Copyrighted 
When you post a photo online, its metadata may arrive intact, arrive in part, or disappear. Many platforms remove some or all metadata on upload, and they change what they keep over time. Some strip location for privacy, some keep only a few fields, some re-encode the whole image and write a new file. The same site can treat a profile picture, a post and a direct message differently. So the only reliable answer for your own work is a test: upload a stamped photo, download what the site serves, and read what is left. This article explains why metadata goes missing and how to run that test.
Why platforms change your file
A photo you upload is rarely the file other people download. Many services process images before they show them, for a few ordinary reasons.
- Size. Sites resize photos to several widths for phones, tablets and screens. Each size is a new file, and a new file only carries the metadata the resizing step chooses to copy.
- Privacy. Photos from phones often hold GPS coordinates and device details. Removing everything is a simple way to avoid leaking a location.
- Format. A service may convert your JPEG or HEIC into another format. The conversion may not bring every field across.
- Bytes. Metadata adds to file size. At large scale, some services treat it as weight to drop.
None of this is aimed at your copyright notice. It is a side effect of how images are processed. The result for you is the same, though: your notice may not survive.
What tends to survive and what does not
We will not list specific sites here. Their behaviour differs by upload path and changes without notice, so any list would go out of date. What you can say in general is this:
- A screenshot keeps nothing. It is a new image made from pixels on a screen.
- Location is a common target. Many services treat it as private data.
- Copyright fields may be kept, removed, or kept in one layer and dropped in another. A photo can come back with the IPTC notice intact and the XMP gone, or the reverse.
- The original upload may be stored in full, while the version people see is stripped. What matters for credit is the file a visitor can save.
- Messaging apps vary too. Sending a photo “as a photo” and “as a file” can give different results.
Because layers can be treated differently, a file can arrive with one layer saying one thing and another layer empty. An empty layer does not count as a conflict. It is still worth noting when you compare files. For how the three layers relate, see XMP dc:rights and xmpRights and the IPTC Copyright Notice.
How to test a platform yourself
This takes about five minutes per site and gives you an answer you can trust for today.
- Prepare a test photo. Stamp one photo with a full set of fields: copyright notice, creator, credit line, usage terms and a web statement link. Check it first so you know exactly what it holds.
- Upload it the way you normally post. Use the same app, the same account type and the same path (post, story, gallery, portfolio) you use for real work.
- Download it the way a visitor would. Use the site’s own download button if it has one. Otherwise save the image from a browser. Avoid screenshots, which tell you nothing.
- Read what came back. Drop the downloaded file into the free copyright checker. It reads EXIF, IPTC and XMP in your browser and uploads nothing.
- Compare with the original. Note which layers survived, which fields are missing and whether the values changed.
- Write it down with the date. Platforms change, so a result is a snapshot. Repeat the test now and then, and after a site announces a redesign.
Reading the result
The checker gives each file a verdict. Blank means no layer holds a copyright notice or a creator. A photo with only a credit line is still Blank. Consistent means the layers that hold a value agree. Conflicting means two layers disagree about the same field, which can happen after an editor rewrites one layer and not the others. Conflicting copyright metadata explains the causes and fixes.
What to do with what you learn
Once you know how each place handles your files, you can plan around it.
Where metadata survives
Keep stamping, and keep the fields consistent. A consistent notice, creator and credit line is what a picture editor or a search engine will read.
Where metadata is removed
Put the information somewhere the platform keeps. A caption with your name and a link, a small visible watermark on previews, or a profile page with your licensing terms all do the job metadata cannot do there. Keep the metadata on the file anyway. It costs nothing and it still helps anywhere the file travels outside that platform.
On your own website
You have more control here, but check anyway. Content management systems and image plugins often create resized copies, and those copies may lose fields your original had. Test the image a visitor can actually save.
Keep the source files stamped
A platform can only remove what you send, but it can never add back what was missing. The file you control is the original in your archive. If every original and every export carries a clear notice, then every copy that escapes with its metadata intact says who made it.
Copyrighted helps with that part. It scans a folder or your Photos library, groups photos into Matches you, Third-party, Blank and Conflicting, and stamps whole groups from a saved profile without re-encoding the image. Every batch can be undone. It runs on iPhone, iPad and Mac, on the device, with no account and no analytics. Its share-sheet action Copyright Info also shows what a photo carries before you post it.
Metadata is useful information. It is not a lock, and it does not decide any legal question. For more on that, read does metadata protect copyright?
Checklist
- Stamp a test photo with a full set of copyright fields and check it first.
- Upload it the way you normally post, on each platform you use.
- Download it as a visitor would, never as a screenshot.
- Read the download with the checker and compare it with the original.
- Record which layers and fields survived, with the date.
- Where metadata is removed, add a caption, a link or a small watermark.
- Keep every original and every export stamped anyway.
- Repeat the test from time to time, because platforms change.
