Overview: Local metadata formats
Local metadata formats store descriptive or technical information within media files or nearby companion files.
Local information can travel with a collection and remain available independently of an online lookup. Its representation depends on the format: NFO sidecars, audio tags, container structures and photo standards have different fields and conventions. The linked branches explain how those stored values become useful library information.
NFO files
A media-library NFO is an associated metadata record, commonly XML, whose supported fields, item type and association determine what is imported or saved.Audio tags
Audio tags store metadata in defined structures associated with an audio file or stream.Container metadata structures
Container metadata structures attach descriptive information to media through the container's own elements and conventions.Photo metadata standards
Photo metadata standards describe capture details, editorial information and extensible properties around an image.