Copyright metadata writer
Write your name, copyright notice and licence links into the metadata of your photos, one at a time or in a batch. The picture itself is not touched.
- Nothing uploaded
- Pixels stay exactly as they are
- Someone else's credit is kept unless you say otherwise
Free, no limit. Your pixels are not touched; only the metadata changes.
How to add copyright information to your photos
A visible watermark shows who made a picture. Copyright metadata is the same information written inside the file, where it travels with the picture and some services read it. The copyright metadata tool at the top of this page writes it without touching the pixels.
The fields and where we write them
Fill in a profile once and apply it to one photo or a whole batch. Every field is optional. This is where each one goes.
| Field | What it holds | Written as |
|---|---|---|
| Creator | Who made the picture | EXIF Artist; IPTC By-line; XMP dc:creator |
| Copyright | The notice, for example a year and a name | EXIF Copyright; IPTC Copyright Notice; XMP dc:rights |
| Credit | The credit line to print beside the picture | IPTC Credit; XMP photoshop:Credit |
| Web statement | A web address where your usage terms are published | XMP xmpRights:WebStatement, with xmpRights:Marked set to True |
| Licensor URL | A web address where someone can ask for a licence | XMP plus:Licensor with plus:LicensorURL |
| Email and website | Your contact details | XMP Iptc4xmpCore:CreatorContactInfo |
JPEG files receive all three kinds of metadata. PNG and WebP files receive EXIF and XMP. The older IPTC format limits the creator and the credit to 32 bytes and the copyright notice to 128 bytes, so we shorten those in the IPTC copy only; EXIF and XMP keep the full text.
Who reads it
Embedded metadata travels with the file, and some services read it. Not every service keeps it, so treat it as a complement to a visible mark.
- Google Images. Google says it reads the IPTC creator, credit line, copyright notice and licensor URL, and the web statement of rights. Its Licensable badge needs the web statement of rights, and Google recommends the licensor URL as well. Google says embedded metadata alone is enough, and it does not promise that the badge will appear. The details are in Google's image metadata documentation.
- Windows File Explorer. Microsoft documents the order in which its Authors and Copyright properties read these fields: EXIF first, then IPTC, then XMP (Authors policy, Copyright policy). The policies cover JPEG and TIFF files, so we would not expect PNG or WebP files to show them. That last point is our inference, not a Microsoft statement.
- Lightroom and Photoshop. They read XMP and IPTC. They label the web statement of rights "Copyright Info URL", as the IPTC Photo Metadata Standard describes.
- macOS. Reports say Finder's Get Info shows only a small subset of these fields, and that the Inspector in Preview shows IPTC and EXIF data.
Existing credit is never overwritten
Before applying your profile to a file, we read the creator and copyright already inside it. If the file names a different creator or copyright holder, we keep what the file says, add only the fields that were empty, and show a notice in the file list. Missing credit is filled in. To replace an existing credit you must tick the override box for that run; presets never store it. Photos that are not yours should keep their original credit.
What changes and what does not
Your pixels are not touched. The image data in the saved file is the same, byte for byte, as in the original, and only the metadata segments change. Existing XMP and IPTC content stays, except for the fields in your profile. When we rewrite the EXIF block, camera and copyright details are kept; maker notes and embedded thumbnails are not carried over. Location data is handled as in the photo tool: left out by default, with a switch to keep it. We never write a thumbnail or GPS coordinates of our own.
Metadata is information, not protection. Anyone can ignore it, and a service may not keep it. Nothing here is legal advice.
Questions
- Will adding metadata change my picture?
- No. Free, no limit. Your pixels are not touched; only the metadata changes.
- Which files work?
- JPEG, PNG and WebP. Other formats are skipped, with the reason shown in the file list. PNG stores EXIF in an eXIf chunk and XMP in a text chunk (see the PNG specification), and WebP stores both in chunks of its container (see the WebP container specification).
- What is a web statement of rights?
- A web address where your usage terms are published. Google uses it to decide whether to show the Licensable badge. It has no IPTC equivalent, so it is written to XMP only.
- Can I apply the same details to watermarked photos?
- Yes. The photo generator applies your copyright profile to every photo it exports, one or a whole batch, in the same step as the watermark.
- Does this prove that I own a photo?
- No. It records the details you enter, and it does not check them. Keep your originals and your own records.