How should I embed a Creative Commons license in JPEG metadata?
Asked 5/6/2012
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2 answers
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I want to publish my JPEG photos under a Creative Commons license (for example CC BY-NC) and would like to store that license information in the file metadata. What metadata fields are considered best practice for this, and what tools can be used to write them? Also, do photo-sharing services like Flickr or Facebook reliably read or preserve this metadata?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
14y ago
2 Answers
6
As @coneslayer notes, Creative Commons does indeed provide guidance for XMP information.
The main thing is to set xmpRights:UsageTerms to This work is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bysa/2.0/ verify at http://example.com/pdfmetadata.html
That "verify" link is optional and should be a web site explaining the licensing in more detail. If you have such a web page, you should also set xmpRights:WebStatement to that URL.
They also recommend duplicating xmpRights:UsageTerms into dc:rights, because some people might use that tag instead.
You also can and should set XMP properties using Creative Commons' own schema, which defines cc:license, cc:morePermissions (for possible other allowed uses), cc:attributionURL, and cc:attributionName.
Originally by user1943. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1943
12y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Best practice is to store the license in XMP metadata, not just basic EXIF/IPTC copyright text. A common approach is to set the XMP rights fields such as xmpRights:UsageTerms with the full license statement and URL, and optionally xmpRights:WebStatement pointing to a page that explains the licensing. It’s also recommended to duplicate the rights text into dc:rights, since some software reads that instead. If supported, use Creative Commons’ XMP schema too, including fields like cc:license.
You can also add standard copyright/artist fields (Copyright, CopyrightNotice, Artist, byline), but those alone are less precise than XMP for CC licensing.
Tools: exiftool is a common way to write this metadata from the command line, and Photoshop can add copyright info via File > File Info.
As for services like Flickr, Google+, or Facebook: based on the provided answers, there’s no reliable claim that they read, display, or preserve this metadata consistently. So embed it in the file, but also show the license clearly on the web page where you publish the image.
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