Several image file formats enable you to store metadata along with an image. Metadata is information about an image, for example, title, width, camera model, and artist. Microsoft Windows GDI+ provides a uniform way of storing and retrieving metadata from image files in the Tagged Image File Format (TIFF), JPEG, Portable Network Graphics (PNG), and Exchangeable Image File (EXIF) formats.

 

In GDI+, a piece of metadata is called a property item, and an individual property item is identified by a numerical constant called a property tag. You can store and retrieve metadata by calling the GdipSetPropertyItem and GdipGetPropertyItem functions, and you don't have to be concerned with the details of how a particular file format stores that metadata.

 

The following topics list and describe the property items supported by GDI+. The descriptions are brief and general so that they apply to a variety of file formats. For a detailed description of how a property item is used in a particular file format, see the specification for that file format. For links to several file format specifications, see Image File Format Specifications.