Where it came from
XMP (Extensible Metadata Platform) is an Adobe-originated way to store labeled fields, usually as XML, either beside a file or in a packet inside JPEG/PNG/PDF. Photographers meet it as the “metadata” panel in Lightroom or Photoshop.
Those fields can include creator contact, job titles, and nested pointers. They are useful in a newsroom workflow. They are awkward on a public Discord drop.
Looking for the .xmp file next to your RAW?
This page is about XMP stored inside images. For the separate .xmp sidecar that Lightroom, Camera Raw or darktable save next to RAW photos — how to open it and whether you can delete it — read What is an XMP file?
Not EXIF, not C2PA
EXIF is a camera tag structure. C2PA is a signed provenance format. XMP can mention either, and some products stash extra provenance-adjacent strings here. Clearing “EXIF only” in a sloppy tool may leave an XMP packet. This kit’s sharing copy re-encodes supported stills through Canvas, which drops the usual header packets together.
When it matters
Client work, stock, and editorial pipelines. If a JPEG still has an email in XMP after you thought you “removed metadata,” that is this layer. Inspect before you send the master.
A PDF can carry an XMP packet as well as an Info dictionary. The PDF metadata viewer lists author, title, description, producer, and creator tool when that packet text is uncompressed. A compressed packet can show as present without those inner values. Page text is not one of those fields.