ExifTool Forum

ExifTool => The "exiftool" Application => Topic started by: charlesleroi on August 03, 2020, 12:35:29 PM

Title: ID added to pdf metadata - what is it good for?
Post by: charlesleroi on August 03, 2020, 12:35:29 PM
Hi everybody.

I used exiftool to change some pdf's metadata. I noticed that after editing the metadata, an ID was added to every pdf's metadata. This ID is the same for every edited pdf.
What's the purpose of this ID?

This ID is not shown when reading the metadata with exiftool. But when I had an additional look on the metadata with mat2 this ID was displayed.

The pdf's metadata looks like this:
author: ...
creation-date: ...
creator: ...
pdf-format: ...
metadata: <?xpacket begin='' id='W5M0MpCehiHzreSzNTczkc9d ...


Kind regards,
Charles
Title: Re: ID added to pdf metadata - what is it good for?
Post by: Phil Harvey on August 03, 2020, 09:27:40 PM
Hi Charles,

That is the XMP metadata packet.  The ID is just the XMP record ID.

You will get this if you add any XMP tags to any file.

- Phil