Interpretation Status

This page tracks how far OpenMeta has moved beyond raw metadata decoding into meaningful interpretation. Interpretation means that decoded entries have stable names, typed values, semantic groups, query shapes, and transfer-safety classification that host applications can use directly.

Current overall status: medium-high, about 90% for the public target scope. This is intentionally lower than decode coverage. Decode parity only proves that metadata carriers and entries are visible; interpretation also requires human-readable meaning and safe cross-format behavior.

100% acceptance gates

For the declared target scope, an entry counts as covered when it has one explicit outcome:

Gate

Requirement

Decoded

The carrier and entry are visible in MetaStore, or the decoder reports an explicit unsupported/limit/malformed reason.

Named

The entry has a stable public name, or it is deliberately exposed as an unknown numeric/private field.

Typed

The raw value shape is preserved as scalar, vector, matrix, table, bytes, text, or opaque blob.

Interpreted

Known enum-like values, orientation states, geometry, exposure/gain, color, white-balance, lens-correction, RAW-processing, and source-private meanings are projected into public helpers or query candidates.

Classified

Source-bound data is classified as portable, target-owned, source RAW-specific, vendor-private, computational, thermal, preview/face/ stitch metadata, or opaque/lossless.

Queryable

Host/UI workflows can find the interpreted meaning through focused query helpers with source entries, confidence, value shape, and normalized fields where available.

Structured

Host code can consume query-backed interpretation records without reassembling raw query candidates manually.

Conflict-aware

Duplicated cross-family concepts either have a documented precedence rule or surface enough source information for host conflict handling.

Coverage matrix

Area

Current coverage

Readiness

Main remaining gap

Standard EXIF/TIFF/DNG tag names and typed values

Standard tag names, common scalar/vector values, DNG crop/color/ exposure/RAW-processing fields, GeoTIFF key names, and common EXIF/TIFF/DNG numeric value-name helpers are available. Exposure time, aperture, ISO sensitivity, exposure bias, exposure program/mode, gain, and raw exposure-adjustment records now flow into concept candidates.

High, about 92-95%.

More enum-style human-readable values and richer conflict handling between duplicated families.

ICC profiles

ICC header/tag table decode plus interpreted desc, text, signatures, XYZ, curves, named-color, measurement, viewing-condition, MFT/MAB/MBA, numeric array, and malformed/limit handling.

High, about 90-95%.

Full color-management policy remains host-owned; OpenMeta interprets profile metadata, not rendered color transforms.

IPTC-IIM and portable XMP

IPTC datasets and XMP properties decode into typed entries, bounded EXIF/IPTC-to-XMP projection exists for transfer/writeback, and common descriptive EXIF/IPTC/XMP concepts such as title/headline, description/caption, creator/author, and keywords/subject are queryable with source-entry provenance.

Medium-high, about 78-86%.

Full MWG-style reconciliation of duplicated EXIF/XMP/IPTC concepts remains bounded.

Orientation

EXIF/TIFF orientation query, LibRaw flip mapping, and generic orientation helpers for index, rotation degrees, mirrored state, dimension swap, rotation-only fallback, human-readable labels, and EXIF-vs-XMP conflict reporting in the LibRaw bridge.

High, about 90-95%.

Higher-level policy for resolving container and host pixel-orientation state remains host-specific.

Geometry, crop, active area, and borders

DNG crop/active-area/masked-area tags, Phase One/Leaf geometry, Fujifilm RAF raw crop/zoom rectangles, Canon aspect/crop metadata, Nikon Capture crop bounds, Sony panorama crop margins, canonical border margins, vendor RAW-processing geometry buckets, and fuzzy crop/border-style paths are queryable.

High, about 88-92%.

More vendor-specific normalized rectangles and stronger output contracts for ambiguous multi-tag geometry.

Exposure and gain

Standard EXIF exposure time, f-number, exposure program/mode, photographic sensitivity, exposure bias, exposure index, gain control, selected DNG baseline/raw-preview gain fields, matching XMP paths, and selected decoded vendor/MakerNote exposure names are queryable and promoted into cross-family exposure roles. Standard EXIF exposure program/mode and gain-control values, selected Canon MakerNote exposure/flash-metering values, and selected Nikon MakerNote flash/metering/focus/multiple-exposure values carry human-readable labels in concept candidates. Capture exposure facts are marked safe, while raw/DNG exposure adjustments are marked unsafe for rendered-image transfer.

Medium-high, about 89-92%.

More vendor MakerNote exposure print conversions and richer per-vendor exposure/gain labels.

Color, white balance, profiles, and matrices

DNG color/calibration/reduction/forward matrix groups, white-balance vector groups, EXIF color-space evidence, ICC header/tag entries, XMP ICC/profile fields, PNG profile text carriers, RAW color/source- processing safety buckets, transfer hints, per-family grouped vendor color/WB candidates, long-tail camera-to-XYZ/RGB, style/color, and white-balance gain aliases, and cross-family concept candidates with full grouped value vectors are identified. ICC/profile and color-space records have a distinct color_profile semantic role, while camera RAW profile/look/tone-curve/style fields and vendor source color tables have a separate source_color_transform role marked unsafe for rendered-image transfer. Matrix/vector groups require numeric payloads with conservative minimum shapes before promotion.

Medium-high, about 85-92%.

Deeper camera/vendor color science interpretation is intentionally conservative, especially for rendered-image transfer.

Lens correction and RAW processing

Lens-correction groups, black/white levels, linearization, CFA/sensor layout, raw-storage identifiers, vendor RAW/source-processing buckets, creative/picture style, film simulation, dynamic-range, optical correction, raw-development, computational, thermal, and stitch/panorama aliases, per-family vendor raw-storage/sensor/ computational/thermal/stitch/source-processing table candidates, transfer hints, transfer diagnostics, and concept candidates with grouped table/vector values are classified for query and transfer safety. Lens-correction grouped tables require numeric payloads before promotion.

Medium-high, about 83-90%.

Long-tail per-model correction tables and richer numeric normalization.

Vendor MakerNotes

Broad MakerNote naming and source-processing classification exists for common vendors and several live computational/thermal vendors. Unknown entries remain lossless and source-private subgroups distinguish preview, face geometry, computational, thermal, stitch/panorama, pixel-shift, multi-shot, composite, auto-lighting, RAW crop/active-area, source color-transform, source style/rendering aliases, lens-correction, raw-level processing data, and Phase One/Leaf RAW-processing fields handled by direct classification plus dedicated normalized helpers. Classified multi-field vendor groups now surface as grouped query/interpretation candidates where safe to expose structurally, and selected Canon/Nikon print conversions expose bounded human-readable labels for exposure-related UI.

Medium-high, about 85-91%.

ExifTool-style long-tail print conversions, encrypted/custom settings, and per-model private tables.

BMFF item graph, HEIF/AVIF/CR3, JUMBF, and C2PA

BMFF derived fields, brand-name fields, item-info rows, item type/semantic labels and semantic aggregate counters for common metadata carriers, bounded ipma item-property association rows, bounded relations, primary-linked roles, aux semantics, primary color/profile property summaries, primary pixel aspect ratio, primary pixel component bit depth, clean-aperture rationals, JUMBF box labels, and draft C2PA/JUMBF structural fields are exposed.

Medium, about 70-80%.

Full BMFF scene modeling and full C2PA manifest/policy semantics.

Photoshop IRB

Raw resources are preserved and a bounded interpreted subset is decoded for fixed-layout resources, including Photoshop 2 info/color-table summaries, resolution/version/print data, print-flag bytes, border/background/effective-BW data, display info, grid/guide info, color sampler headers/records, descriptor-header summaries, path record summaries, alpha names/identifiers, captions, QuickMask info, URL/list data, autosave strings, XMLData, ImageReady XML text, thumbnail headers, channel options, clipping-path names, legacy halftone/transfer/duotone/EPS byte summaries, embedded ICC/XMP/EXIF resource byte counts, and embedded IPTC/XMP/ICC payload decode where enabled.

Medium, about 75-84%.

Broader resource-specific descriptor parsing and long-tail resource interpretation.

Semantic query/search and records

Query helpers expose raw matches, confidence, provenance, value shapes, normalized candidates, canonical crop/active-area rectangles, Fujifilm RAF raw crop/zoom rectangles, Canon/Nikon/Sony crop and border patterns, border margins, exposure/gain roles, selected vendor/MakerNote exposure-name aliases, per-family grouped vendor records, descriptive EXIF/IPTC/XMP concepts, explicit color-profile records for EXIF/ICC/XMP/PNG profile carriers, explicit source-color-transform records for camera RAW profiles, looks, tone curves, and vendor source color tables, explicit computational/thermal/stitch source-processing records, expanded source color/style/lens/source-processing aliases, source-processing buckets, optional RapidFuzz near-miss matching, structured interpretation records, and bounded cross-family concept resolution for orientation, date/time, exposure/gain, color/profile, GPS, geometry, lens-correction, and RAW-processing with parsed date/time fields, timezone/precision classification, combined GPS timestamps, GPS altitude-reference state and display token, canonical geometry origin/size/rect/margins, normalized exposure values, shape-checked grouped value vectors, transfer hints, rendered/compatible safety booleans, and tolerance-aware GPS/exposure/color/geometry conflicts.

Medium-high, about 82-88%.

More long-tail per-model concept aliases and richer localized policy wording.

Transfer-safety classification

Compatible-file versus rendered-image safety policies classify source-specific image geometry, color/profile, RAW-processing, MakerNote, JUMBF/C2PA, and vendor-private data, with concept-level diagnostics that report keep/drop/requires-target-image-spec actions, severity, and role-specific default message text before prepare.

High, about 89-93%.

More per-family policy tests and optional host localization hooks.

Competitor position

ExifTool remains the practical reference for long-tail tag names, MakerNote tables, and human-readable print conversions. OpenMeta is now close on decode visibility for the current target scope, but interpretation still trails ExifTool in per-model private meanings.

Exiv2 is strong for common EXIF/IPTC/XMP workflows. OpenMeta’s differentiator is the explicit safe-transfer and host-query model: it classifies whether data is portable, target-owned, source RAW-specific, or unsafe to move into rendered outputs.

Next interpretation priorities

  1. Deepen BMFF/CR3/HEIF/AVIF item graph semantics beyond primary item properties only where hosts can use the result safely.

  2. Expand Photoshop IRB resource-specific interpretation beyond current fixed layouts and embedded metadata carriers.

  3. Deepen transfer diagnostics with optional host localization/formatting hooks for GUI workflows.

  4. Expand GPS policy beyond current coordinate tolerance, altitude-reference display, and EXIF timestamp assembly into broader cross-family reconciliation.

  5. Expand MakerNote meaning depth in vendor order: Nikon, Canon, Sony, Fujifilm, Phase One/Leaf, then remaining active vendors.

  6. Keep transfer-safety classification conservative when interpretation is incomplete.