This page is about IPTC metadata to be used within Adobe's Extensible Metadata Platform framework.

IPTC metadata were employed by Adobe Systems Inc. to describe photos already in the early nineties. A subset of the IPTC "Information Interchange Model - IIM" was adopted as the well known "IPTC Headers" for Photoshop, JPEG and TIFF image files which currently describe millions of professional digital photos.

In 2001 Adobe launched a new metadata framework called "Extensible Metadata Platform - XMP" and made it available in Photoshop (version 7 and CS) and other CS products.
Photoshop also implemented a simple synchronisation between the - now "legacy" - IPTC headers and metadata elements of the XMP framework which works back and forth.

In 2004 a joint effort of the IPTC, Adobe and IDEAlliance started to work on

• the "IPTC Core" Schema for XMP for a smooth and explicit transfer of metadata values from the IPTC Headers to the XMP framework
• a specification on how to synchronise legacy IPTC header values with the new "IPTC Core" - back and forth.
• "custom panels" for Adobe Photoshop to provide a simple user interface to all "IPTC Core" metadata
• supplementary documentation for users and implementers.

The "IPTC Core" version 1.0 specification was approved by the IPTC and now the specification document and additional supporting material is available:

• IPTC Core 1.0 specification document
• "custom panels" of IPTC Core metadata for Adobe Photoshop CS
• a comprehensive user guide to these panels
  (Video tutorials on their use provided by David Riecks and the Stock Artists Alliance)
• example photos with IPTC Core metadata
• guideline for XMP software implementers
• translations of all the language that may (or should) appear on the user interface with IPTC Core fields into:
  Spanish, French, German and Japanese (new June 2007)
  (In particular the field label, the definition of the semantics of the field and notes to the field are translated)

This material can be downloaded as either a full package or a "Photoshop CS panels only" package - see "Resources" panel >>>

A severe problem was found with Photoshop 7.1 and CS 1 (aka V 8): Data input to one of the IPTC Core fields in the built-in Description or Origin panel are not saved to the XMP Packet. Please DOWNLOAD the fix package from the "Resources" panel to the right.
This problem does not apply to Photoshop CS 2 or CS 3.

"IPTC Core" is intellectual property of the IPTC.
XMP, Photoshop and Creative Suite (CS) are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Inc.