Photos

What Photo Metadata Is and What Happens When You Share a Picture

A digital photo contains more than the pixels you see. The image file can also carry information about the picture, such as when it was taken, its dimensions, camera settings, orientation, and sometimes where it was captured. This extra information is called metadata: data that describes other data. It helps cameras, phones, photo libraries, and editing software organise and interpret images. It also explains why two copies of a picture can look identical while carrying different information behind the scenes.