When selecting the option in Metadata synchronization: Always synchronize. Is it possible to always write to an XMP sidecar? And not alter the original image file. Ex. with jpg files I see it adds the keywords inside the jpg file and doesn’t create an XMP file. I do not want to alter the original file.
Metadata is always written to JPEG files. I don’t know of any software that links JPEGs to XMPs. As far as I know, DxO use ExifTool to write metadata, which writes a security backup of the file before changing anything, so there really is nothing to worry about.
The metadata is written to a totally separate “compartment” in the file and doesn’t touch the image data.
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Thank you for the interesting information. I’m testing 2 DAM programs and they have the option:
- Automatically write out Catalog changes to the image file, (XMP) Always as a sidecar file
- Metadata section, Write to sidecar files, Write to XMP sidecar only
I tested it and it always writes metadata to the XMP file without changing the image files like jpg. It’s not that uncommon. I have a lot of very old jpg and raw files that I want to give keywords and keep it intact with the original date on the file system.
Thanks!