Read, Decode and prints bynary adjustmentData field from a Mac Photos AAE file.

decode_aae.py

import base64
import json
import sys
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
import zlib


def read_aae_file(filename: str, verbosebinary: bool = False) -> None:
    """Read, Decode and prints bynary adjustmentData field from an AAE file.

    Args:
        filename (str): Mac Photos AAE filename to process.
        verbosebinary (bool, optional): verbosely show data. Defaults to False.
    """
    try:
        # Parse the XML file
        tree = ET.parse(filename)
        root = tree.getroot()

        # Find all data fields (assuming they are stored in elements with a tag 'data')
        data_elements = root.findall(".//data")

        if not data_elements:
            print("No data fields found in the XML file.", file=sys.stderr)
            return

        for idx, data_elem in enumerate(data_elements):
            binary_data = data_elem.text

            # Print the raw binary data
            if verbosebinary:
                print(
                    f"Data field {idx+1} "
                    f"(raw): {binary_data=} {len({binary_data})=}"
                    f"{type({binary_data})=}",
                    file=sys.stderr
                )

            # If the binary data is base64 encoded, decode it
            try:
                decoded_data = base64.b64decode(binary_data)
                # print(f"Data field {idx+1} (decoded):")
                # print(decoded_data)

                adjustmentData_decompressed = zlib.decompress(
                    decoded_data, -zlib.MAX_WBITS
                )
                adjustmentData_json = json.loads(adjustmentData_decompressed)

                print(json.dumps(adjustmentData_json, indent=2))

            except base64.binascii.Error:
                print("Data is not base64 encoded.", file=sys.stderr)

    except ET.ParseError:
        print(f"Failed to parse the XML file: {filename}", file=sys.stderr)
    except FileNotFoundError:
        print(f"File not found: {filename}", file=sys.stderr)
    except Exception as err:
        print(f"An error occurred: {err}", file=sys.stderr)


def main():
    if len(sys.argv) != 2:
        print("Usage: python script.py <filename>", file=sys.stderr)
    else:
        filename = sys.argv[1]
        read_aae_file(filename)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()