Footagei

Footagei is a standardized framework and platform for indexing, tagging, and managing video footage across archives, production libraries, and media platforms. It provides a metadata schema, a machine-readable API, and tooling to enable discovery, licensing, and provenance tracking of clips. It supports both raw and edited content, including archival footage, stock libraries, and user-generated video.

The name combines footage with a tech-suffix used for platforms, signaling its aim as an ecosystem for video assets. The scope includes metadata for source provenance, rights, technical specifications, and accessibility data, as well as mechanisms for licensing, attribution, and usage constraints.

Architecture and features: The core is a metadata schema that covers core fields (title, source, date, rights, usage terms, license type, contact). An ontology for scene-level tagging and object recognition enables powerful search. An indexing engine and API support programmatic access, while adapters connect with archives, digital asset management systems, and streaming services. AI-assisted tools perform transcription, captioning, content moderation, and automatic tagging; versioning preserves edits and lineage.

History and adoption: Footagei originated as a community-driven initiative in the 2010s to address fragmentation in video archives; multiple implementations exist, including open-source and vendor-specific extensions. There is no single universal standard, and interoperability depends on agreed vocabularies and compliant APIs. Adoption varies by institution, region, and licensing frameworks.

Impact and governance: By enabling consistent metadata and rights information, Footagei aims to streamline discovery, licensing, and reuse of footage. Critics raise concerns about AI tagging accuracy, privacy, and rights enforcement. Ongoing governance is provided by working groups and open-source communities that publish documentation and reference implementations.