This a python function that takes in Piexif data and outputs a more readable and manageable JSON data. It's opinionated - it strips and replaces some fields as they are not needed.

exif_to_standard_json.py

import re, json

def exif_to_standard_json(exif_data):
  """
  Input: Piexif file data.
  Output: Json

  Personal flavors:
    byte to string values:
      standardized_value = re.sub(r'\u0000|\u0001|\u0002|\u0003', '', standardized_value)
      standardized_value = re.sub(r' {2,}', '', standardized_value)
    individual tags:
      standardized_data['0th']['PrintImageMatching'] = None
      standardized_data['0th']['PrintImageMatching'] = None
      standardized_data['Exif']['MakerNote'] = None
      standardized_data['Exif']['UserComment'] = None
      standardized_data['thumbnail'] = None
  """
  standardized_data = {}

  # Ensure exif_data is a dictionary
  if not isinstance(exif_data, dict):
    raise ValueError("The provided EXIF data is not a valid dictionary.")
  
  for ifd_name in exif_data:
    # Ensure ifd_name data is also a dictionary, as expected
    if isinstance(exif_data[ifd_name], dict):
      standardized_data[ifd_name] = {}
      for tag, value in exif_data[ifd_name].items():
        tag_name = piexif.TAGS[ifd_name][tag]["name"]

        # Convert values based on their type
        if isinstance(value, bytes):
          try:
            # Try decoding bytes to string
            standardized_value = value.decode('utf-8')
            standardized_value = re.sub(r'\u0000|\u0001|\u0002|\u0003', '', standardized_value)
            standardized_value = re.sub(r' {2,}', '', standardized_value)
          except UnicodeDecodeError as e:
            # If decoding fails, store raw bytes as a string representation
            standardized_value = str(value)
        elif isinstance(value, (int, float)):
          standardized_value = value
        elif isinstance(value, tuple):
          # Handle tuples (e.g., rational numbers) appropriately
          standardized_value = str(value)
        else:
          # Default to string representation for other types
          standardized_value = str(value)

        standardized_data[ifd_name][tag_name] = standardized_value
    else:
      # Handle non-dictionary cases (which may be `bytes` or other unexpected types)
      standardized_data[ifd_name] = str(exif_data[ifd_name])

  try: standardized_data['0th']['PrintImageMatching'] = None
  except: pass
  try: standardized_data['0th']['PrintImageMatching'] = None
  except: pass
  try: standardized_data['Exif']['MakerNote'] = None
  except: pass
  try: standardized_data['Exif']['UserComment'] = None
  except: pass
  try: standardized_data['thumbnail'] = None
  except: pass

  return standardized_data