###########################################################
# A Perl package for showing/modifying JPEG (meta)data. #
# Copyright (C) 2004,2005,2006 Stefano Bettelli #
# See the COPYING and LICENSE files for license terms. #
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# This file contains only the package man-page in perldoc #
# format. In order to visualise it, it is sufficient to #
# type "perldoc <name_of_this_file>". #
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=encoding utf-8
=head1 NAME
Image::MetaData::JPEG::Structures - This document describes the structure
of a JPEG file; it is an appendix to the main manual page of the
L<Image::MetaData::JPEG> module, which the reader should refer to for
further details and the general scope.
=head1 THE STRUCTURE OF JPEG PICTURES
The JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) ISO standard is a lossy image
compression mechanism developed before 1990, designed for compressing
colour or gray-scale photo-realistic images (it performs poorly on line-art
drawings). The JPEG mechanism is designed to exploit known limitations of
the human eye, in particular the fact that colour changes are perceived
less accurately than changes in brightness. Note that although the
"baseline" JPEG format is patent-free, there are patents associated with
some optional features, namely arithmetic coding and hierarchical
storage. For this reason, these optional features are never used on the Web
(good job, patent fans ...). JPEG refers only to a class of compression
algorithms, not to a specific file format. In order to produce files with
embedded JPEG streams, a number of file format (semi-)standards have been
adapted or devised, some of which are listed in the L<format section|/A
SHORT HISTORY OF JPEG FILE FORMATS>. The structure of a well formed JPEG
file can be described by the following pseudo production rules (for sake of
simplicity, some additional constraints between tables and SOF segments are
neglected).
JPEG --> (SOI)(misc)*(image)?(EOI)
(image) --> (hierarch.)|(non-hier.)
(hierarch.) --> (DHP)(frame)+
(frame) --> (misc)*(EXP)?(non-hier.)
(non-hier.) --> (SOF)(scan)+
(scan) --> (misc)*(SOS)(data)*(ECS)(DNL)?
(data) --> (ECS)(RST)
(misc) --> (DQT)|(DHT)|(DAC)|(DRI)|(COM)|(APP)
(SOI) = Start Of Image
(EOI) = End Of Image
(SOF) = Start Of Frame header (10 types)
(SOS) = Start Of Scan header
(ECS) = Entropy Coded Segment (row data, not a real segment)
(DNL) = Define Number of Lines segment
(DHP) = Define Hierarchical P??? segment
(EXP) = EXPansion segment
(RST) = ReSTart segment (8 types)
(DQT) = Define Quantisation Table
(DHT) = Define Huffman coding Table
(DAC) = Define Arithmetic coding Table
(DRI) = Define Restart Interval
(COM) = COMment segment
(APP) = APPlication segment
This package does not check that a JPEG file is really correct; it accepts
a looser syntax, were segments and ECS blocks are just contiguous
(basically, because it does not need to display the image!). All meta-data
information is concentrated in the (COM*) and (APP) Segments, exception
made for some records in the (SOF*) segment (e.g. image dimensions).
Reference: B<"Digital compression and coding of continuous-tone still
images: requirements and guidelines", CCITT recommend. T.81, 1992,
The International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee,
standard ISO/IEC IS 10918-1 or ITU-T Recommendation T.81>.
Also: B<"The JPEG still picture compression standard", G.K.Wallace,
1991, IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics>.
=head2 A SHORT HISTORY OF JPEG FILE FORMATS
=head3 TIFF [not supported]
The TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) is one of the most popular and flexible
raster file formats for digital images, and is the de-facto standard
graphics format for high colour depths. It was initially developed by Aldus
(in 1986) and is now maintained (or neglected) by Adobe. Multiple images
(e.g., fax pages) can be stored in a single TIFF file, each page in a
separate IFD (Image File Directory), all IFD's being linked in a linear
structure. The designers of TIFF wanted to be able to include all sorts of
image information in the file (tags), like geometry, size, data arrangement
and various compression options. However, lack of full TIFF support by the
first publicly available readers resulted in a "reduced standard", so that
even today most TIFF files contain only 32-bit uncompressed images. Support
for JPEG streams was included in version 6.0 (in 1992), but it was badly
designed, so that JPEG/TIFF files are nowadays very uncommon (some changes
were proposed in various technical notes in 1995 and 2002, but they never
made it to version 7.0).
Reference: B<"TIFF (TM)", revision 6.0, June 1992, Adobe Developers
Association, Adobe Systems Incorporated, Mountain View, CA, USA>.
Also: B<"Adobe PageMaker 6.0: TIFF Technical Notes", September 1995>,
B<"Adobe Photoshop: TIFF Technical Notes", March 2002>.
=head3 JFIF
The JFIF (JPEG File Interchange Format) was created by Eric Hamilton at
C-Cube Microsystems in 1991 for storing JPEG-encoded data, and put into the
public domain together with example reference software. JFIF is designed to
allow files containing JPEG-encoded data streams to be exchanged between
otherwise incompatible systems and applications. A JFIF file basically
consists of a JPEG file with an APP0 segment of JFIF or JFXX type at the
beginning, providing information missing from the JPEG stream: version
number, horizontal and vertical pixel density, pixel aspect ratio and an
optional thumbnail (extended JFIF files can contain also compressed
thumbnails). JFIF files conform to the general file interchange
specifications in ISO/IEC 10918-1.
Reference: B<"JPEG File Interchange Format", version 1.02, September 1992,
Eric Hamilton, C-Cube Microsystems, Milpitas, CA, USA>.
=head3 SPIFF [not supported yet]
The SPIFF (Still Picture Interchange File Format) is an official file
format released in 1996 by the Joint Photographic Experts Group. It can
contain image data streams encoded with a variety of compression mechanism,
including JPEG and JBIG. When JPEG was standardised, disagreements among
ISO committees prevented a standard JPEG file format from being created.
The de-facto format that appeared was JFIF, with which a JPEG/SPIFF file is
backward compatible. In addition to the image data, SPIFF includes
information necessary to render it on common output devices, within the
constraints imposed by that device. SPIFF appears not to be widely adopted;
most producers prefer simple JFIF files.
Reference: B<ISO/IEC IS 10918-1, part 3> (extensions to the standard).
=head3 CIFF [not supported yet]
The CIFF (Camera Image File Format) is a JPEG-based image file format
developed by some camera makers in 1997, and constitutes an evolution of
the JFIF. A CIFF file has a standard JFIF APP0 segment, immediately
followed by another APP0 segment holding information specific to a
particular digital camera in a particular format. CIFF was not at all
successful and was rapidly replaced by DCF/Exif.
Reference: B<"CIFF: Specification on Image Data File",
version 1.0 rev.4, December 1997, Canon corporation>.
=head3 Exif and DCT
The Exif (Exchangeable image file format), developed by the JEITA (1996
v.1.0, 1997 v.1.1, 1998 v.2.1, 2002 v.2.2) standard was aimed at realizing
a common format for the image files used with digital still cameras and
other related equipment. Exif is paired with a set of naming conventions
and directory layout for files in a camera memory (DCF or Design rule for
Camera File system, 1999). An Exif file is a valid JPEG file with
application marker segments (APP1 and APP2) inserted. Uncompressed files
are recorded in TIFF-6 format. Related attribute information is stored in
the tag information format defined in TIFF-6 (i.e., in a chain of IFD's in
the APP1 segment). Information specific to the camera system and not
defined in TIFF is stored in private tags registered for Exif. The Exif
image file specification also specifies the method for recording
thumbnails. The APP2 segment is used when recording Flashpix
extensions. Exif is the most common JPEG file format used by digital
cameras nowadays.
Reference: B<JEITA CP-3451, "Exchangeable image file format for digital
still cameras: Exif Version 2.2", April 2002, Japan Electronics
and Information Technology Industries Association>.
=head2 Structure of a JFIF APP0 segment
APP0 segments are used in the old JFIF standard to store information about
the picture dimensions and an optional thumbnail. The format of a JFIF APP0
segment is as follows (note that the size of thumbnail data is 3n, where n
= Xthumbnail * Ythumbnail, and it is present only if n is not zero; only
the first 8 records are mandatory):
[Record name] [size] [description]
---------------------------------------
Identifier 5 bytes ("JFIF\000" = 0x4a46494600)
MajorVersion 1 byte major version (e.g. 0x01)
MinorVersion 1 byte minor version (e.g. 0x01 or 0x02)
Units 1 byte units (0: densities give aspect ratio
1: density values are dots per inch
2: density values are dots per cm)
Xdensity 2 bytes horizontal pixel density
Ydensity 2 bytes vertical pixel density
Xthumbnail 1 byte thumbnail horizontal pixel count
Ythumbnail 1 byte thumbnail vertical pixel count
ThumbnailData 3n bytes thumbnail image
There is also an I<extended> JFIF (only possible for JFIF versions 1.02 and
above). In this case the identifier is not JFIF but JFXX. This extension
allows for the inclusion of differently encoded thumbnails. The syntax in
this case is modified as follows:
[Record name] [size] [description]
---------------------------------------
Identifier 5 bytes ("JFXX\000" = 0x4a46585800)
ExtensionCode 1 byte (0x10 Thumbnail coded using JPEG
0x11 Thumbnail using 1 byte/pixel
0x13 Thumbnail using 3 bytes/pixel)
Then, depending on the extension code, there are other records to define
the thumbnail. If the thumbnail is coded using a I<JPEG stream>, a binary
JPEG stream immediately follows the extension code (the byte count of this
file is included in the byte count of the APP0 Segment). This stream
conforms to the syntax for a JPEG file (SOI .... SOF ... EOI); however, no
'JFIF' or 'JFXX' marker Segments should be present:
[Record name] [size] [description]
---------------------------------------
JPEGThumbnail ... bytes a variable length JPEG picture
If the thumbnail is stored using one byte per pixel, after the extension
code one should find a palette and an indexed RGB. The records are as
follows (remember that n = Xthumbnail * Ythumbnail):
[Record name] [size] [description]
---------------------------------------
Xthumbnail 1 byte thumbnail horizontal pixel count
YThumbnail 1 byte thumbnail vertical pixel count
ColorPalette 768 bytes 24-bit RGB values for the colour palette
(defining the colours represented by each
value of an 8-bit binary encoding)
1ByteThumbnail n bytes 8-bit indexed values for the thumbnail
If the thumbnail is stored using three bytes per pixel, there is no colour
palette, so the previous fields simplify into:
[Record name] [size] [description]
---------------------------------------
Xthumbnail 1 byte thumbnail horizontal pixel count
YThumbnail 1 byte thumbnail vertical pixel count
3BytesThumbnail 3n bytes 24-bit RGB values for the thumbnail
=head2 Structure of an Exif APP1 segment
Exif (Exchangeable Image File format) JPEG files use APP1 segments in order
not to conflict with JFIF files (which use APP0). Exif APP1 segments store
a great amount of information on photographic parameters for digital
cameras and are the preferred way to store thumbnail images nowadays. They
can also host an additional section with GPS data. The reference document
for Exif 2.2 and the Interoperability standards are respectively:
B<"Exchangeable image file format for digital still cameras:
Exif Version 2.2", JEITA CP-3451, Apr 2002
Japan Electronic Industry Development Association (JEIDA)>
B<"Design rule for Camera File system", (DCF), v1.0
English Version 1999.1.7, Adopted December 1998
Japan Electronic Industry Development Association (JEIDA)>
The TIFF (Tagged Image File format) standard documents, as well as some
updates and corrections, are also useful:
B<- "TIFF(TM) Revision 6.0, Final", June 3, 1992, Adobe Devel. Association
- ISO 12639, "Graphic technology -- Prepress digital data exchange
-- Tag image file format for image technology (TIFF/IT)"
- ISO 12234-2, "Electronic still-picture imaging -- Removable memory
-- Part 2: TIFF/EP image data format"
- DRAFT - TIFF CLASS F, October 1, 1991
- DRAFT - TIFF Technical Note #2, 17-Mar-95 (updates for JPEG-in-TIFF)
- "Adobe Pagemaker 6.0 TIFF Technical Notes", (1,2,3 and OPI), 14-Sep-1995>
Exif APP1 segments are made up by an identifier, a TIFF header and a
sequence of IFDs (Image File Directories) and subIFDs. The high level IFDs
are only two (IFD0, for photographic parameters, and IFD1 for thumbnail
parameters); they can be followed by thumbnail data. The structure is as
follows:
[Record name] [size] [description]
---------------------------------------
Identifier 6 bytes ("Exif\000\000" = 0x457869660000), not stored
Endianness 2 bytes 'II' (little-endian) or 'MM' (big-endian)
Signature 2 bytes a fixed value = 42
IFD0_Pointer 4 bytes offset of 0th IFD (usually 8), not stored
IFD0 ... main image IFD
IFD0@SubIFD ... Exif private tags (optional, linked by IFD0)
IFD0@SubIFD@Interop ... Interoperability IFD (optional,linked by SubIFD)
IFD0@GPS ... GPS IFD (optional, linked by IFD0)
APP1@IFD1 ... thumbnail IFD (optional, pointed to by IFD0)
ThumbnailData ... Thumbnail image (optional, 0xffd8.....ffd9)
So, each Exif APP1 segment starts with the identifier string
"Exif\000\000"; this avoids a conflict with other applications using APP1,
for instance XMP data. The three following fields (Endianness, Signature
and IFD0_Pointer) constitute the so called I<TIFF header>. The offset of the
0th IFD in the TIFF header, as well as IFD links in the following IFDs, is
given with respect to the beginning of the TIFF header (i.e. the address of
the 'MM' or 'II' pair). This means that if the 0th IFD begins (as usual)
immediately after the end of the TIFF header, the offset value is 8. An
Exif segment is the only part of a JPEG file whose endianness is not fixed
to big-endian.
If the thumbnail is present it is located after the 1st IFD. There are 3
possible formats: JPEG (only this is compressed), RGB TIFF, and YCbCr TIFF.
It seems that JPEG and 160x120 pixels are recommended for Exif ver. 2.1 or
higher (mandatory for DCF files). Since the segment size for a segment is
recorded in 2 bytes, thumbnails are limited to slightly less than 64KB.
Each IFD block is a structured sequence of records, called, in the Exif
jargon, I<Interoperability arrays>. The beginning of the 0th IFD is given
by the 'IFD0_Pointer' value. The structure of an IFD is the following:
[Record name] [size] [description]
---------------------------------------
2 bytes number n of Interoperability arrays
12n bytes the n arrays (12 bytes each)
4 bytes link to next IFD (can be zero)
... additional data area
The next_link field of the 0th IFD, if non-null, points to the beginning of
the 1st IFD. The 1st IFD as well as all other sub-IFDs must have next_link
set to zero. The thumbnail location and size is given by some
interoperability arrays in the 1st IFD. The structure of an
Interoperability array is:
[Record name] [size] [description]
---------------------------------------
2 bytes Tag (a unique 2-byte number)
2 bytes Type (one out of 12 types)
4 bytes Count (the number of values)
4 bytes Value Offset (value or offset)
The possible types are the same as for the Record class, exception made for
nibbles and references (see L<Image::MetaData::JPEG/Managing a JPEG Record
object>). Indeed, the Record class is modelled after interoperability
arrays, and each interoperability array gets stored as a Record with given
tag, type, count and values. The "value offset" field gives the offset from
the TIFF header base where the value is recorded. It contains the actual
value if it is not larger than 4 bytes (32 bits). If the value is shorter
than 4 bytes, it is recorded in the lower end of the 4-byte area (smaller
offsets). For further details see the section
L<Image::MetaData::JPEG::TagLists/Valid tags for Exif APP1 data>.
=head2 Structure of an XMP APP1 segment
XMP (eXtensible Metadata Platform) JPEG files use APP1 segments in order to
store metadata information; the storage format (serialisation) is RDF
(Resource Description Framework) implemented as an application of XML. XMP
Exif APP1 segments can store all information stored in Exif and IPTC
segments, as well as custom and future schemas. The reference document for
XMP 3.2 can be requested from Adobe Systems Incorporated:
B<"XMP Specification", version 3.2, June 2005, Adobe Systems Inc.,
345 Park Avenue, San Jose, CA 95110-2704, L<http://www.adobe.com>>
B<See also: L<http://xml.coverpages.org/xmp.html>>
B<See also: L<http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-rdf-syntax/>>
XMP APP1 segments are made up by an identifier and a Unicode XMP packet
(the encoding is usually UTF-8, but it can also be UTF-16 or UTF-32, both
big-endian or little-endian). The packet cannot be split in multiple
segments, so there is a maximum size of approximately 64KB. The structure
is very simple: a fixed XMP namespace URI (null terminated, and without
quotation marks) followed by the XMP packet:
[Record name] [size] [description]
---------------------------------------
Identifier 29 bytes http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/\000
<XMP packet> ... the actual Unicode XMP packet
The packet content is sandwiched between a header and a trailer, and may
contain padding whitespaces at the end. The I<xpacket> header has two
mandatory attributes, I<begin> and I<id> (order is important), separated by
exactly one space (U+0020). Attribute values, here and in the following,
are enclosed by single quotes (U+0027) or double quotes (U+0022). The value
of I<begin> must be the Unicode I<zero-width non-breaking space> (U+FEFF),
to be used as a byte-order marker during blind scans; an empty value is
also acceptable (for backward compatibility), and stands for UTF-8. The
value of I<id> is fixed. Other attributes, like (deprecated) I<bytes> or
I<encoding>, may be ignored. A padding of 2KB or 4KB, with a newline every
100 spaces, is recommended. The I<end> attribute of the trailer may have a
value of "r" (read-only) or "w" (modifiable).
Header <?xpacket begin="..." id="W5M0MpCehiHzreSzNTczkc9d" ...?>
Content ... serialised XMP data (see later) ...
Padding ... padding with XML whitespaces ...
Trailer <?xpacket end="w"?>
The structure of the packet content is as follows. There is an optional
I<x:xmpmeta> (or I<x:xapmeta> for older files) element, with a mandatory
I<xmlns:x> attribute set to "adobe:ns:meta/" and other optional attributes,
which can be ignored (currently, Adobe's toolkit stores its version in
I<x:xmptk>). Inside it (or at top level, if it is absent), there is exactly
one I<rdf:RDF> element with an attribute specifying the I<xmlns:rdf>
namespace (other namespaces, whose role is not clear to me, can be listed
here as additional attributes). Inside the I<rdf:RDF> element then, all XMP
properties are stored inside one or more I<rdf:Description> elements:
<x:xmpmeta xmlns:x='adobe:ns:meta/' ..opt.attributes..>
<rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#">
<rdf:Description ...> .... </rdf:Description>
<rdf:Description ...> .... </rdf:Description>
.........
<rdf:Description ...> .... </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>
</x:xmpmeta>
B<rdf:Description> elements and schemas are usually in one-to-one
correspondence, although this is just a convention and not a rule. Each
element has two mandatory attributes, I<rdf:about> and I<xmlns:NAME>. The
I<rdf:about> attribute is usually empty (it can however contain an
application specific URI), and its value B<must> be shared among all
I<rdf:Description> elements. The I<xmlns:NAME> attribute specifies the
local namespace prefix (NAME stands for the actual prefix). Additional
namespaces can be specified via I<xmlns> attributes.
<rdf:Description rdf:about="" xmlns:NAME="...">
<NAME:propname1 ...> .... </NAME:propname1>
<NAME:propname2 ...> .... </NAME:propname2>
.........
<NAME:propnameN ...> .... </NAME:propnameN>
</rdf:Description>
Properties can come in various flavours. A B<simple property> is just some
literal value between opening and closing tags carrying the property name;
there exists also an abbreviated form where properties are listed as
attributes of the I<rdf:Description> tag (in this case there is no closing
I<rdf:Description> tag, and the opening tags ends with the '/' character).
Simple properties can have qualifiers (attributes). This is an example of a
description element with only simple properties:
<rdf:Description rdf:about="" xmlns:xap="http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/">
<xap:CreatorTool>Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0</xap:CreatorTool>
<xap:ModifyDate>2005-05-12T44:39:11+03:00</xap:ModifyDate>
</rdf:Description>
or
<rdf:Description rdf:about="" xmlns:xap="http://ns.adobe.com/xap/1.0/"
xap:CreatorTool="Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0"
xap:ModifyDate="2005-06-13T23:38:11+02:00"/>
A B<structured property> is characterised by a I<rdf:Description> block
instead of a simple content. The inner description block, which does not
allow for an I<rdf:about> attribute, contains one or more named properties
(which can, of course, contain further substructures). This is an example
of a description element with one structured property:
<rdf:Description rdf:about="" xmlns:xmpTPg="..an URI..">
<xmpTPg:MaxPageSize>
<rdf:Description xmlns:stDim="..another URI.."> ---. Content
<stDim:w>21</stDim:w> | of the
<stDim:h>27</stDim:h> | MaxPageSize
<stDim:unit>centimetres</stDim:unit> | structured
</rdf:Description> -----------------' property
</xmpTPg:MaxPageSize>
</rdf:Description>
An B<array property> is, on the other hand, just an array of same-type
properties. It can come in three varieties: as a I<Bag> (an unordered set),
as a I<Seq>uence (an ordered list) and as an I<Alt>ernative list (see
later). As for structured properties, each item in the array is a property
and can contain further substructures. The item list is delimited by an
I<rdf:Bag>, an I<rdf:Seq>, or an I<rdf:Alt> tag pair, respectively. Each
item is delimited by a pair of I<rdf:li> tags. The following example
illustrates an unordered array property with three items:
<rdf:Description rdf:about="" xmlns:dc="..an URI..">
<dc:subject>
<rdf:Bag> ----------------. Content
<rdf:li>metadata</rdf:li> | of the
<rdf:li>schema</rdf:li> | unordered
<rdf:li>XMP</rdf:li> | array
</rdf:Bag> ----------------' dc:subject
</dc:subject>
</rdf:Description>
A simple property (but, currently, not a structured or array property) can
have I<qualifiers>. For instance, items in an array property can be
qualified; in this case, the content of I<rdf:li> is not text, but an
I<rdf:Description> (without attributes) containing the actual value (as
I<rdf:value>) and the qualifiers as additional properties; a qualifier name
belongs to a secondary namespace, specified as an attribute of the outer
I<rdf:Description>. The following example illustrates the use of property
qualifiers:
<rdf:Description rdf:about="" xmlns:dc="..1stURI.." xmlns:ns="..2ndURI..">
<dc:creator>
<rdf:Seq>
<rdf:li> ----------------. An element
<rdf:Description> | of the
<rdf:value>William Gilbert</rdf:value> | ordered array
<ns:role>lyricist</ns:role> | dc:creator
</rdf:Description> | with a
</rdf:li> ----------------' qualifier
<rdf:li>
<rdf:Description>
<rdf:value>Arthur Sullivan</rdf:value>
<ns:role>composer</ns:role>
</rdf:Description>
</rdf:li>
</rdf:Seq>
</dc:creator>
</rdf:Description>
Text properties in an I<alternative array property> may have a special
qualifier (the I<xml:lang> property) specifying the language of the
text. In this case, the serialisation is different: I<xml:lang> for each
item of the array becomes an attribute of the I<rdf:li> tag. The default
value is indicated by a special value of the qualifier, or is taken from
the first item in the list. The following example illustrates an array of
I<language alternatives>:
<xmp:Title>
<rdf:Alt> ----------------. List of
<rdf:li xml:lang="x-default">Title</rdf:li> | alternatives
<rdf:li xml:lang="en-us">Title</rdf:li> | corresponding
<rdf:li xml:lang="fr-fr">Titre</rdf:li> | to xmp:Title;
<rdf:li xml:lang="it-it">Titolo</rdf:li> | the language
</rdf:Alt> ----------------' is xml:lang
</xmp:Title>
The interpretation of the values of properties conforming to the previously
described syntax is done with the aid of the B<schema> corresponding to the
property namespace. The most common schemas in JPEG files are the following
ones (note, however, that XMP is intrinsically extensible, so this list
will never be exhaustive):
=over
=item Dublin Core schema
=item XMP basic schema
=item XMP rights management schema
=item XMP media management schema
=item XMP basic job ticket schema
=item XMP paged-text schema
=item XMP dynamic media schema
=item Adobe Photoshop schema
=item Camera row schema
=item Exif schemas
=item IPTC schema
=back
=head2 Structure of a Photoshop-style APP13 segment
The Adobe's Photoshop program, a de-facto standard for image manipulation,
uses the APP13 segment for storing non-graphic information, such as layers,
paths, IPTC data and more. The unit for this kind of information is called
a "resource data block" (because they hold data that was stored in the
Macintosh's resource fork in early versions of Photoshop). The content of
an APP13 segment is formed by an identifier string (usually "Photoshop
3.0\000", but also 'Adobe_Photoshop2.5:', used by earlier versions, is
accepted; in this case some additional undocumented bytes are read
(resolution info?) and saved in a root 'Resolution' record) followed by a
sequence of resource data blocks; a resource block has the following
structure:
[Record name] [size] [description]
---------------------------------------
(Type) 4 bytes Photoshop uses '8BIM' from ver 4.0 on
(ID) 2 bytes a unique identifier, e.g., "\004\004" for IPTC
(Name) ... a Pascal string (padded to make size even)
(Size) 4 bytes actual size of resource data
(Data) ... resource data, padded to make size even
(a Pascal string is made up of a single byte, giving the string length,
followed by the string itself, padded to make size even including the
length byte; since the string length is explicit, there is no need of a
terminating null character). The signature (type) is usually '8BIM', but
Photoshop used '8BPS' up to version 3.0, and some rogue program (Adobe
PhotoDeluxe?) is using 'PHUT' ("PHotoshop User Tags" ?) for path
information (ID=7d0-bb7). Valid Image Resource IDs are listed in the
L<Photoshop-style tags' list|Image::MetaData::JPEG::TagLists/Valid tags for
Photoshop-style APP13 data> section. In general a resource block contains
only a few bytes, but there is an important block, the IPTC block, which
can be quite large; the structure of this block is analysed in more detail
in the L<IPTC data block|/Structure of an IPTC data block> section.
The reference document for the Photoshop file format is:
B<"Adobe Photoshop 6.0: File Formats Specifications",
Adobe System Inc., ver.6.0, rel.2, November 2000>.
Another interesting source of information is:
B<"\"Solo\" Image File Format. RichTIFF and its
replacement by \"Solo\" JFIF", version 2.0a,
Coatsworth Comm. Inc., Brampton, Ontario, Canada>
=head3 Structure of an IPTC data block
An IPTC/NAA resource data block of a L<Photoshop-style|/Structure of a
Photoshop-style APP13 segment> APP13 segment embeds an IPTC stream
conforming to the standard defined by the International Press and
Telecommunications Council (IPTC) and the Newspaper Association of America
(NAA) for exchanging interoperability information related to various news
objects. The data part of a resource block, an IPTC stream, is simply a
sequence of units called I<datasets>; no preamble nor count is
present. Each dataset consists of a unique tag header and a data field (the
list of valid tags [dataset numbers] can be found in section about L<IPTC
data|Image::MetaData::JPEG::TagLists/Valid tags for IPTC data>). A standard
tag header is used when the data field size is less than 32768 bytes;
otherwise, an extended tag header is used. The datasets do not need to show
up in numerical order according to their tag. The structure of a dataset
is:
[Record name] [size] [description]
---------------------------------------
(Tag marker) 1 byte this must be 0x1c
(Record number) 1 byte always 2 for 2:xx datasets
(Dataset number) 1 byte this is what we call a "tag"
(Size specifier) 2 bytes data length (< 32768 bytes) or length of ...
(Size specifier) ... data length (> 32767 bytes only)
(Data) ... (its length is specified before)
So, standard datasets have a 5 bytes tag header; the last two bytes in the
header contain the data field length, the most significant bit being always
0. For extended datasets instead, these two bytes contain the length of the
(following) data field length, the most significant bit being always 1. The
value of the most significant bit thus distinguishes "standard" from
"extended"; in digital photographies, I assume that the datasets which are
actually used (a subset of the standard) are always standard; therefore, we
likely do not have the IPTC block spanning more than one APP13 segment. The
record types defined by the IPTC-NAA standard are the following (but the
"pseudo"-standard by Adobe for APP13 IPTC data is restricted to the first
application record, 2:xx, and sometimes to the envelope record, 1:xx, I
believe, because everything else can be accomodated more simply by other
JPEG Segments):
[Record name] [dataset record number]
----------------------------------------------------
Object Envelop Record 1:xx
Application Records: 2:xx through 6:xx
Pre-ObjectData Descriptor Record: 7:xx
ObjectData Record: 8:xx
Post-ObjectData Descriptor Record: 9:xx
The reference document for the IPTC standard is:
B<"IPTC-NAA: Information Interchange Model", version 4, 1-Jul-1999,
Comité International des Télécommunications de Presse>
=head1 AUTHOR
Stefano Bettelli, B<bettelli@cpan.org>
=head1 COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
Copyright (C) 2004,2005,2006 by Stefano Bettelli
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of the GNU L<General Public License|perlgpl>. See the
COPYING and LICENSE file for the license terms.
=head1 SEE ALSO
The main documentation page for the L<Image::MetaData::JPEG> module.
=cut
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