextest cargo-audit cargo-outdated

Install additional tools via Cargo:

cargo install cargo-tarpaulin

This project uses just as a command runner. Run just to see all available commands:

just          # List all commands
just ci       # Run full CI checks
just test     # Run all tests
just lint     # Run clippy linter
just fmt      # Format code

Contributions welcome! Please ensure:

• Tests pass (cargo test)
• Code is formatted (cargo fmt)
• Clippy lints pass (cargo clippy)

GPL-3.0

Inspired by and compatible with ExifTool by Phil Harvey. OxiDex is an independent reimplementation.