Metadata handling in variants and dynamic downloads

Ensure that media file metadata are consistent in all variants and dynamic download formats.

This configuration can affect legal information in your media assets. Ensure that the setup complies with the policies of your organization and the legal requirements of your country!

Prerequisites

You use transformations to create variants or dynamic download formats of images or videos.

Introduction

Media files can contain numerous metadata. There are different metadata types (for example: EXIF, IPTC, XMP, Quicktime). They contain technical information, semantical information or copyright and license information.

To make sure that these metadata are consistent, they must be written into the storage item when an asset variant is created, and when a dynamic download format is generated.

The transformation assets that create the variants or dynamic download formats are configured accordingly. By default, all metadata types are kept in the storage items of asset variants and dynamic download formats.

You can strip unnecessary or unwanted metadata from the storage items or dynamically created files. For example, metadata that contain internal or confidential information must be stripped. 

On the other hand, metadata that contain copyright or usage information must be kept in all files.

Default image transformations

In the censhare standard product, the following image transformations use the default setting for metadata attributes:

Configuration

To set the metadata as transformation:

1. Open the desired transformation asset.

2. In the Editor, search for the out-stripped attribute:

   CODE

   <?xml version="1.0" ?>
   <xsl:stylesheet version="3.0">
    <xsl:template match="/">
   
     ...
   
     <cs:command name="com.censhare.api.transformation.ImageTransformation">  
      
      ...
      <attributes out-stripped="false|true"/>
     </cs:command>
    </xsl:template>
   </xsl:stylesheet>
   
   

3. Enter the desired value:
   • false: attributes are copied into the target file. This is the default value.
   • true: attributes are not written into the target file.
4. Save your changes.

Result

If you set the out-stripped attribute to false, metadata attributes are kept in image variants and dynamically generated download items. If you set the out-stripped attribute to true, image metadata are stripped from image variants and dynamically generated download items.