ExifTool Verbose Option

With the Verbose option enabled, ExifTool prints a verbose log to the console as it extracts the meta information from a file.

The -v option of the exiftool application allows control of the Verbose setting. A number between 0 and 4 may be specified with the -v option to set a specific Verbose level. For example, -v2 sets Verbose = 2. Without a number, -v increments the current Verbose level by one. Multiple -v options are allowed, so the following two examples give the same result:

exiftool -v -v -v test.jpg

exiftool -v3 test.jpg

Below are example outputs for different Verbose settings.

Verbose = 1

Prints tag names and extracted values. For unknown tags, the tag numbers are printed instead of a name. Also printed are details of the file and directory structure:
  ExifToolVersion = 5.05
  FileName = test.jpg
  FileSize = 3475
  FileType = JPEG
JPEG APP1 (2442 bytes):
  + [IFD0 directory with 9 entries]
  | 0)  Make = Canon
  | 1)  Model = Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL
  | 2)  Orientation = 1
  | 3)  XResolution = 180
  | 4)  YResolution = 180
  | 5)  ResolutionUnit = 2
  | 6)  ModifyDate = 2003:12:04 06:46:52
  | 7)  YCbCrPositioning = 1
  | 8)  ExifOffset (SubDirectory) -->
  | + [ExifIFD directory with 31 entries]
  | | 0)  ExposureTime = 4
  | | 1)  FNumber = 14
  | | 2)  ISO = 100
  | | 3)  ExifVersion = 0221
  | | 4)  DateTimeOriginal = 2003:12:04 06:46:52
  [etc...]

Verbose = 2

Prints all of the information from Verbose = 1, plus additional information about the tag number, data size and format:
  ExifToolVersion = 5.05
  FileName = test.jpg
  FileSize = 3475
  FileType = JPEG
JPEG APP1 (2442 bytes):
  + [IFD0 directory with 9 entries]
  | 0)  Make = Canon
  |     - Tag 0x010f (6 bytes, string[6])
  | 1)  Model = Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL
  |     - Tag 0x0110 (24 bytes, string[24])
  | 2)  Orientation = 1
  |     - Tag 0x0112 (2 bytes, int16u[1])
  | 3)  XResolution = 180
  |     - Tag 0x011a (8 bytes, rational32u[1])
  | 4)  YResolution = 180
  |     - Tag 0x011b (8 bytes, rational32u[1])
  | 5)  ResolutionUnit = 2
  |     - Tag 0x0128 (2 bytes, int16u[1])
  | 6)  ModifyDate = 2003:12:04 06:46:52
  |     - Tag 0x0132 (20 bytes, string[20])
  | 7)  YCbCrPositioning = 1
  |     - Tag 0x0213 (2 bytes, int16u[1])
  | 8)  ExifOffset (SubDirectory) -->
  |     - Tag 0x8769 (4 bytes, int32u[1])
  | + [ExifIFD directory with 31 entries]
  | | 0)  ExposureTime = 4
  | |     - Tag 0x829a (8 bytes, rational32u[1])
  | | 1)  FNumber = 14
  | |     - Tag 0x829d (8 bytes, rational32u[1])
  | | 2)  ISO = 100
  | |     - Tag 0x8827 (2 bytes, int16u[1])
  | | 3)  ExifVersion = 0221
  | |     - Tag 0x9000 (4 bytes, undef[4])
  | | 4)  DateTimeOriginal = 2003:12:04 06:46:52
  | |     - Tag 0x9003 (20 bytes, string[20])
  [etc...]

Verbose = 3

Adds a hex dump of the binary data associated with each tag. If the data is very long, only the first few lines of the dump are printed:
  ExifToolVersion = 5.05
  FileName = test.jpg
  FileSize = 3475
  FileType = JPEG
JPEG APP1 (2442 bytes):
    0000: 45 78 69 66 00 00 49 49 2a 00 08 00 00 00 09 00 [Exif..II*.......]
    0010: 0f 01 02 00 06 00 00 00 7a 00 00 00 10 01 02 00 [........z.......]
    0020: 18 00 00 00 80 00 00 00 12 01 03 00 01 00 00 00 [................]
    0030: 01 00 00 00 1a 01 05 00 01 00 00 00 98 00 00 00 [................]
    0040: 1b 01 05 00 01 00 00 00 a0 00 00 00 28 01 03 00 [............(...]
    0050: 01 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 32 01 02 00 14 00 00 00 [........2.......]
    0060: a8 00 00 00 13 02 03 00 01 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 [................]
    [snip 2330 bytes]
  + [IFD0 directory with 9 entries]
  | 0)  Make = Canon
  |     - Tag 0x010f (6 bytes, string[6]):
  |         007a: 43 61 6e 6f 6e 00                               [Canon.]
  | 1)  Model = Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL
  |     - Tag 0x0110 (24 bytes, string[24]):
  |         0080: 43 61 6e 6f 6e 20 45 4f 53 20 44 49 47 49 54 41 [Canon EOS DIGITA]
  |         0090: 4c 20 52 45 42 45 4c 00                         [L REBEL.]
  | 2)  Orientation = 1
  |     - Tag 0x0112 (2 bytes, int16u[1]):
  |         002a: 01 00                                           [..]
  | 3)  XResolution = 180
  |     - Tag 0x011a (8 bytes, rational32u[1]):
  |         0098: b4 00 00 00 01 00 00 00                         [........]
  | 4)  YResolution = 180
  |     - Tag 0x011b (8 bytes, rational32u[1]):
  |         00a0: b4 00 00 00 01 00 00 00                         [........]
  | 5)  ResolutionUnit = 2
  |     - Tag 0x0128 (2 bytes, int16u[1]):
  |         004e: 02 00                                           [..]
  | 6)  ModifyDate = 2003:12:04 06:46:52
  |     - Tag 0x0132 (20 bytes, string[20]):
  |         00a8: 32 30 30 33 3a 31 32 3a 30 34 20 30 36 3a 34 36 [2003:12:04 06:46]
  |         00b8: 3a 35 32 00                                     [:52.]
  | 7)  YCbCrPositioning = 1
  |     - Tag 0x0213 (2 bytes, int16u[1]):
  |         0066: 01 00                                           [..]
  | 8)  ExifOffset (SubDirectory) -->
  |     - Tag 0x8769 (4 bytes, int32u[1]):
  |         0072: bc 00 00 00                                     [....]
  | + [ExifIFD directory with 31 entries]
  | | 0)  ExposureTime = 4
  | |     - Tag 0x829a (8 bytes, rational32u[1]):
  | |         0236: 04 00 00 00 01 00 00 00                         [........]
  | | 1)  FNumber = 14
  | |     - Tag 0x829d (8 bytes, rational32u[1]):
  | |         023e: 0e 00 00 00 01 00 00 00                         [........]
  | | 2)  ISO = 100
  | |     - Tag 0x8827 (2 bytes, int16u[1]):
  | |         00de: 64 00                                           [d.]
  | | 3)  ExifVersion = 0221
  | |     - Tag 0x9000 (4 bytes, undef[4]):
  | |         00ea: 30 32 32 31                                     [0221]
  | | 4)  DateTimeOriginal = 2003:12:04 06:46:52
  | |     - Tag 0x9003 (20 bytes, string[20]):
  | |         0246: 32 30 30 33 3a 31 32 3a 30 34 20 30 36 3a 34 36 [2003:12:04 06:46]
  | |         0256: 3a 35 32 00                                     [:52.]
  [etc...]

Verbose = 4

This gives the same output as Verbose = 3, except that there is no limit on the length of the binary and ASCII dumps. Note that the output may be very long at this level of verbosity.