How Permanent.org Reads Embedded File Metadata

How Permanent.org Reads Embedded File Metadata

When you upload a file to your Permanent.org archive, we use select metadata embedded within the file to populate our Permanent metadata fields. If you are interested in using this feature to populate Permanent metadata fields, the following article explains how the Permanent system reads, extracts, and uses embedded metadata to populate Permanent fields. 

At this time, Permanent is unable to read and extract metadata from TIF files. We are working on improving this feature to include more file types, so check back soon.


In general, the Permanent system prioritizes IPTC fields within the IIM data block for all metadata fields. If no IPTC fields are present in the file, the system will look for relevant EXIF Fields for the Permanent metadata field. If neither are present, nothing will be populated for the Permanent metadata (except for the Name field, which will be populated with the file's name without the extension).

Permanent Field
IPTC Field (Priority)
EXIF Field (Second Priority)
Other 
Name
Object Name
Title
Defaults to the upload file name (without the extension) if no IPTC or EXIF values are present
Description
Caption
UserComment
None
Date
None
(In order of priority):
DateTimeOriginal
DateTimeDigitized
DateTime
GPSTimeStamp + GPSDateStamp
None
Tags
Keywords
None
None
Location
None
Calculated from GPSLatitude + GPSLongitude and run through Google Maps APINone

Any metadata not extracted for use in Permanent metadata fields will be retained in the original file.

We currently do not support writing Permanent metadata back to downloaded files from your archive, so any metadata changes you make within Permanent will not be embedded into your files. We are working on this feature, so check back soon!



    • Related Articles

    • Using Dublin Core Metadata on Permanent.org

      A major part of digital preservation and the access of digital materials online is metadata. Metadata about files and archives provides the context of the photograph, document, video, or other file and tells the story behind the file. It also allows ...
    • Custom Metadata Options

      While Permanent.org has a number of metadata fields you can use to describe your files, Permanent.org now has the ability to add additional metadata fields using the Custom Metadata tagging feature. Custom Metadata allows you to use a "field:value" ...
    • Why can't I view my file on Permanent?

      If you click on a file to view it in Permanent and it does not open, it could be because of one of the following: The file type is not compatible with our viewer Permanent.org accepts any file type for preservation, but some files are not available ...
    • Using Bulk Metadata Editing Features on Mobile

      The mobile app's bulk metadata editing features make adding and changing metadata quick and easy. Bulk metadata editing allows you to change the metadata of multiple files simultaneously. Some ways you could use bulk metadata editing include: Adding ...
    • Adding Metadata in the Mobile App

      You can add metadata, or additional descriptive information, to your files in your Permanent archive. Files have metadata fields for the name, description, tags, date, and location. You can find this information by tapping the name of the file to ...