P: Read and write video metadata into video or sidecar

So there is even less reason for Adobe to continue to ignore this request. I had noted the Quicktime files may be able to embed metadata, but hadn't seen it as an option for other common formats directly from cameras. It doesn't seem to matter if our typical metadata editors from Adobe don't address it one way or another.

"I get it that the original video files don't support embedding metadata directly into the files"

Actually, all the widely used video formats support the embedding of XMP metadata via well-defined standards. This is unlike raw formats, which are proprietary and not publicly documented.

This forum is indeed where Adobe wants feature requests, bug reports, and other feedback.  And you've found the right topic.

Given users have been asking for at least XMP file support for video for years with no change, no this doesn't seem to be the place for feature requests. The only program I've found that creates XMP files for video metadata is Photo Mechanic. It creates them and DAMs like Canto Cumulus can read them. I wish Adobe would get with it and do the same in Lightroom, Bridge, etc. I get it that the original video files don't support embedding metadata directly into the files, much like RAW still files. But XMP is a solution for all. A video equivalent of DNG that encapsulates an original video file would be even better.

An Adobe rep said I should submit a feature request form to embed metadata into video files but sent me to a URL to do so which is this forum.  Excuse me as I am new to the forum but am I correct this is not the place to submit a FEATURE REQUEST FORM?

Lightroom doesn't allow users to read or write video metadata from or back to a file. This is a problem, especially since videos I imported a while ago aren't displaying the camera make and model.

I'd like to read the metadata from the video files, but Lightroom doesn't allow me to do so. Instead, I need to remove these video files from my library and import them again, losing the rating, labels, and location metadata I had already applied to them.

There's no reason why this feature should be disabled for video files. Also, it should be possible to write video metadata to sidecar .XMP files.

_^^-WHO-^^____^^-WHEN-^^
__ [name] ____ [# d/yr ago]__

Oh, the irony... Each comment here begins with the person's icon, their name, and the number of days/months/years ago the the comment was posted.

And if you roll over the "4 years ago" text, it will then show you the specific date and time that the comment was posted. Go ahead, give it a try...

For instance, go to the original post at the top. It currently says "4 years ago." The rollover text specifies the date as being January 18, 2012. But I'm typing this on Dec 18, 2015. So, the comment is NOT from "4 years ago" -- sure, a month from now it will be, but it's not, now.

Check the others -- on some, the time differential is nearly four months.


So really... what is it about Adobe that they should be challenged by time stamps?

>If exiftool can do it Adobe surely do a better job
That is a myth :-). Big companies like Adobe needs to follow the rules. Adobe cannot reverse engineer some other companies proprietary implementation without the legal clearance and cooperation from the respective vendors. There is a very big difference here.

Understood. That's why the same approach used for proprietary raw files could apply to videos: read the metadata from the various industry standard and proprietary formats, write back to industry standard formats, write back to sidecars for proprietary formats.

Hi John, Canon for example provides a lot of useful metadata about the video via the .thm sidecar file (really a JPEG thumbnail). Lr really depended on the presence of .thm to get most of the video metadata, such as camera make, model, lens info and capture time etc. Without the .thm and without Lr being able to understand the proprietary EXIF format stored in the videos generated by Canon, Fuji or Panasonic camera (the only camera vendors that does this as far as we know), Lr used to drop the video metadata on the floor.

The fix would be at least be able to read those video metadata as much as the vendor willing to support for such scenarios. The writing of video metadata is another beast. LR is certainly not going to support writing back the metadata in the proprietary EXIF blocks.