Alamy adds Metadata to digital image files
7th June 2006
Alamy, one of the world's largest suppliers of stock imagery with 4.9 million images, today announced that all digital images downloaded from its website now include embedded metadata.
This will aid stock photography buyers, making it easy to re-license and re-use images quickly and effectively. Photographers and illustrators will also benefit as lost licensing information is one of the primary reasons that image buyers inadvertently exceed contractual usage limitations.
"Many image users face the difficult job of tracking images they have licensed" said Alamy CEO James West. "It can be an enormous task, especially for busy picture desks that use lots of imagery."
"Even when buyers are extremely diligent about organizing this information, it can get lost through equipment failure or changes to company structures. The only way to ensure that the information is never lost is to keep it with the image itself. Several of our customers have asked for this and we have even been told by one publisher that they will give preference to those supplying such information. So we are happy to announce that all images on Alamy are now embedded with the information they require."
Alamy is one of the first stock distributors to make use of the IPTC XMP specification. Though basic IPTC metadata was introduced about a decade ago, Alamy uses the emerging IPTC XMP specification to extend the data embedded to include purchasing and licensing information.
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What next?
- Other image resources
- More about Metadata