Answer
What are examples of image metadata?
Coordinates, camera model and serial number, lens, exposure settings, capture time, orientation, colour profile, copyright — and in AI images, the prompt and seed.
Updated
Location. Latitude, longitude and often altitude, plus a compass bearing on many phones and a separate timestamp for the fix itself.
The camera. Make, model, and on many bodies a serial number. Lens model, focal length, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, flash state, metering mode — the full exposure record.
Time. When the shutter fired, when the file was written, and when it was last modified, frequently with a time-zone offset.
Rendering. The orientation tag that tells a viewer which way up the image goes, and the ICC colour profile that keeps colours consistent across screens. These describe the picture rather than you, which is why they are worth keeping.
Authorship. Creator, credit, copyright notice and usage terms, in the IPTC and XMP blocks.
Software. The application and version that last wrote the file, and sometimes an editing history.
An embedded thumbnail. A small copy of the image stored inside the metadata. It is generated at capture and not always updated afterwards, which is how a cropped photo can carry a thumbnail still showing what was cropped out.
Generation data. In AI images, frequently the complete prompt, the negative prompt, the seed, the sampler, the model hash — and sometimes a signed content credential.
Where each of these physically sits varies by format, and the format reference covers that container by container. To see which are present in a specific file, open it in the viewer.
More on this: What is EXIF metadata?, Metadata remover.
Terms used here: EXIF, IPTC, XMP, C2PA.