diff --git a/docs/configuration/cheatsheet.md b/docs/configuration/cheatsheet.md
index 1e74d40e6..f1624b651 100644
--- a/docs/configuration/cheatsheet.md
+++ b/docs/configuration/cheatsheet.md
@@ -633,6 +633,12 @@ This filter only strips the GPS and location metadata with Exiftool leaving colo
 
 No specific configuration.
 
+#### Pleroma.Upload.Filter.ExiftoolReadData
+
+This filter only reads metadata with Exiftool so clients can prefill the media description field.
+
+No specific configuration.
+
 #### Pleroma.Upload.Filter.Mogrify
 
 * `args`: List of actions for the `mogrify` command like `"strip"` or `["strip", "auto-orient", {"implode", "1"}]`.
diff --git a/docs/installation/optional/media_graphics_packages.md b/docs/installation/optional/media_graphics_packages.md
index cb3d71188..47e2ef3fb 100644
--- a/docs/installation/optional/media_graphics_packages.md
+++ b/docs/installation/optional/media_graphics_packages.md
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 # Optional software packages needed for specific functionality
 
 For specific Pleroma functionality (which is disabled by default) some or all of the below packages are required:
-  * `ImageMagic`
-  * `ffmpeg`
-  * `exiftool`
+    * `ImageMagic`
+    * `ffmpeg`
+    * `exiftool`
   
 Please refer to documentation in `docs/installation` on how to install them on specific OS.
   
@@ -14,19 +14,20 @@ Note: the packages are not required with the current default settings of Pleroma
 `ImageMagick` is a set of tools to create, edit, compose, or convert bitmap images.
 
 It is required for the following Pleroma features:
-  * `Pleroma.Upload.Filters.Mogrify`, `Pleroma.Upload.Filters.Mogrifun` upload filters (related config: `Plaroma.Upload/filters` in `config/config.exs`)
-  * Media preview proxy for still images (related config: `media_preview_proxy/enabled` in `config/config.exs`)
+    * `Pleroma.Upload.Filters.Mogrify`, `Pleroma.Upload.Filters.Mogrifun` upload filters (related config: `Plaroma.Upload/filters` in `config/config.exs`)
+    * Media preview proxy for still images (related config: `media_preview_proxy/enabled` in `config/config.exs`)
   
 ## `ffmpeg`
 
 `ffmpeg` is software to record, convert and stream audio and video.
 
 It is required for the following Pleroma features:
-  * Media preview proxy for videos (related config: `media_preview_proxy/enabled` in `config/config.exs`)
+    * Media preview proxy for videos (related config: `media_preview_proxy/enabled` in `config/config.exs`)
 
 ## `exiftool`
 
 `exiftool` is media files metadata reader/writer.
 
 It is required for the following Pleroma features:
-  * `Pleroma.Upload.Filters.Exiftool` upload filter (related config: `Plaroma.Upload/filters` in `config/config.exs`)
+    * `Pleroma.Upload.Filters.Exiftool` upload filter (related config: `Plaroma.Upload/filters` in `config/config.exs`)
+    * `Pleroma.Upload.Filters.ExiftoolReadData` upload filter (related config: `Plaroma.Upload/filters` in `config/config.exs`)
diff --git a/lib/mix/tasks/pleroma/instance.ex b/lib/mix/tasks/pleroma/instance.ex
index f292fc762..d206e1622 100644
--- a/lib/mix/tasks/pleroma/instance.ex
+++ b/lib/mix/tasks/pleroma/instance.ex
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ defmodule Mix.Tasks.Pleroma.Instance do
           listen_ip: :string,
           listen_port: :string,
           strip_uploads: :string,
+          read_uploads_data: :string,
           anonymize_uploads: :string,
           dedupe_uploads: :string
         ],
@@ -178,6 +179,23 @@ defmodule Mix.Tasks.Pleroma.Instance do
           strip_uploads_default
         ) === "y"
 
+      {read_uploads_data_message, read_uploads_data_default} =
+        if Pleroma.Utils.command_available?("exiftool") do
+          {"Do you want to read data from uploaded files so clients can use it to prefill fields like image description? This requires exiftool, it was detected as installed. (y/n)",
+           "y"}
+        else
+          {"Do you want to read data from uploaded files so clients can use it to prefill fields like image description? This requires exiftool, it was detected as not installed, please install it if you answer yes. (y/n)",
+           "n"}
+        end
+
+      read_uploads_data =
+        get_option(
+          options,
+          :read_uploads_data,
+          read_uploads_data_message,
+          read_uploads_data_default
+        ) === "y"
+
       anonymize_uploads =
         get_option(
           options,
@@ -230,6 +248,7 @@ defmodule Mix.Tasks.Pleroma.Instance do
           upload_filters:
             upload_filters(%{
               strip: strip_uploads,
+              read_data: read_uploads_data,
               anonymize: anonymize_uploads,
               dedupe: dedupe_uploads
             })
@@ -303,6 +322,13 @@ defmodule Mix.Tasks.Pleroma.Instance do
         []
       end
 
+    enabled_filters =
+      if filters.read_data do
+        enabled_filters ++ [Pleroma.Upload.Filter.ExiftoolReadData]
+      else
+        enabled_filters
+      end
+
     enabled_filters =
       if filters.anonymize do
         enabled_filters ++ [Pleroma.Upload.Filter.AnonymizeFilename]
diff --git a/lib/pleroma/application_requirements.ex b/lib/pleroma/application_requirements.ex
index 06d388694..ea1ee71c0 100644
--- a/lib/pleroma/application_requirements.ex
+++ b/lib/pleroma/application_requirements.ex
@@ -165,6 +165,7 @@ defmodule Pleroma.ApplicationRequirements do
   defp check_system_commands!(:ok) do
     filter_commands_statuses = [
       check_filter(Pleroma.Upload.Filter.Exiftool, "exiftool"),
+      check_filter(Pleroma.Upload.Filter.ExiftoolReadData, "exiftool"),
       check_filter(Pleroma.Upload.Filter.Mogrify, "mogrify"),
       check_filter(Pleroma.Upload.Filter.Mogrifun, "mogrify"),
       check_filter(Pleroma.Upload.Filter.AnalyzeMetadata, "mogrify"),
diff --git a/lib/pleroma/upload.ex b/lib/pleroma/upload.ex
index 242813dcd..db2909276 100644
--- a/lib/pleroma/upload.ex
+++ b/lib/pleroma/upload.ex
@@ -60,12 +60,23 @@ defmodule Pleroma.Upload do
           width: integer(),
           height: integer(),
           blurhash: String.t(),
+          description: String.t(),
           path: String.t()
         }
-  defstruct [:id, :name, :tempfile, :content_type, :width, :height, :blurhash, :path]
+  defstruct [
+    :id,
+    :name,
+    :tempfile,
+    :content_type,
+    :width,
+    :height,
+    :blurhash,
+    :description,
+    :path
+  ]
 
-  defp get_description(opts, upload) do
-    case {opts[:description], Pleroma.Config.get([Pleroma.Upload, :default_description])} do
+  defp get_description(upload) do
+    case {upload.description, Pleroma.Config.get([Pleroma.Upload, :default_description])} do
       {description, _} when is_binary(description) -> description
       {_, :filename} -> upload.name
       {_, str} when is_binary(str) -> str
@@ -81,7 +92,7 @@ defmodule Pleroma.Upload do
     with {:ok, upload} <- prepare_upload(upload, opts),
          upload = %__MODULE__{upload | path: upload.path || "#{upload.id}/#{upload.name}"},
          {:ok, upload} <- Pleroma.Upload.Filter.filter(opts.filters, upload),
-         description = get_description(opts, upload),
+         description = get_description(upload),
          {_, true} <-
            {:description_limit,
             String.length(description) <= Pleroma.Config.get([:instance, :description_limit])},
@@ -152,7 +163,8 @@ defmodule Pleroma.Upload do
          id: UUID.generate(),
          name: file.filename,
          tempfile: file.path,
-         content_type: file.content_type
+         content_type: file.content_type,
+         description: opts.description
        }}
     end
   end
@@ -172,7 +184,8 @@ defmodule Pleroma.Upload do
          id: UUID.generate(),
          name: hash <> "." <> ext,
          tempfile: tmp_path,
-         content_type: content_type
+         content_type: content_type,
+         description: opts.description
        }}
     end
   end
diff --git a/lib/pleroma/upload/filter/exiftool_read_data.ex b/lib/pleroma/upload/filter/exiftool_read_data.ex
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c8bedfbf8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/pleroma/upload/filter/exiftool_read_data.ex
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+# Pleroma: A lightweight social networking server
+# Copyright © 2017-2021 Pleroma Authors <https://pleroma.social/>
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-only
+
+defmodule Pleroma.Upload.Filter.ExiftoolReadData do
+  @moduledoc """
+  Gets the description from the related EXIF tags and provides them in the response if no description is provided yet.
+  It will first check ImageDescription, when that's too long or empty, it will check iptc:Caption-Abstract.
+  When the description is too long (see `:instance, :description_limit`), an empty string is returned.
+  """
+  @behaviour Pleroma.Upload.Filter
+
+  @spec filter(Pleroma.Upload.t()) :: {:ok, any()} | {:error, String.t()}
+
+  def filter(%Pleroma.Upload{description: description})
+      when is_binary(description),
+      do: {:ok, :noop}
+
+  def filter(%Pleroma.Upload{tempfile: file} = upload),
+    do: {:ok, :filtered, upload |> Map.put(:description, read_description_from_exif_data(file))}
+
+  def filter(_, _), do: {:ok, :noop}
+
+  defp read_description_from_exif_data(file) do
+    nil
+    |> read_when_empty(file, "-ImageDescription")
+    |> read_when_empty(file, "-iptc:Caption-Abstract")
+  end
+
+  defp read_when_empty(current_description, _, _) when is_binary(current_description),
+    do: current_description
+
+  defp read_when_empty(_, file, tag) do
+    try do
+      {tag_content, 0} =
+        System.cmd("exiftool", ["-b", "-s3", tag, file], stderr_to_stdout: true, parallelism: true)
+
+      if tag_content != "" and
+           String.length(tag_content) <=
+             Pleroma.Config.get([:instance, :description_limit]),
+         do: tag_content,
+         else: nil
+    rescue
+      _ in ErlangError -> nil
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/test/fixtures/portrait_of_owls_caption-abstract_tmp.jpg b/test/fixtures/portrait_of_owls_caption-abstract_tmp.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f5fe63999
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/fixtures/portrait_of_owls_caption-abstract_tmp.jpg differ
diff --git a/test/fixtures/portrait_of_owls_imagedescription_and_caption-abstract_tmp.jpg b/test/fixtures/portrait_of_owls_imagedescription_and_caption-abstract_tmp.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0b8b85754
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/fixtures/portrait_of_owls_imagedescription_and_caption-abstract_tmp.jpg differ
diff --git a/test/fixtures/portrait_of_owls_no_description_tmp.jpg b/test/fixtures/portrait_of_owls_no_description_tmp.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d63d40af8
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/fixtures/portrait_of_owls_no_description_tmp.jpg differ
diff --git a/test/mix/tasks/pleroma/instance_test.exs b/test/mix/tasks/pleroma/instance_test.exs
index 249689ec6..e72aab701 100644
--- a/test/mix/tasks/pleroma/instance_test.exs
+++ b/test/mix/tasks/pleroma/instance_test.exs
@@ -69,6 +69,8 @@ defmodule Mix.Tasks.Pleroma.InstanceTest do
         "./test/../test/instance/static/",
         "--strip-uploads",
         "y",
+        "--read-uploads-data",
+        "y",
         "--dedupe-uploads",
         "n",
         "--anonymize-uploads",
@@ -91,7 +93,10 @@ defmodule Mix.Tasks.Pleroma.InstanceTest do
     assert generated_config =~ "password: \"dbpass\""
     assert generated_config =~ "configurable_from_database: true"
     assert generated_config =~ "http: [ip: {127, 0, 0, 1}, port: 4000]"
-    assert generated_config =~ "filters: [Pleroma.Upload.Filter.Exiftool]"
+
+    assert generated_config =~
+             "filters: [Pleroma.Upload.Filter.Exiftool, Pleroma.Upload.Filter.ExiftoolReadData]"
+
     assert File.read!(tmp_path() <> "setup.psql") == generated_setup_psql()
     assert File.exists?(Path.expand("./test/instance/static/robots.txt"))
   end
diff --git a/test/pleroma/upload/filter/exiftool_read_data_test.exs b/test/pleroma/upload/filter/exiftool_read_data_test.exs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0861d293a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/pleroma/upload/filter/exiftool_read_data_test.exs
@@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
+# Pleroma: A lightweight social networking server
+# Copyright © 2017-2021 Pleroma Authors <https://pleroma.social/>
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-only
+
+defmodule Pleroma.Upload.Filter.ExiftoolReadDataTest do
+  use Pleroma.DataCase, async: true
+  alias Pleroma.Upload.Filter
+
+  @uploads %Pleroma.Upload{
+    name: "portrait_of_owls_imagedescription_and_caption-abstract.jpg",
+    content_type: "image/jpeg",
+    path:
+      Path.absname("test/fixtures/portrait_of_owls_imagedescription_and_caption-abstract.jpg"),
+    tempfile:
+      Path.absname("test/fixtures/portrait_of_owls_imagedescription_and_caption-abstract_tmp.jpg"),
+    description: nil
+  }
+
+  test "keeps description when not empty" do
+    uploads = %Pleroma.Upload{
+      name: "portrait_of_owls_imagedescription_and_caption-abstract.jpg",
+      content_type: "image/jpeg",
+      path:
+        Path.absname("test/fixtures/portrait_of_owls_imagedescription_and_caption-abstract.jpg"),
+      tempfile:
+        Path.absname(
+          "test/fixtures/portrait_of_owls_imagedescription_and_caption-abstract_tmp.jpg"
+        ),
+      description: "Eight different owls"
+    }
+
+    assert Filter.ExiftoolReadData.filter(uploads) ==
+             {:ok, :noop}
+  end
+
+  test "otherwise returns ImageDescription when present" do
+    uploads_after = %Pleroma.Upload{
+      name: "portrait_of_owls_imagedescription_and_caption-abstract.jpg",
+      content_type: "image/jpeg",
+      path:
+        Path.absname("test/fixtures/portrait_of_owls_imagedescription_and_caption-abstract.jpg"),
+      tempfile:
+        Path.absname(
+          "test/fixtures/portrait_of_owls_imagedescription_and_caption-abstract_tmp.jpg"
+        ),
+      description: "Pictures of eight different owls"
+    }
+
+    assert Filter.ExiftoolReadData.filter(@uploads) ==
+             {:ok, :filtered, uploads_after}
+  end
+
+  test "otherwise returns iptc:Caption-Abstract when present" do
+    upload = %Pleroma.Upload{
+      name: "portrait_of_owls_caption-abstract.jpg",
+      content_type: "image/jpeg",
+      path: Path.absname("test/fixtures/portrait_of_owls_caption-abstract.jpg"),
+      tempfile: Path.absname("test/fixtures/portrait_of_owls_caption-abstract_tmp.jpg"),
+      description: nil
+    }
+
+    upload_after = %Pleroma.Upload{
+      name: "portrait_of_owls_caption-abstract.jpg",
+      content_type: "image/jpeg",
+      path: Path.absname("test/fixtures/portrait_of_owls_caption-abstract.jpg"),
+      tempfile: Path.absname("test/fixtures/portrait_of_owls_caption-abstract_tmp.jpg"),
+      description: "Pictures of eight different owls - iptc"
+    }
+
+    assert Filter.ExiftoolReadData.filter(upload) ==
+             {:ok, :filtered, upload_after}
+  end
+
+  test "otherwise returns nil" do
+    uploads = %Pleroma.Upload{
+      name: "portrait_of_owls_no_description-abstract.jpg",
+      content_type: "image/jpeg",
+      path: Path.absname("test/fixtures/portrait_of_owls_no_description.jpg"),
+      tempfile: Path.absname("test/fixtures/portrait_of_owls_no_description_tmp.jpg"),
+      description: nil
+    }
+
+    assert Filter.ExiftoolReadData.filter(uploads) ==
+             {:ok, :filtered, uploads}
+  end
+
+  test "Return nil when image description from EXIF data exceeds the maximum length" do
+    clear_config([:instance, :description_limit], 5)
+
+    assert Filter.ExiftoolReadData.filter(@uploads) ==
+             {:ok, :filtered, @uploads}
+  end
+
+  test "Return nil when image description from EXIF data can't be read" do
+    uploads = %Pleroma.Upload{
+      name: "non-existant.jpg",
+      content_type: "image/jpeg",
+      path: Path.absname("test/fixtures/non-existant.jpg"),
+      tempfile: Path.absname("test/fixtures/non-existant_tmp.jpg"),
+      description: nil
+    }
+
+    assert Filter.ExiftoolReadData.filter(uploads) ==
+             {:ok, :filtered, uploads}
+  end
+end