Glossary
Digital source type
Digital source type is an IPTC metadata field that declares how an image was created, from a camera capture to fully AI-generated.
Updated
Also written: IPTC DigitalSourceType, Iptc4xmpExt:DigitalSourceType.
The value is a URL from a controlled vocabulary the IPTC maintains. Two of them matter most now: trainedAlgorithmicMedia, for content generated by a model, and compositeWithTrainedAlgorithmicMedia, for an image that combines captured material with generated elements — a photograph with a generative fill, for example. Others cover a camera capture, a digitised print or negative, and a screen capture.
It is stored in the XMP packet, and the same vocabulary is used inside C2PA manifests to describe each editing action. Generators and editors that support provenance write it automatically.
Platforms read it. Meta has said its AI labels on Instagram, Facebook and Threads use IPTC and C2PA metadata as one of their signals, which is why a photo retouched with a single generative tool can be labelled: the file is declaring exactly that. What triggers the label goes through the rest.
Outside a signed manifest it is an ordinary XMP value, so it records a claim rather than proof. Removing it removes the declaration; it does not change the image or any watermark in it.
Related terms
- XMP — XMP is an extensible, XML-based metadata format that can carry arbitrary fields, embedded in a file or kept alongside it as a sidecar.
- C2PA — C2PA is a provenance standard that attaches a signed, tamper-evident manifest to a file, describing its origin and edit history.
- Provenance — Provenance is the record of where an image came from and what has been done to it since.