Accessing JPEG EXIF rotation data in JavaScript on the client side

If you only want the orientation tag and nothing else and don't like to include another huge javascript library I wrote a little code that extracts the orientation tag as fast as possible (It uses DataView and readAsArrayBuffer which are available in IE10+, but you can write your own data reader for older browsers):

function getOrientation(file, callback) { var reader = new FileReader(); reader.onload = function(e) { var view = new DataView(e.target.result); if (view.getUint16(0, false) != 0xFFD8) { return callback(-2); } var length = view.byteLength, offset = 2; while (offset < length) { if (view.getUint16(offset+2, false) <= 8) return callback(-1); var marker = view.getUint16(offset, false); offset += 2; if (marker == 0xFFE1) { if (view.getUint32(offset += 2, false) != 0x45786966) { return callback(-1); } var little = view.getUint16(offset += 6, false) == 0x4949; offset += view.getUint32(offset + 4, little); var tags = view.getUint16(offset, little); offset += 2; for (var i = 0; i < tags; i++) { if (view.getUint16(offset + (i * 12), little) == 0x0112) { return callback(view.getUint16(offset + (i * 12) + 8, little)); } } } else if ((marker & 0xFF00) != 0xFF00) { break; } else { offset += view.getUint16(offset, false); } } return callback(-1); }; reader.readAsArrayBuffer(file); } // usage: var input = document.getElementById('input'); input.onchange = function(e) { getOrientation(input.files[0], function(orientation) { alert('orientation: ' + orientation); }); }

values:

-2: not jpeg
-1: not defined

https://i.stack.imgur.com/VGsAj.gif

For those using Typescript, you can use the following code:

export const getOrientation = (file: File, callback: Function) => {
  var reader = new FileReader();

  reader.onload = (event: ProgressEvent) => {

    if (! event.target) {
      return;
    }

    const file = event.target as FileReader;
    const view = new DataView(file.result as ArrayBuffer);

    if (view.getUint16(0, false) != 0xFFD8) {
        return callback(-2);
    }

    const length = view.byteLength
    let offset = 2;

    while (offset < length)
    {
        if (view.getUint16(offset+2, false) <= 8) return callback(-1);
        let marker = view.getUint16(offset, false);
        offset += 2;

        if (marker == 0xFFE1) {
          if (view.getUint32(offset += 2, false) != 0x45786966) {
            return callback(-1);
          }

          let little = view.getUint16(offset += 6, false) == 0x4949;
          offset += view.getUint32(offset + 4, little);
          let tags = view.getUint16(offset, little);
          offset += 2;
          for (let i = 0; i < tags; i++) {
            if (view.getUint16(offset + (i * 12), little) == 0x0112) {
              return callback(view.getUint16(offset + (i * 12) + 8, little));
            }
          }
        } else if ((marker & 0xFF00) != 0xFF00) {
            break;
        }
        else {
            offset += view.getUint16(offset, false);
        }
    }
    return callback(-1);
  };

  reader.readAsArrayBuffer(file);
}

You can use the exif-js library in combination with the HTML5 File API: http://jsfiddle.net/xQnMd/1/.

$("input").change(function() {
    var file = this.files[0];  // file
        fr   = new FileReader; // to read file contents

    fr.onloadend = function() {
        // get EXIF data
        var exif = EXIF.readFromBinaryFile(new BinaryFile(this.result));

        // alert a value
        alert(exif.Make);
    };

    fr.readAsBinaryString(file); // read the file
});

Firefox 26 supports image-orientation: from-image: images are displayed portrait or landscape, depending on EXIF data. (See sethfowler.org/blog/2013/09/13/new-in-firefox-26-css-image-orientation.)

There is also a bug to implement this in Chrome.

Beware that this property is only supported by Firefox and is likely to be deprecated.

https://github.com/blueimp/JavaScript-Load-Image is a modern javascript library that can not only extract the exif orientation flag - it can also correctly mirror/rotate JPEG images on the client side.

I just solved the same problem with this library: JS Client-Side Exif Orientation: Rotate and Mirror JPEG Images

I upload expansion code to show photo by android camera on html as normal on some img tag with right rotaion, especially for img tag whose width is wider than height. I know this code is ugly but you don't need to install any other packages. (I used above code to obtain exif rotation value, Thank you.)

function getOrientation(file, callback) {
  var reader = new FileReader();
  reader.onload = function(e) {

    var view = new DataView(e.target.result);
    if (view.getUint16(0, false) != 0xFFD8) return callback(-2);
    var length = view.byteLength, offset = 2;
    while (offset < length) {
      var marker = view.getUint16(offset, false);
      offset += 2;
      if (marker == 0xFFE1) {
        if (view.getUint32(offset += 2, false) != 0x45786966) return callback(-1);
        var little = view.getUint16(offset += 6, false) == 0x4949;
        offset += view.getUint32(offset + 4, little);
        var tags = view.getUint16(offset, little);
        offset += 2;
        for (var i = 0; i < tags; i++)
          if (view.getUint16(offset + (i * 12), little) == 0x0112)
            return callback(view.getUint16(offset + (i * 12) + 8, little));
      }
      else if ((marker & 0xFF00) != 0xFF00) break;
      else offset += view.getUint16(offset, false);
    }
    return callback(-1);
  };
  reader.readAsArrayBuffer(file);
}

var isChanged = false;
function rotate(elem, orientation) {
    if (isIPhone()) return;

    var degree = 0;
    switch (orientation) {
        case 1:
            degree = 0;
            break;
        case 2:
            degree = 0;
            break;
        case 3:
            degree = 180;
            break;
        case 4:
            degree = 180;
            break;
        case 5:
            degree = 90;
            break;
        case 6:
            degree = 90;
            break;
        case 7:
            degree = 270;
            break;
        case 8:
            degree = 270;
            break;
    }
    $(elem).css('transform', 'rotate('+ degree +'deg)')
    if(degree == 90 || degree == 270) {
        if (!isChanged) {
            changeWidthAndHeight(elem)
            isChanged = true
        }
    } else if ($(elem).css('height') > $(elem).css('width')) {
        if (!isChanged) {
            changeWidthAndHeightWithOutMargin(elem)
            isChanged = true
        } else if(degree == 180 || degree == 0) {
            changeWidthAndHeightWithOutMargin(elem)
            if (!isChanged)
                isChanged = true
            else
                isChanged = false
        }
    }
}


function changeWidthAndHeight(elem){
    var e = $(elem)
    var width = e.css('width')
    var height = e.css('height')
    e.css('width', height)
    e.css('height', width)
    e.css('margin-top', ((getPxInt(height) - getPxInt(width))/2).toString() + 'px')
    e.css('margin-left', ((getPxInt(width) - getPxInt(height))/2).toString() + 'px')
}

function changeWidthAndHeightWithOutMargin(elem){
    var e = $(elem)
    var width = e.css('width')
    var height = e.css('height')
    e.css('width', height)
    e.css('height', width)
    e.css('margin-top', '0')
    e.css('margin-left', '0')
}

function getPxInt(pxValue) {
    return parseInt(pxValue.trim("px"))
}

function isIPhone(){
    return (
        (navigator.platform.indexOf("iPhone") != -1) ||
        (navigator.platform.indexOf("iPod") != -1)
    );
}

and then use such as

$("#banner-img").change(function () {
    var reader = new FileReader();
    getOrientation(this.files[0], function(orientation) {
        rotate($('#banner-img-preview'), orientation, 1)
    });

    reader.onload = function (e) {
        $('#banner-img-preview').attr('src', e.target.result)
        $('#banner-img-preview').css('display', 'inherit')

    };

    // read the image file as a data URL.
    reader.readAsDataURL(this.files[0]);

});

If you want it cross-browser, your best bet is to do it on the server. You could have an API that takes a file URL and returns you the EXIF data; PHP has a module for that.

This could be done using Ajax so it would be seamless to the user. If you don't care about cross-browser compatibility, and can rely on HTML5 file functionality, look into the library JsJPEGmeta that will allow you to get that data in native JavaScript.

Improving / Adding more functionality to Ali's answer from earlier, I created a util method in Typescript that suited my needs for this issue. This version returns rotation in degrees that you might also need for your project.

ImageUtils.ts

/**
 * Based on StackOverflow answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/32490603
 *
 * @param imageFile The image file to inspect
 * @param onRotationFound callback when the rotation is discovered. Will return 0 if if it fails, otherwise 0, 90, 180, or 270
 */
export function getOrientation(imageFile: File, onRotationFound: (rotationInDegrees: number) => void) {
  const reader = new FileReader();
  reader.onload = (event: ProgressEvent) => {
    if (!event.target) {
      return;
    }

    const innerFile = event.target as FileReader;
    const view = new DataView(innerFile.result as ArrayBuffer);

    if (view.getUint16(0, false) !== 0xffd8) {
      return onRotationFound(convertRotationToDegrees(-2));
    }

    const length = view.byteLength;
    let offset = 2;

    while (offset < length) {
      if (view.getUint16(offset + 2, false) <= 8) {
        return onRotationFound(convertRotationToDegrees(-1));
      }
      const marker = view.getUint16(offset, false);
      offset += 2;

      if (marker === 0xffe1) {
        if (view.getUint32((offset += 2), false) !== 0x45786966) {
          return onRotationFound(convertRotationToDegrees(-1));
        }

        const little = view.getUint16((offset += 6), false) === 0x4949;
        offset += view.getUint32(offset + 4, little);
        const tags = view.getUint16(offset, little);
        offset += 2;
        for (let i = 0; i < tags; i++) {
          if (view.getUint16(offset + i * 12, little) === 0x0112) {
            return onRotationFound(convertRotationToDegrees(view.getUint16(offset + i * 12 + 8, little)));
          }
        }
        // tslint:disable-next-line:no-bitwise
      } else if ((marker & 0xff00) !== 0xff00) {
        break;
      } else {
        offset += view.getUint16(offset, false);
      }
    }
    return onRotationFound(convertRotationToDegrees(-1));
  };
  reader.readAsArrayBuffer(imageFile);
}

/**
 * Based off snippet here: https://github.com/mosch/react-avatar-editor/issues/123#issuecomment-354896008
 * @param rotation converts the int into a degrees rotation.
 */
function convertRotationToDegrees(rotation: number): number {
  let rotationInDegrees = 0;
  switch (rotation) {
    case 8:
      rotationInDegrees = 270;
      break;
    case 6:
      rotationInDegrees = 90;
      break;
    case 3:
      rotationInDegrees = 180;
      break;
    default:
      rotationInDegrees = 0;
  }
  return rotationInDegrees;
}

Usage:

import { getOrientation } from './ImageUtils';
...
onDrop = (pics: any) => {
  getOrientation(pics[0], rotationInDegrees => {
    this.setState({ image: pics[0], rotate: rotationInDegrees });
  });
};

Check out a module I've written (you can use it in browser) which converts exif orientation to CSS transform: https://github.com/Sobesednik/exif2css

There is also this node program to generate JPEG fixtures with all orientations: https://github.com/Sobesednik/generate-exif-fixtures