Why is Illustrator adding <c2pa:manifest> metadata in my SVG export?

[Stu-Marlow]

When I export an artboard as an SVG from a particular file (attached), using either Save As or Export for screens, Illustrator is including a metadata tag and a c2pa:manifest child tag, which includes an enormous string value:

I've been exporting files like this for ages without this happening, so I've either changed something or Illustrator has updated and started doing this, but I can't figure out how to prevent it (I don't want to have to remove this every time I export an SVG).

If I create a NEW file and export it as an SVG, this does not happen.

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Stu-Marlow,

Thanks for reaching out. Would you mind sharing some more details, like the exact version of the OS/Illustrator, details about your workflow and settings used including screenshots, and link to a sample file after uploading it to Dropbox/Google Drive/etc., so we can investigate this further?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,
Anubhav

[Stu-Marlow]

Thanks, here's the details:

OS/App versions:

• Mac OS Ventura 13.6.4 (22G513)
• Adobe Illustrator 2024 (28.2.0)

Workflow:

• Document contains 180+ artboards, each 24x24px
• Each artboard contains a single colour icon
• Press CMD+OPT+E to open Export for screens
• Select required artboards, normally only a few at a time
• Export only as SVG using attached settings
• The following .ai file exhibits this behaviour: 

icon.ai 

[Stu-Marlow]

Here is a link to the file on CC Cloud:

https://assets.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:EU:2669feb3-d999-4e02-a40f-bb50d022d25f?view=difile

[Andy Swift]

I have posted a very similar question at https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/some-exported-svg-s-have-huge-meta-manifest-b... with trivially simple test files to reproduce the issue.

[JJRC1996]

We also use illsutrator to generate svg for a web app I collaborate building. This caught our attention as it is emmbedding this service: https://c2pa.org/

Is there a way to decline or disregard the include of such metadata? If so, how could it be done?

[Andy Swift]

In my case, it was that the images were watermarked to show that AI was used in generating them: https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/some-exported-svg-s-have-huge-meta-manifest-b...

The only solution is to create a new file.

You can find out what is your exact reason by examining one of your SVG's with exiftool: https://exiftool.org/

I downloaded the PNG from the icon.ai link you gave, and this is what it shows:

File Name                       : Unknown.svg
Directory                       : /Users/Main/Downloads
File Size                       : 73 kB
File Modification Date/Time     : 2024:06:20 15:29:40+02:00
File Access Date/Time           : 2024:06:20 15:29:48+02:00
File Inode Change Date/Time     : 2024:06:20 15:29:49+02:00
File Permissions                : -rw-r--r--
File Type                       : PNG
File Type Extension             : png
MIME Type                       : image/png
Image Width                     : 800
Image Height                    : 800
Bit Depth                       : 8
Color Type                      : RGB with Alpha
Compression                     : Deflate/Inflate
Filter                          : Adaptive
Interlace                       : Noninterlaced
XMP Toolkit                     : Adobe XMP Core 9.1-c002 79.e06fd49, 2023/10/04-19:08:29
Format                          : image/png
Title                           : Icon
Metadata Date                   : 2024:06:20 13:29:26Z
Modify Date                     : 2024:03:11 22:03:32Z
Create Date                     : 2024:03:11 22:03:32Z
Creator Tool                    : Adobe Illustrator CS6
Thumbnail Width                 : 256
Thumbnail Height                : 228
Thumbnail Format                : JPEG
Thumbnail Image                 : (Binary data 7123 bytes, use -b option to extract)
Instance ID                     : xmp.iid:e8b83f45-9f4a-4e56-8a26-49056e4d71dd
Document ID                     : xmp.did:e8b83f45-9f4a-4e56-8a26-49056e4d71dd
Original Document ID            : uuid:5D20892493BFDB11914A8590D31508C8
Rendition Class                 : proof:pdf
Derived From Instance ID        : xmp.iid:0d61be83-fdad-4e1c-a782-94a792eef540
Derived From Document ID        : xmp.did:0d61be83-fdad-4e1c-a782-94a792eef540
Derived From Original Document ID: uuid:5D20892493BFDB11914A8590D31508C8
Derived From Rendition Class    : proof:pdf
History Action                  : saved, saved, converted, saved
History Instance ID             : xmp.iid:704fbcf8-724c-46d2-a989-c805bc761f64, xmp.iid:0d61be83-fdad-4e1c-a782-94a792eef540, xmp.iid:e8b83f45-9f4a-4e56-8a26-49056e4d71dd
History When                    : 2021:08:02 14:06:34+01:00, 2024:03:11 22:03:32Z, 2024:06:20 13:29:26Z
History Software Agent          : Adobe Illustrator 25.3 (Macintosh), Adobe Adobe Illustrator 28.3 (Windows)
History Changed                 : /, /
History Parameters              : from document/vnd.adobe.illustrator+dcx to image/png
Startup Profile                 : Print
Creator Sub Tool                : AIRobin
Type                            : Document
Producer                        : Adobe PDF library 17.00
N Pages                         : 1

[Anubhav M]

Hello everyone,

Thanks for your patience in this matter. The C2PA metadata is there to help the user comply with upcoming legislation worldwide that will require the labeling of AI and general content provenance.

Feel free to reach out if you have more questions or need assistance. We'd be happy to help.

Thanks,
Anubhav

Note: marking correct for visibility.

[Stu-Marlow]

Thanks for your response Anubhav, but this doesn't answer the original question I'm afraid. I'm aware of what the cp2a meta data is for, but I was asking how I can prevent it from being included in my SVG exports.

As it happens, a recent Illustrator software update seems to have resolved the issue, and it is no longer exporting this data from that file.

[Ze_Muy]

FYI: you can always remove svg metadata (including c2pa) with BatchPurifier.