You might have questioned what’s an XMP file and – extra importantly – the way it works. Sometimes this may be laborious to grasp, so we’re right here to clear the fog.
An XMP file is a compressed container for metadata supported by apps reminiscent of Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, and others. But that’s slightly obscure, so let’s get extra particular!
What is an XMP File?
XMP stands for Extensible Metadata Platform. An XMP file (additionally referred to as a sidecar file) preserves any further metadata utilized to that file. This permits the data to be saved individually and keep intact between units.
To exemplify: in a picture enhancing app, the edits you make are utilized to a RAW file (the picture that comes straight out of your digicam). These edits are saved in a separate sidecar file or inside a catalog (e.g., Lightroom catalog).
Lightroom can solely retailer enhancing information in a catalog or XML file as a result of it doesn’t have entry to proprietary RAW information.
In a nutshell:
An XMP file is a metadata file that shops the settings you utilized to a photograph in apps like Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop. This data inside an XMP file consists of:
- EXIF data – digicam settings (publicity information like aperture, iso, and shutter pace), time, date, and key phrases that describe the file.
- Edit data – changes made to publicity, white stability, and shade saturation, in addition to another modifications you made to the photograph’s look
XMP information may be edited extra simply – that’s, with out altering the unique file. They’re excellent whenever you wish to protect your edits, like whenever you collaborate with different photographers and wish to ship a sidecar file, so that they see the modifications you made to a picture.
This information is normally embedded in sure information, reminiscent of open format pictures like JPEG, PNG, GIF, and TIFF.
I Do Not See XMP Files in My Library
By default, Lightroom embeds XMP data inside Lightroom Catalog with out producing XMP sidecar information. If that’s the case, you’ll want to allow this operate in Catalog Settings.
How to allow XMP sidecar information in Lightroom:
- In the highest toolbar, you possibly can see the tab Edit (“Lightroom Classic” on Mac) – click on on it
- From the dropdown menu, choose the “Catalog Settings” possibility
- Click on the “Metadata” tab
- Check the “Automatically write changes into XMP” field
If you wish to disable this characteristic, return to “Catalog Settings” and uncheck “Automatically write changes into XMP.”
If you’re working with RAW information and have this operate turned on, Lightroom will routinely write enhancing directions to the .xmp file every time you edit the chosen picture – meaning it’ll do this at each slider you progress in Lightroom.
Using XMP sidecar information is sweet if you wish to protect your enhancing information in case your catalog will get corrupted. Also, XMP information take up little or no house in your laborious drive. However, it slows down Lightroom!
Ultimately, it’s as much as you to decide on which possibility works greatest for you.
XMP Files and Lightroom Develop Presets
Before, Lightroom had restricted enhancing capability and solely allowed for RAW file managing. The Lightroom Develop Preset aimed to make enhancing as accessible as doable, enabling non-destructive enhancing.
What is Non-destructive Editing?
You’ll see a bunch of RAW and XMP information with the identical identify piled collectively in your laborious drive. RAW information are taken out of your digicam – they haven’t any information connected to them. XMP information are metadata information: the data saved in them consists of EXIF information and any enhancing you may need achieved in apps like Lightroom.
When enhancing RAW information In Lightroom, all of the modifications are saved within the XMP file. For instance, when you transfer a slider in Lightroom, you possibly can see the edits you made with that slider within the sidecar file (the XMP file). So when you learn it in a textual content editor, you’ll see these edits you made offered as enhancing directions.
As you see, you possibly can edit any picture by altering the values contained in the XMP sidecar and with out touching Lightroom sliders. Of course, it might not be sensible.
All these edits you make are reworked right into a JPEG preview with all of the modifications within the app. The RAW file stays unaltered this complete time.
Sidecar vs Preset
When you wish to save edits utilized to the chosen picture as a preset, Lightroom takes all enhancing directions from sidecar and saves them as Develop Preset utilizing the XMP file format.
In a nutshell, the Lightroom develop preset is identical XMP sidecar file with a distinct operate.
When you apply the develop preset to the picture, the enhancing directions might be copied from the preset in XMP format to the sidecar XMP file; Lightroom then reads this file and generates a preview with all these values.
Having a sidecar file permits edits to be shared between apps. For instance, you can begin enhancing a picture in Lightroom, proceed in Photoshop, and ship it over the cloud in Lightroom Mobile – with out dropping any enhancing information.
How to Open XMP Files in Lightroom?
There isn’t any approach to open the XMP file in Lightroom. The program manages all XMP information routinely with out you having to do something.
But you possibly can open the XMP file exterior Lightroom.
If you wish to see or change the data inside an XMP file, you possibly can open it utilizing a textual content editor:
- Go to a textual content editor, like Notepad++
- View or edit the XMP file as a textual content file
*You can use textual content editors if you wish to duplicate presets, as Lightroom doesn’t have this characteristic. Just duplicate the preset within the file browser and alter the identify contained in the XMP file so Lightroom can see it.
Generating XMP Files on Demand
If you wish to share a RAW file with all of the edits, you possibly can embrace a sidecar file subsequent to it. You additionally may not need Lightroom slowing issues down by writing .xmp information each time – perhaps you wish to depart this option to you.
How to create one XMP file:
Edit your photograph and hit the “Ctrl-S” (Command-S on Mac) keyboard shortcut. Lightroom will create a separate .xmp sidecar file with all of your modifications.
Alternative to XMP information:
There can be a means round this. You can create a DNG file, so that you don’t need to ship each an XMP and a RAW file – all the data might be embedded on this one DNG file.
How to transform a photograph do DNG file format:
- Go to the Library module.
- Below the Library menu within the higher toolbar, choose ‘Convert Photo to DNG.’
Ultimately, you possibly can export a photograph as a DNG picture, and all XMP data might be embedded contained in the DNG picture.
What is an XMP File? | Final Thoughts
At its most elementary degree, an XMP file is a sidecar file containing further details about a picture. But as we’ve seen, there’s rather more to XMP information than meets the attention.
Now that you realize every thing about XMP information, it’s as much as you to resolve if you wish to use them constantly in your enhancing workflow or simply each every so often.