Does Lightroom store edits and metadata in a catalog, XMP sidecars, or both?
Asked 8/20/2010
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I’m used to Adobe Bridge and Camera Raw, where metadata and adjustments can be stored in sidecar .xmp files next to RAW images. In Lightroom, I often hear about backing up the catalog separately. Does Lightroom store tags, metadata, ratings, and develop adjustments only in its catalog, or can it also write them to XMP sidecar files? If it uses both, how does that work for different file types?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
16y ago
2 Answers
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Lightroom (on a Mac at least) has its own database, which it calls a catalog, which is stored and backed up separately from your image files. It's called 'Lightroom Catalog.lrcat'. There is an option in 'Catalog Settings' to 'Automatically write changes into XMP'.
The following page tells you more about how Lightoom handles metadata and adjustments:
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Lightroom/3.0/Using/WS638E3AC9-A04C-4445-A0D3-F7D8BA5CDE37.html
Originally by user456. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user456
16y ago
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Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Lightroom uses both.
Its primary store is the catalog database (.lrcat), which keeps information about your photos, including metadata and develop settings. That catalog should be backed up separately from your image files.
Lightroom can also write metadata and edits to XMP:
- For proprietary RAW files, it writes to a separate .xmp sidecar file.
- For DNG, JPG, and TIFF files, the metadata is generally written into the file itself rather than a sidecar.
This includes more than keywords and ratings; develop settings such as crop, exposure, and even some retouching data can be written too.
You can enable this automatically in Catalog Settings with “Automatically write changes into XMP,” or do it manually with “Metadata > Save Metadata to File(s).” Some users leave automatic writing off for performance or backup-sync reasons and save metadata manually when needed.
In short: Lightroom relies on its catalog first, but it can also store compatible metadata and edit instructions in XMP or within supported image files.
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