Free desktop metadata editor for stock photography

PixelKeyAI Desktop is a free metadata editor for Windows and Mac. It writes the title, description and keywords straight into your photos and videos, so you do not export a spreadsheet, upload it and match it up again. Sign in when you want AI to keyword a whole folder.

Download for Windows Download for Mac

Free to use. Windows 10 and 11, and Macs with Apple silicon or Intel. Updates itself.

How to install it

The PixelKeyAI desktop app in dark mode: two finished photo cards with a title, a description and keyword chips, and a Precision badge on each picture. The PixelKeyAI desktop app in light mode, showing the same finished photo cards in the Library.
DSC_1354.jpg, read back with ExifTool after Save
XMP-dcTitle
Baker decorating freshly baked cupcakes with fruit jam in kitchen
XMP-dcDescription
A baker carefully places fruit jam on top of freshly baked cupcakes cooling on a wire rack. The kitchen setting features wooden surfaces and a bowl of fresh apricots, creating a warm, inviting atmosphere.
IPTCKeywords
close-up, light - natural phenomenon, baking, kitchen, fruit, homemade, food, cooking, yellow, summer, recipe, preparation, decoration, rustic, food styling, decorating, baked, apricot, cupcake, dessert - sweet food, sweet food, bakery, baked pastry item, food and drink, freshness, orange color, hobbies, preparing food, domestic kitchen, baker - occupation, rack, chef, interior decor, dessert topping, lifestyles, people, real people, real life, photography, ingredient
IFD0Model
NIKON Z 6_2kept as it was

40 keywords, in the file. Open it in any viewer that reads IPTC and XMP.

No CSV in the middle

The usual route is a spreadsheet: keyword somewhere else, export a CSV for each agency, upload the files, then check that every row landed on the right file. Here the text goes into the files, and you are done.

  1. Nine photos loaded into the PixelKeyAI desktop app with empty title, description and keyword fields, ready to keyword.
    1

    Drop the shoot on the window

    Files or whole folders, from anywhere on your computer. Each one becomes a card.

  2. A batch running in the desktop app: nine photos on the shelf, each marked iStock Precision optimizing, with a Stop button and Save all.
    2

    Keyword with AI, or type your own

    One button drafts titles, descriptions and keywords for the whole batch. Edit anything you like.

  3. Grid layout in the desktop app with a green Precision badge on every finished photo and a Save all 9 button.
    3

    Press Save all

    The text is written into every file. Nothing in a file changes until you press Save.

A desktop app, not a website

PixelKeyAI also runs in your browser. Both keyword with the same engine; they differ in where your files are.

The desktop app

  • Works on the files where they already are, in folders of any size.
  • Edits and saves straight into the files, with no account.
  • A CSV is optional, for the agencies that still ask for one.

The website

  • Nothing to install, and it works on any computer.
  • You keyword a batch, then download the files or a CSV.

Open PixelKeyAI in the browser

iStock Precision keywords, without the spreadsheet

Switch on iStock Precision before you keyword and each file gets a keyword set shaped around real iStock search terms, not guesses. The Precision badge on a picture shows which files got it, so you can see which files are ready for iStock.

  • Works on a whole shoot. Drop the folder, press Keyword, and every card gets its set.
  • Already keyworded your files? Improve keywords for iStock runs Precision on them, so you do not start over.
  • Selling the same files elsewhere? Multi-Agency Export keeps an iStock set and a natural set side by side.

Precision triples the cost of a file. An image costs 1 credit and a video 2, and the app shows the total before you start.

A finished photo card in the desktop app: a green Precision badge on the picture, then the title, the description and the keyword chips written for it.

Built for a whole shoot, not one photo

Real screens from the app, with a real batch of nine photos.

The Edit 9 files together dialog, showing nine different titles and a field to set one title on every file at once.

Select files and add, remove or find and replace a keyword on all of them, set one title, or copy metadata from one file to the rest. Everything can be undone, and nothing is written until you save.

The Exports tab listing one CSV button each for Adobe Stock, Shutterstock, iStock, Pond5 and Depositphotos.

You do not need a CSV, but you can have one. The Exports tab builds the layout each agency imports, and tells you plainly when a title or keyword list had to be shortened. You can import a CSV of your own text too.

The Insights dialog in the desktop app with files keyworded, keywords written, time saved and an activity calendar.

Insights keeps count of the files you have keyworded, the keywords written and the hours handed back to you. The numbers come from your own account.

What gets written into each kind of file

Your original pixels are never touched, and everything else already in the file is kept. Only the fields you changed are written, and a backup copy of each file is optional.

File typeWhat the app writes
JPEG, TIFF, DNGXMP, IPTC and EXIF
PNG, WebP, HEICXMP and EXIF
Camera RAWA sidecar file next to the RAW. The RAW itself is never opened for writing.
MP4, MOV, M4VXMP and the QuickTime keyword list
MKV, AVI, WebM and similarNothing. These formats cannot hold keywords, so you keyword them and export a CSV.

The editor is free, with no account

  • Open files and folders, edit titles, descriptions and keywords.
  • Batch edits, undo, search and filters across the whole shoot.
  • Import a CSV, export an agency CSV.
  • Works offline. Your files stay on your computer.
Download for Windows Download for Mac

AI keywording uses credits

  • Titles, descriptions and keywords for a whole batch, in the same engine as the website.
  • iStock Precision, Similar Shots, Multi-Agency Export, Editorial Mode, banned keywords and client folders.
  • An image costs 1 credit and a video 2. Precision triples the cost, and the total is shown before you start.
  • Credits never expire. A new account comes with free credits to try it.

Installing it

Three short steps, once. Neither installer carries a paid publisher certificate yet, so each system asks you to confirm the first time.

On Windows

1

Download the installer

Press Download for Windows. The file is PixelKeyAI-setup.exe. Windows 10 and 11 are supported.

2

Right-click it and run it as administrator

In your Downloads folder, right-click the file and choose Run as administrator, then press Yes when Windows asks whether to allow it. Windows names an unknown publisher because the installer has no paid publisher certificate yet.

3

Open a folder

You can edit metadata straight away, with no account. Sign in from the app to keyword with AI.

Opened it with a double-click instead and Windows showed a blue "Windows protected your PC" screen? Press More info, then Run anyway. This only happens for the first install.

On a Mac

1

Open the disk image

Press Download for Mac, open PixelKeyAI.dmg and drag PixelKeyAI into Applications. It runs on Macs with Apple silicon or Intel.

2

Open it from Applications

The first time, macOS says it could not verify the app, because it is not registered with Apple yet. Press Done, not Move to Trash.

3

Allow it in System Settings

Open System Settings, then Privacy & Security, scroll down to Security and press Open Anyway next to PixelKeyAI, then confirm with your password. If "Allow applications from" is set to App Store only, choose App Store & Known Developers first. Only the first time.

On macOS 14 or older you can also Control-click the app, choose Open, then Open.

Questions

Yes. The PixelKeyAI desktop app for Windows and Mac is a free editor for the title, description and keywords of your photos and videos. Opening files, editing, batch edits, CSV import and the agency CSV exports need no account and no credits. Keywording with AI is optional and uses credits.
Yes. Press Save and the title, description and keywords are written into the file itself: XMP in every photo and video format that can hold it, plus IPTC and EXIF in JPEG, TIFF and DNG. Everything else in the file is kept. A camera RAW file is never opened for writing, so it gets a sidecar file next to it instead.
No. The text lives inside your files, so there is no spreadsheet to match up afterwards. If an agency still asks for a CSV, the Exports tab builds one for Adobe Stock, Shutterstock, iStock, Pond5 or Depositphotos in one click, and you can also import a CSV of your own text.
iStock Precision shapes each file's keywords around real iStock search terms instead of guesses. Turn it on in the sidebar before you keyword, and a Precision badge on each picture shows which files got it. It triples the cost of a file. An image costs 1 credit and a video 2, and the app shows the total before you start.
Yes. Improve keywords for iStock runs Precision on files that already have keywords, so you do not have to keyword them again from scratch.
No. Your files stay where they are. To keyword a photo, a small 512 pixel copy is sent to PixelKeyAI, or a few frames of a video. The exact GPS position of a photo is never sent.
JPEG, PNG, WebP, TIFF, HEIC and DNG photos, camera RAW files (the metadata goes into a sidecar file next to the RAW), and MP4, MOV and M4V videos. MKV, AVI, WebM and similar videos can be keyworded and exported to a CSV, but those formats cannot hold keywords, so nothing is written into the file.
The installer is not signed with a paid publisher certificate yet, so Windows is careful with it. Right-click the file and choose Run as administrator, then press Yes. If you double-click it instead, Windows shows a blue screen that says it protected your PC: press More info, then Run anyway. You only do this for the first install, and the app updates itself afterwards.
Yes. The Mac app runs on Macs with Apple silicon or Intel. The first time you open it, macOS asks you to confirm in System Settings, Privacy & Security, with Open Anyway.
The app is not registered with Apple yet, so macOS cannot check it on the first launch. Press Done, not Move to Trash. Then open System Settings, Privacy & Security, scroll down to Security, press Open Anyway next to PixelKeyAI and confirm with your password. You only do this once.
An image costs 1 credit and a video costs 2. iStock Precision triples the cost. The app shows the total for a batch before you start it, and credits never expire.

Put the keywords in the files, not in a spreadsheet

It takes a minute to install, and you can edit metadata without an account.

Download for Windows Download for Mac Use it in the browser

Selling your photos on stock sites?

Good technique gets photos accepted. Keywords get them found. PixelKeyAI writes titles, descriptions and keywords for Adobe Stock, Shutterstock, iStock and more in seconds. Free credits to start, no card needed.

Keyword my photos free