An .xmp file is a standalone metadata sidecar - the packet Lightroom, Bridge and Camera Raw write next to a raw or image file to hold everything they don't want to touch the original with. That is exactly what makes it worth reading: it carries the creator, the full save-by-save edit history, rights and licence terms, tracking IDs and sometimes GPS, all of which the image it accompanies would otherwise hide.
Scan a XMP sidecar fileThe standout is the edit history. XMP records a per-save provenance trail - every application that saved the file and when - as an xmpMM history block. The scan reconstructs that timeline into a list of operations, which reveals how long a file was worked on and with what software even after the single Creator or CreatorTool value has been overwritten. Alongside it, the "Derived From" document and instance IDs link the file back to the original it was saved or exported from.
It reads the people. The dc:creator field can name several co-authors, and the scan reads every entry in the list rather than just the first. The IPTC creator-contact block is a direct line to a named person - the scan pulls out the creator's email, phone, postal address and website. If the image was face-tagged, the names attached to those face regions are recovered too, identifying specific people in the picture.
It reads rights and licensing: the copyright statement, a rights-marked flag that says whether the work is asserted as copyrighted or dedicated to the public domain, the licensor's plain-language usage terms, and a URL to the full rights or web statement. Two forms most tools miss are read straight from the structure - a Creative Commons licence carried as an rdf:resource attribute with no text content at all, and the PLUS licensor URL nested inside the licensor struct, the canonical link for licensing the work.
Finally it reads where and how. Any GPS latitude and longitude the sidecar carries - written in XMP's degrees-and-minutes form or as a plain decimal - is decoded to a signed coordinate that pins where the photo was taken, and the IPTC structured locations (LocationCreated and LocationShown) are pulled out as named place components: sublocation, city, state and country. If the packet declares an IPTC DigitalSourceType, the scan classifies it and flags the file when the metadata itself states the image was produced or altered by AI.
This is a selection. The full field manual documents the fields read from each format.
It is a standalone metadata packet that Adobe tools - Lightroom, Bridge, Camera Raw - write next to a raw or image file instead of altering the original. It holds the creator, the edit history, rights and licence terms, tracking IDs and sometimes GPS. Because it travels as its own file, that metadata is often shared without anyone reading it.
XMP records a per-save trail in an xmpMM history block: every application that saved the file and when. The scan reconstructs that timeline, which reveals how long a file was worked on and with what software even after the single Creator or CreatorTool value has been overwritten.
Often, yes. The IPTC creator-contact block can carry the creator's email, phone, postal address and website, and the scan pulls each one out. If the image was face-tagged, the names attached to those face regions name specific people who appear in it.
This tool inspects a sidecar .xmp, it does not strip it. Because the packet is a separate file, the simplest removal is to delete the sidecar - though that also discards the edits and settings it holds. To keep the file but drop identifying fields, clear them in the application that wrote it (for example the metadata panel in Lightroom or Bridge) before exporting.
Yes. The packet is parsed entirely in your browser as XML and the file is never uploaded; you are only reading the structure already inside it. The one thing that does leave the browser is a set of GPS coordinates, if the packet holds any: those are sent to draw a map and resolve an address.
File X-Ray reads XMP sidecar files entirely in your browser - the file never leaves your device. This format is inspected, not modified. Scan a file now.