IPTCn

IPTCn is a term used to describe a proposed extension to the IPTC Information Interchange Model (IIM) metadata ecosystem. It is intended to enable more dynamic, networked metadata among digital media assets while preserving backward compatibility with existing IPTC and XMP metadata.

The aim of IPTCn is to allow metadata to be linked to external resources, traced for provenance, and synchronized across platforms during production, distribution, and archiving. It targets still images, videos, and related media objects, and emphasizes interoperability across media management systems.

Conceptually, IPTCn would introduce a modular metadata schema built on top of the current IPTC Core, including registries of namespaces, versioned blocks, and persistent identifiers. It would support provenance tracking, permissioning, and controlled updates, so that metadata changes can be audited and rolled back when needed.

Technically, IPTCn is envisioned to leverage existing machine-readable formats such as JSON-LD or RDF, and to coexist with XMP and IPTC IIM blocks. Backward compatibility would be maintained by embedding IPTCn blocks in a way that older tools can ignore or gracefully ignore unknown blocks.

As of the present, IPTCn is not an official standard, and it has not been adopted by the IPTC organization. Various industry groups and vendors have discussed the concept and conducted early pilots, but formal specifications and governance remain under discussion.

See also: IPTC, IPTC Core, IPTC Photo Metadata, XMP, EXIF, metadata interoperability.