P: XMP data included in exports with metadata checked

[SoupRKnowva]

I have been having an issue for the last several months with some photos exported from Lightroom causing the iOS Photos app to lag and never load the full res version of the image, only showing the thumbnail.

This was weird as it only effected some photos, but I never took the time to figure out what the issue was. Tonight I did. I exported the file as i normally do from Lightroom iPad, and saved to device. Ran into the issue with the image not loading and causing issues in Photos. So next I exported a TIFF, and sent it to my mac. Then in macos i converted to jpg, sent that back to my iPad. This file worked fine, no issues. My normal exports always include metadata, as I like the EXIF data to see what camera, lens, etc were used. Next i exported the same file but without metadata. This also worked perfectly in the Photos app. So now I knew something was wrong with the Metadata being produced by Lightroom. So i send the metadata file to macos and use exiftool on the command line to inspect all the metadata and i see this

Mask Group Based Corr Mask Masks Dabs: 

which has so much data, that exiftool wont even print it all on the command line. so next i run a command that shows me the size of all the data in the file and see this:

[XMP]           XMP                             : (Binary data 4099 bytes, use -b option to extract)
[XMP]           XMP                             : (Binary data 11888301 bytes, use -b option to extract)
[IPTC]          IPTC                            : (Binary data 73 bytes, use -b option to extract)
[EXIF]          EXIF                            : (Binary data 12192 bytes, use -b option to extract)

yes, that is 11MB of XMP data. All about masks. In what universe would this be exported by default? When i export meta data i want EXIF data, not this. There absolutely needs to be a toggle added to the metadata export section for XMP data to not be included, or to just never include it at all. This XMP metadata is not only tripling the size of my image for no reason, but is what is causing the Photos app to stop working.

Please do something about this.

[Ignacio B.]

Hi,

I'm trying to understand which export of the both that you have tried leads to this issue.

"Tonight I did. I exported the file as i normally do from Lightroom iPad"
- What format are you exporting to here exactly?

It would also be very helpful to know what input file you use exactly (dimensions, suffix, bits in case of raws) and what kind of edits do you have on the image?

Thanks,
Ignacio

[SoupRKnowva]

When i export as jpg with metadata, the XMP data is included, when i export without metadata the XMP data is not included. 

what is the reason for including all this data about the masks used during editing when exporting jpegs? i think most people, myself included, would assume that it would just be including exif data. I know on desktop if you export originals, like raws, that it will also export a separate xml file, so that you can import again and maintain your edits. But for a jpeg? to include all of that in the file? what is the purpose? and to not have an option to not include it?

My input files are 60mp lossless compressed raws from a Sony A7R5, dimensions are 6336x9504. Edits that lead to massive XMP data are any use of the auto subject mask followed by manual refinement of that mask with a brush. But any image edited with a mask will include this unnecessary XMP data in the exported jpeg if you select metadata ont he export, even less complex masks can lead to a megabyte of xmp data that will cause issues in the iOS photos app.

I dont think any of these specifics are required to understand that XMP data is being attached as metadata to jpegs being exported with metadata.

[SoupRKnowva]

My confusion about including all this masking information from the editing process in JPEG exports has taken an even more confusing turn. I do not understand why it is included, specially not by default, what would anyone need this for?

So i just imported one of these jpegs back into LR, to see if the masks would show up in the editor, and no, they do not. So even LR, is not using this XMP metadata....why is this being included?

[SoupRKnowva]

to anyone else having this issue that wants EXIF data but doesnt want the XMP data, you use the following command in exiftool on the command line

exiftool -XMP= -overwrite_original <file_name>

to remove the XMP data from the file without removing the EXIF data that you actually care about.

[SoupRKnowva]

I guess another nitpicky detail is that i am exporting at full resolution, i havent tested if smaller jpeg exports will also include the xmp data.

[SoupRKnowva]

ok, so i did go test an export at 4096px long edge, rather than full resolution, same issue. but in doing so, i discovered this gets even worse.

When I am done editing a file and after i post to socials, i will save multiple "Versions" in the version pane, one for a 3:2 ratio file, and one for a 4:5 ratio for Instagram. 

So just now when i went to the file i was test with last night, i exported the full res file, last night this was 18MB, 11MB of which was the XMP data, this time i see the share sheet pop up, and it says the jpeg is 40MB, not 18MB like last night, and I am immediately like, oh no, there is no way that it is now saving multiple copies of my masking data cause of the versions. but, i send the file to my mac, and lo and behold, now there is 33MB of XMP data, not 11MB like last night. So yes, because i saved two versions and the current edit, all have the masks in them, now the mask is being saved into the jpeg 3 times, not just once.

cause of course it is

[SoupRKnowva]

to take this further, and why i think this qualifies as a bug, at least a bug that it is included by default in jpeg exports. You could maybe say it is an edge case to have such large mask data, from manually fixing an entire auto subject detection mask with brushes. but you could easily imagine making many versions after making the mask while doing other edits, suddenly my exported jpeg is like 200mb plus? this is unreasonable.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Greetings all,

Adobe Lightroom Mobile product updates are released.  The October (Max) updates contain a fix for this issue. 

Updates will be available via the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, and the Galaxy App Store. Note that it can take several days for some customers to receive a notification of an available update via their App Store.

Thank you for being so patient.

[SoupRKnowva]

Thank you so much! I am seeing this fixed with the latest update.

[dandyweng]

Hello Rikk,

Since the October update, it appears that XMP data, which is supposed to be included when exporting originals, isn’t included when I export as DNG on iOS. On my Mac, even when selecting "Original + Settings," the settings are still not embedded in the exported DNG file. As a result, there currently doesn’t seem to be any way to export settings, which has disrupted my workflow.

Could you please confirm if this is a bug and if a fix is being planned?

Best regards,
Dandy