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137

P: Read and write video metadata into video or sidecar

Community Beginner ,
Jan 18, 2012 Jan 18, 2012

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The new Video part is great! I really like the previews.It is a great addition to sort and tag your video's. Only one problem:The tagging system doesn't work properly, it doesn't store the tags in the video-files like it is possible with the photo's. I hope this will be working in the Final.

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LEGEND ,
Jun 14, 2016 Jun 14, 2016

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"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.

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New Here ,
Jun 14, 2016 Jun 14, 2016

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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.

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LEGEND ,
Jun 14, 2016 Jun 14, 2016

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The XMP Specification Part 3: Storage in Files (an Adobe document), specifies how to store XMP metadata in: ASF (WMA, WMV), AVI, FLV, MOV, MP3, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 (generic and F4V), SWF, WAV, AVCHD, P2, Sony HDV, XDCAM EX, XDCAM FAM, XDCAM SAM.

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New Here ,
Jun 15, 2016 Jun 15, 2016

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Okay, the document you reference, http://www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/devnet/xmp/pdfs/XMPSpecificationPart3.pdf,  looks useful for programmers. It  takes a wider view of XMP, beyond the IPTC type of information we users are typically want to enter on our own.  It doesn't address the question that it appears Adobe doesn't support transport of IPTC XMP metadata associated with video files outside of its stand alone applications. IPTC metadata may be entered within Lightroom, Bridge, etc. but I haven't seen a way to transport the metadata to another application, computer, user, etc. Photo Mechanic does this with an XMP sidecar file, but I have yet to find another application that does. Of course it takes another application to be similarly programmed to read the associated XMP sidecar files. I found Canto Cumulus successfully does. I'm not sure what other applications do.

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 15, 2016 Jun 15, 2016

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Something else happened recently that concerns me. I had a disk failure. So I copied the image & movie files back (thankfully I keep a backup on a Drobo). I then restored a catalog backup. What seems to have happened is my movies all lost there creation dates.

Does this sound reasonable consequence of this issue or am I dealing with something else?

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LEGEND ,
Jun 15, 2016 Jun 15, 2016

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XMP metadata can be stored inside a file if the file format supports it (as most do), otherwise it can be stored in .xmp sidecars.  For photos, LR stores XMP metadata inside JPEGs, TIFFs, PNGs, and PSDs.  For proprietary raw files, LR uses .xmp side cars.   The information stored in the XMP metadata is the same in both cases.   

The same approach can be used with video.  As described in that spec, XMP can be stored inside the video for the common formats and in .xmp sidecars for other formats that don't allow it.

The XMP spec allows all of the EXIF and IPTC metadata fields to be stored inside XMP.

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LEGEND ,
Jun 15, 2016 Jun 15, 2016

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"So I copied the image & movie files back (thankfully I keep a backup on a Drobo). I then restored a catalog backup. What seems to have happened is my movies all lost there creation dates."

If you're referring to the file creation dates shown in the Mac Finder, not all programs maintain those dates as you copy files.  It's very possible that whatever utility you used to backup or restore the files lost the file creation dates.  (A program has to take explicit action to maintain them -- the operating system doesn't do it for them.)

There are so many programs these days that don't maintain file creation dates that, in my opinion, you shouldn't rely on them.  Better to rely on the metadata fields stored in the image or video.  (Except of course, LR can't update such fields.)

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New Here ,
Jun 17, 2016 Jun 17, 2016

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Yes!  Yes!  Yes!  I have to imagine that this is coming soon!

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Community Beginner ,
Mar 21, 2017 Mar 21, 2017

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I'd like to add my support to the idea that Lightroom add the ability to export metadata to a sidecar for movie files. Bridge seems able to save metadata in some movie files directly, but a sidecar file would be better for my needs. If this is a possible addition to Lightroom, I'd really like to see it added in soon.

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LEGEND ,
Sep 22, 2017 Sep 22, 2017

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I use Lightroom to import all my photos and videos onto my computer and I'm finding the lack of communication between Adobe programs rather frustrating. The keywords function in Lightroom works well within Lightroom, but if I tag videos within LR and then try to use the same videos in Premiere Pro the keywords don't carry across, and this really slows down my workflow in terms of video editing.

For videos (and photos too) we need a keywording system that applies the keywords to files at the root level so they're accessible within any Adobe program. It would save so much time having to label footage every time I use particular clips in a new Premiere Pro Project, and also make cataloguing of footage so much easier than the mess it is now.

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LEGEND ,
Sep 28, 2018 Sep 28, 2018

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LR 7.4 added support for HEIF / HEIC photos, whose format is based on the same Quicktime format as MP4 videos.  Even though that format supports writeable metadata, Adobe decided to write the metadata for .heic photos to .xmp sidecars.  Too bad they didn't write the few extra lines of code to do the same for videos.

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Community Beginner ,
Nov 04, 2018 Nov 04, 2018

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Lightroom Classic does not write metadata to videos such as keywords and captions. Whenever I come across a video I want to add a keyword to in Lightroom, I have to move it to an empty folder so that Bridge doesn't have to generate thousands of previews (something it doesn't do anywhere near as fast as LR) and then keyword the video. Since Lightroom can't read updates, I now have to re-import the video. This takes up extra time. Can you let LR read and write metadata for videos, like you do for photos? Even if you export a video in LR and check the box that says to write keywords to the video, keywords aren't written to the video. Just found that out today, as I continued my search for a solution of LR changing file's creation dates whenever I keyword or caption photos and save the metadata.

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Engaged ,
Oct 18, 2020 Oct 18, 2020

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It would be great that at some point Adobe creates a systematic approach to embbed metadata in video the same way it does with images.  It is so easy with images . You can enter the metadata in dozen of programs and each can read was written by other. In video this is not possible and you have the create CSV files but after trying different option I have seen this is a complicated route and not standardized at all. I really hope that at some point IPTC data that can be read by any program can be done in video the same way it is done with still images.

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Participant ,
Oct 18, 2020 Oct 18, 2020

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People on this forum sure love bugs, requesting more all the time. Increased complexity = increased bugs, just a fact of life. If we want Lightroom to become more reliable, we need to ask Adobe to remove all the features that have no business in a photo editor (e.g. video support, book creation, slide shows, web support...) and multiple ways of doing the same thing (color, numeric and star ratings which can be handled better with keywords). 

 

Perl, the programming language, eventually became unusable. As Larry Wall, the creator of the language, said; Perl is bad because people wanted it bad. They featured it to death. 

 

Lightroom users are doing the same thing. 

 

If we are not going to start helping Adobe reduce complexity then all bug reports should be automatically deleted. 

 

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Engaged ,
Oct 18, 2020 Oct 18, 2020

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You are right that complexity is every software big enemy but think that if you have to use 5 different software instead of one you are not getting rid of complexity but instead increase it even more. 

So people that shoot video and photos should manage their files with two different applications. don't know if this would be successful. Another competitor would come and make it all at once possible and users of both assets would say goodbye to Adobe. No easy way out to the complexity conundrum

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Participant ,
Oct 18, 2020 Oct 18, 2020

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5 features each in 2 separate applications has many fewer defects than 10 features in a single application. Orders of magnitude fewer bugs. If you want to do the math:

 

2 apps with 5 features is 2*((4^5)-(2^5)) level of complexity = 1,984 

 

1 app with 10 features is (4^10)-(2^10) level of complexity = 1,047,552 

 

In scientific notation replace ^ with **. 

 

The ratio is the increase in complexity = 528 or the increased likelihood of defects. 

 

This is one of the reasons that traditional monolithic COBOL programs are full of bugs while modular code is cleaner. Not perfect but much cleaner. 

 

 

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LEGEND ,
Oct 18, 2020 Oct 18, 2020

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Community Expert ,
Oct 18, 2020 Oct 18, 2020

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The goal of Classic Lightroom has always been to offer a single environment covering the typical photographic workflow instead of being forced to string together a workflow from a menagerie of best of breed apps. Since DSLRs produce videos, it has included video support. Since photographers sometimes do slideshows, it includes a slideshow feature. Etc. Since keywords are supposed to be for analysing and categorising, and ratings are an important tool for evaluating and quickly filtering photos, it doesn't confuse the two industry-standard features. Of course Lightroom should save/read metadata back to video.

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Participant ,
Jun 20, 2021 Jun 20, 2021

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I can happily geotag any video in my LrC 10.3 library but exporting it (quality max, not original file) does not actually include the geotags in the exported file.  Confirmed with exiftool and Apple Photos.

If this is unexpected, what info do you need from me?  Happy to follow up with example files, debug logs, and such, if this is actually unexpected behavior and not a previously-known problem.

Thanks!

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LEGEND ,
Jun 21, 2021 Jun 21, 2021

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LEGEND ,
Jun 21, 2021 Jun 21, 2021

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Brian, as you can see from the merged thread, LR has never been able to write video metadata since video was introduced in LR 3. In general, LR's support for video is minimal at best.

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LEGEND ,
Aug 07, 2021 Aug 07, 2021

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I would like to have the ability to Automatically write metadata to video files. There lots of digital cameras which have the ability to capture video files.

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Community Expert ,
Aug 09, 2021 Aug 09, 2021

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Thanks for the idea. The forum does not automatically apply a "vote" to your post so don't forget to click the green arrow in the upper left.

______________________
The Lightroom Queen - Author of the Lightroom Missing FAQ & Edit Like a Pro books.

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Explorer ,
Sep 05, 2021 Sep 05, 2021

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So, 9.5 years later after this thread was started, and it appears that Lightroom still doesn't allow you to write the metadata to a video file?  I'm new to Lightroom.  For years I've searched for a good program to organize my photos and videos.  I've resisted Lightroom because I hate having to pay a monthly subscription for software.  But, that's neither here nor there.  I finally gave in and decided to try LR Classic, and I was really starting to like it, until I changed metadata in a ton of video files only to have it not save to the file.  So, it appears that if I do add metadata, it is fine as long as I've viewing my files within LR, but if I take them anywhere else, it's all lost.  Right?  I bet there are a lot of people out there that don't even realize this, otherwise this thread would get a lot more upvotes.

So, if LR is not truly capable of organizing video files, what progam is?  How do you go about writing metadata to your video files?  Is the answer to keep my photos and videos separate and manage them separately with different software?  I hate that idea, but I will do it if it means I will actually keep my stuff organized.

Thanks.

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New Here ,
Jan 19, 2023 Jan 19, 2023

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I often add captions, titles and capture times (usually to reflect changes in time difference) and geolocations to my videos on lightroom, but whenever I export them all the metadata disappears - the only information retained is the date and time, which is changed to the date and time of export.

 

I use a variety of cameras (iPhone, DSLR, drone, gopro) and shoot using video and stills and the timestamps are particularly important for me to understand what happened in any particular day. This chronology is preserved when I import the files into lightroom, but is lost as soon as export the media for archival.

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