Creating reusable metadata for video with ExifTool
Tutorial – ExifTool Video Metadata
Smart use of metadata will help you keep your video collection organized and easy to search.
Digital video plays a big part in the lives of many Linux users. A collection is only useful, however, when you can find what you need. You could catalog all your videos with a simple spreadsheet or a full-blown Linux-compatible media center platform, but these alternatives can be cumbersome and inflexible. A more future-proof solution that is valid for any kind of video format and is not tied to any particular application is to associate metadata with every video file.
Most Linux users are accustomed to working with metadata for photo images, but metadata can be a bit more complicated with video files. This article describes the most important metadata you might want to manage for your personal archives of video files. I'll also present some Linux-compatible tools for working with video metadata, and I'll show you my way for managing metadata based on simple shell scripts. If you're new to the topic of metadata, see the box entitled "What Is Metadata" for some basic information.
Video Metadata Categories
As far as video is concerned, I'm happy with dividing its metadata in three categories related to what one wants to do with videos: technical and management, indexing, and web discovery.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
KDE Unleashes Plasma 6.5
The Plasma 6.5 desktop environment is now available with new features, improvements, and the usual bug fixes.
-
Xubuntu Site Possibly Hacked
It appears that the Xubuntu site was hacked and briefly served up a malicious ZIP file from its download page.
-
LMDE 7 Now Available
Linux Mint Debian Edition, version 7, has been officially released and is based on upstream Debian.
-
Linux Kernel 6.16 Reaches EOL
Linux kernel 6.16 has reached its end of life, which means you'll need to upgrade to the next stable release, Linux kernel 6.17.
-
Amazon Ditches Android for a Linux-Based OS
Amazon has migrated from Android to the Linux-based Vega OS for its Fire TV.
-
Cairo Dock 3.6 Now Available for More Compositors
If you're a fan of third-party desktop docks, then the latest release of Cairo Dock with Wayland support is for you.
-
System76 Unleashes Pop!_OS 24.04 Beta
System76's first beta of Pop!_OS 24.04 is an impressive feat.
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 is Available
Linus Torvalds has announced that the latest kernel has been released with plenty of core improvements and even more hardware support.
-
Kali Linux 2025.3 Released with New Hacking Tools
If you're a Kali Linux fan, you'll be glad to know that the third release of this famous pen-testing distribution is now available with updates for key components.
-
Zorin OS 18 Beta Available for Testing
The latest release from the team behind Zorin OS is ready for public testing, and it includes plenty of improvements to make it more powerful, user-friendly, and productive.