To write META data into IPTC

[HG]

Hello, Imatch 2025.2.4. , writing Meta Data (e.g. Author: HGF-neu). When updating the JPG it is just writing to XMP , not in IPTC directly, as expected. (see screenshot) Is there any setting available telling IMatch to write into IPTC? I knoe, IPTC is an old technology, nevertheless I'm using an php script that can just handle IPTC and NOT XMP. Thanks in advance. HGF

[Mario]

IMatch does not create new legacy IPTC, it only maintains existing legacy IPTC.
If your file has no legacy IPTC record, IMatch does not create one. IIM3 IPTC has been declared legacy by the IPTC committee 20 years ago, in favor of the IPTC data stored in XMP: IPTCCore and IPTCExt.

[HG]

understood, thank you very much for your fast reply. Regards HGF

[HG]

Just an idea. Currently I'm using a copy function in Irfan to solve my problem. This is just a workaround and I'm not satified with this, because I would like to see all necessary function in ONE tool. The idea, (or question) is, would it be feasable to create an app in the app manager to copy xmp fields into IPTC fields on demand. (as a manual activity). Any idea? Thanks in advance, regards HG

[Mario]

Why do you need legacy IIM IPTC data?
What is your workflow or is this a customer or agency requirement?

Are the hundreds of IPTC fields in the official and active IPTC XMP standard not sufficient?
Who cares for metadata that is legacy for 20 years, and for very good reasons? The legacy IPTC data always had character set issues, very limiting length issues for keywords and description etc. Why do you need it still?

If you really, really, really need this legacy IPTC format for a client or agency, you can just trick IMatch.
Create a Metadata Template that sets a legacy IPTC tag, e.g.



Now, when you write back, IMatch finds the legacy IPTC tag and things the file has legacy IPTC and automatically synchronizes XMP metadata into legacy IPTC.

Please don't fiddle with the metadata in your files with tools unless you know exactly what they are doing. For example, what does IrfanView do when the content of XMP exceeds the limits for the old IPTC?

You can also force IMatch to create XMP for specific file formats via the File Format options.
But I really thing you should let this old metadata format reset. The IPTC retired it for good reasons many years ago.

[HG]

RAW files I'm converting to jpg with DxO. All files are operated by Imatch. RAW is master, jpg is version. Meta data are maintained in RAW files via Imatch. This works fine!.

Upload of jpgs into the cloud. There I have running a PHP script called Single File PHP Gallery

https://sye.dk/sfpg/

This script is nice, easy to configure and fast. It is fechting out IPTC data and making them visible.
It cannot fetch out XMP data. Developer is saying, current PHP is not supporting XMP but IPTC. I'm not a programmer, I just can trust.

In this gallery you can see how SFPG works and how it looks like and how I use (display) META data.
https://fuss.com.de/hgf/di_gallery/di_sfpg.php

I'm 100% with you, I prefer to use XMP Meta data, well knowing IPTC is very old and limited. What can I do, if PHP is not supporting XMP?

However, I'll try to use your suggestion you proposed above. Thank you in advance, I'll let you know.
Regards HG

[Mario]

You can run the MD template on-demand, before write back.
Or configure it to run automatically during ingest.

There are ways to read XMP metadata from image files with PHP. A bit of googling will do it, or the developer should ask an AI, which will write the code for him. If only one (JPG) format is supported and it is only reading XMP, things are quite easy, for example see https://surniaulula.com/2013/apps/wordpress/read-adobe-xmp-xml-in-php/

[HG]

Excellent, thank you very much, I'll contact the developer. I'll let you know.

[HG]

MD Template works nearly perfect. I just need to copy 4 tags. . The issue I see is the copy of special characters. (Umlaute) In the online view I see question marks instead of Umlaute. I tried so fix this by selecting the ckeckbox "use RAW value". Unfortunately it didn't. Any idea?

[thrinn]

The legacy IPTC data always had character set issues,

... and this may be one of them.
With "online view" you mean the result of the PHP script you mentioned? Maybe it can not handle different character set encodings?

You might want to have a look at IPTC Character Encoding.
I also found this older post which may contain useful information. But in the end, there are reasons why legacy IPTC should be avoided if possible.

[Mario]

Maybe smarten up the Metadata Template by giving explicit character set instructions:

[HG]

Perfect! Thank you very much. And I promise, if my WEB Script will support XMP I'll move to XMP immediately. I've copied the link you provided to the developer. Regards HG

[Stenis]

IMatch does not create new legacy IPTC, it only maintains existing legacy IPTC.
If your file has no legacy IPTC record, IMatch does not create one. IIM3 IPTC has been declared legacy by the IPTC committee 20 years ago, in favor of the IPTC data stored in XMP: IPTCCore and IPTCExt.

Did not the works with C2PA-definitions change that??
How else can for example PhotoMechanic fix that when still based on IPTC internally?

[Mario]

Did not the works with C2PA-definitions change that??
How else can for example PhotoMechanic fix that when still based on IPTC internally? 

?

[HG]

IMatch does not create new legacy IPTC, it only maintains existing legacy IPTC.
If your file has no legacy IPTC record, IMatch does not create one. IIM3 IPTC has been declared legacy by the IPTC committee 20 years ago, in favor of the IPTC data stored in XMP: IPTCCore and IPTCExt.

Did not the works with C2PA-definitions change that??
How else can for example PhotoMechanic fix that when still based on IPTC internally?

Don't understand your question. However, Imatch (MD Temmplates) is providing a very good workaround until I can switch to xmp.
Those declared dead live longer.