Copyrighted 
Agencies such as Getty Images, stock libraries and picture desks work with IPTC metadata. They read a small set of IPTC fields to learn who made a photo, who owns it and how to credit it. The ones that matter for rights are Creator, Copyright Notice, Credit Line, Source and Rights Usage Terms, with Web Statement of Rights for a link. Each exists in the older IPTC IIM format and in XMP, and an agency system may read either. If you supply photos to an agency, or you want your own files to look professional to one, fill these fields consistently. This article explains what each field means, how long it can be, and how agency notices tend to look in photos you receive.
The fields, one by one
IPTC defines two ways of storing the same information. IPTC IIM is the older binary format, with numbered datasets such as 2:116. The IPTC Core schema stores the same fields in XMP, often under familiar names such as dc:rights. Photo software usually keeps them in step.
Creator (IIM 2:80 By-line, XMP dc:creator)
The person who took the photo. IPTC notes that a company name may be used when the photographer should not be named. In IIM the field holds up to 32 bytes and can repeat for several creators. EXIF has its own version, the Artist tag (0x013B). The creator is not always the owner. See creator vs copyright owner.
Copyright Notice (IIM 2:116, XMP dc:rights)
The notice that names the current owner of the copyright, such as © 2026 Jane Doe. In IIM it holds up to 128 bytes. EXIF carries the same idea in its Copyright tag (0x8298). More in the IPTC Copyright Notice.
Credit Line (IIM 2:110 Credit, XMP photoshop:Credit)
The credit the supplier wants printed when the photo is published. It is written the way it should appear, for example Jane Doe / Example Agency. It holds up to 32 bytes in IIM, so keep it short. See the Credit Line.
Source (IIM 2:115, XMP photoshop:Source)
A party in the supply chain: an agency, a member of an agency, an individual or a combination. It tells a picture desk where the file came from, which may differ from who gets the credit. It also holds up to 32 bytes in IIM.
Rights Usage Terms (XMP xmpRights:UsageTerms)
Free text describing how the photo may be used, such as “Editorial use only” or “Licensed to Example Magazine, print, 2026”. It has no IIM equivalent.
Web Statement of Rights (XMP xmpRights:WebStatement)
A link to a web page about the photo’s rights and licensing. It has no IIM equivalent. Web Statement of Rights and Usage Terms covers both fields.
Copyright Status (XMP xmpRights:Marked)
A flag. True means the photo is protected by copyright, false means it is in the public domain, and a missing value means the status is unknown.
Credit Line, Source and Copyright Notice are three different answers
These three fields are easy to confuse, because for a freelance photographer they often hold the same name. They answer different questions:
- Copyright Notice: who owns it?
- Credit Line: what should be printed next to it?
- Source: who supplied it?
For a photo you shot and license yourself, all three can name you. For a photo you shot on assignment for a publisher, the notice may name the publisher, the credit line may name you and the publisher, and the source may name the publisher’s archive. The agreement you work under decides what is correct. Metadata only records it.
How agency notices look in photos you receive
If you open a photo licensed from a stock library or a news agency, you will often find a common pattern:
- the Credit Line names the photographer, the agency, or both, often separated by a slash;
- the Source names the agency or one of its collections or partners;
- the Copyright Notice names the rights holder, which may be the agency or the photographer, often with a year;
- the Creator names the photographer;
- the Usage Terms, where present, state a restriction such as editorial use only.
Details vary between agencies and over time, so treat this as a pattern to recognise. Read the actual fields each time. Some files in the wild also store values in unusual forms, such as a property name with different capitalisation, which some readers miss and others show. If two tools disagree about a file, look at the raw layers.
To see what a received photo carries, drop it into the free copyright checker. It reads EXIF, IPTC and XMP in your browser, uploads nothing, and tells you whether the layers agree.
Keep other people’s notices intact
A licensed photo’s metadata belongs to its owner. Do not overwrite it with your own notice, even by accident during a bulk edit. Keeping the notice intact also helps you later, when you need to find out where an image in a layout came from.
Preparing your own files for an agency
- Read the agency’s contributor guidelines. They decide the exact wording of the credit line and notice.
- Use one spelling of your name. The same creator name in EXIF Artist, IPTC By-line and XMP
dc:creator. - Write a complete notice. Symbol, year and owner, for example
© 2026 Jane Doe. - Keep IIM limits in mind. 32 bytes for Creator, Credit and Source, 128 for the notice. The © sign takes two bytes in UTF-8.
- Make the layers agree. A file where EXIF says one owner and XMP another is a conflict, and a desk may reject it or pick the wrong one.
- Check the exports. Some export presets drop fields. Read a finished file before you upload it.
Doing it in bulk
Copyrighted reads these fields across a folder or your Photos library and sorts every photo into Matches you, Third-party, Blank or Conflicting. Photos carrying an agency’s or another photographer’s notice land in Third-party, so you can see them and leave them alone. Blank and Conflicting are the ones to fix. A saved profile holds your notice, creator, credit line, usage terms and web statement link, and one Apply writes them to EXIF, IPTC and XMP together, without re-encoding the image. “Add missing” fills only empty fields and never changes an existing value. Every batch can be undone from History. The app reads Source and shows it, but profiles do not write it, since a supplier usually sets that field.
Checklist
- Fill Creator, Copyright Notice and Credit Line on every file you supply.
- Add Usage Terms and a Web Statement of Rights link where they apply.
- Set Copyright Status to copyrighted for your own work.
- Follow the agency’s own wording for credit and notice.
- Keep IIM values within 32 or 128 bytes.
- Make EXIF, IPTC and XMP agree on every field.
- Never overwrite the notice on a photo you licensed.
- Check a finished export with the checker before you upload.
