IPTC promotes the proper use of IPTC Photo Metadata and claims “embedded metadata should not be removed” from images shared on a photo platform or a system for sharing files or messages with images.
In its own words: https://iptc.org/standards/photo-metadata/social-media-sites-photo-metadata-test-results-2019/, read 2026-10-29
| What receives provenance | the photograph as a file: embedded Exif and IPTC metadata (IIM and XMP) |
| Relations carried | creation (creator); credit; rights (copyright notice); description (caption) op |
| Carrier | embedded metadata inside the image file op |
| Expresses · records · tests | expressesrecordstests |
| Operations tested | upload to a sharing site or system; display to a viewer; Save As from the browser; download through the system op |
| What survived | 2019: of eleven image-sharing sites, Pexels, pixabay and Unsplash stripped metadata from saved and downloaded files; Flickr replaced the embedded creator with the account owner; among file and message systems Twitter stripped it on Save As, Facebook kept a few rights fields in IIM and Exif op |
op the operator's own statement · 3p a third-party account · obs our observation · rd our reading. Hover a tag for its quote; each opens below with its source.
| Canonical name | IPTC photo metadata tests |
| Also known as | IPTC Social Media Sites Photo Metadata Test Results, IPTC Photo Metadata Research |
| Address | https://iptc.org/standards/photo-metadata/research/ |
| Operator | IPTC (International Press Telecommunications Council), Photo Metadata Working Group |
| Kind | test series |
| Unit | a site or system, tested by upload and by saving or downloading the uploaded image |
| Lifecycle | historical — dated results; the 2019 table is not a 2026 platform measurement. Succeeded in method by Metawatch (2026) |
| Count | 15 social media sites tested in 2016 and 2013 (research page); about a dozen checked regularly (2019 page) (as of 2019) op |
| Cadence | periodic: 2013, 2016, Spring 2019 (the 2019 page); a software test published August 2014 op |
| Versions and dates | results: Spring 2019; earlier: 2013, 2016; software study: August 2014; read: 2026-10-29 |
| Observation | 2026-10-29: read |
1b4794817413523c…1b4794817413523c…4d8b44f1ba520320…1b4794817413523c…1b4794817413523c…1b4794817413523c…1b4794817413523c…1b4794817413523c…4d8b44f1ba520320…1b4794817413523c…4d8b44f1ba520320…Lee Sharks, ed. "IPTC photo metadata tests." Provenance meta-aggregator, Provenance Erasure, compiled 2026-10-29. https://www.provenanceerasure.org/aggregators/iptc-photo-metadata-tests
Record https://www.provenanceerasure.org/aggregators/iptc-photo-metadata-tests · entity https://www.provenanceerasure.org/aggregators/iptc-photo-metadata-tests#entity · the census as data
@misc{pe-iptcphotometadatatests2026,
editor = {Sharks, Lee},
title = {IPTC photo metadata tests},
howpublished = {Provenance meta-aggregator, Provenance Erasure},
year = {2026},
note = {Compiled 2026-10-29; every field sourced and dated},
url = {https://www.provenanceerasure.org/aggregators/iptc-photo-metadata-tests}
}