EXIF Copyright: the rights notice stored in a photo
The EXIF Copyright tag stores a rights notice inside a photo. Where it lives, why it should also go into IPTC and XMP, and why cleaning should keep it.
What is the EXIF Copyright tag?
Copyright
Copyright is the EXIF tag, number 0x8298 in the first image directory (IFD0), that holds a text notice of who owns the rights to the image. The standard allows two notices in one value, the photographer’s and the editor’s, separated by a null byte.
Our sample photo carries © 2026 Alex Sample in this tag, next to Artist = Alex Sample. The two look alike and do different jobs: Artist names the person who took the picture, Copyright states who holds the rights.
Why write it three times?
The same notice has a slot in each of the three metadata standards.
| Standard | Field |
|---|---|
| EXIF | Copyright |
| IPTC | CopyrightNotice |
| XMP | dc:rights |
Programs pick one. A notice written only to XMP shows as empty in a tool that reads IPTC, and that tool may write its own empty value back when it saves. That is the usual story behind a credit line that disappeared.
The signing block of our metadata editor writes one value to all three fields at once, and it can remember the line in your browser so the next photo opens with it filled in.
Is a copyright notice a privacy risk?
It names someone, so it is fair to ask. We treat it as a claim you publish on purpose, not data that leaks.
Our privacy report flags names that end up in a file without anyone deciding to put them there: Artist, Creator, IPTC By-line, an owner name. Protect my privacy removes those and leaves Copyright alone. If you do want the notice gone, Erase everything removes it, or you can delete that one field from the full metadata list.
Does the tag protect the photo?
It labels the photo; it does not lock it. Metadata is easy to remove, and many platforms strip it when a picture is uploaded. The notice is worth adding for the copies that keep their metadata, such as files sent directly, archives, and agency deliveries, not as a barrier against copying.