Why are the JPG comments (sometimes) removed when I upload a photo ?

kob3203

I use the JPG comment field to include extra information with the photo.

However, I've noticed that sometimes when I download one of my photos the comment seems to have been stripped out.

American Family Historian

Do you mean comments added to the JPG's metadata? I would not recommend that as a way to record information. Many website strip out or change metadata on upload; others strip it out when you download. This can be done intentionally, like when you wish to strip out location data saved by your phone's camera.

To my knowledge, there is no way to lock a photo's metadata. Some artists and photographers like using the metadata to label their images as having a copyright or contact info, but again, others can delete the metadata after they download the image, or a website may remove metadata it doesn't use, in order to keep the file size smaller and loading times more efficient.

kob3203

Yes, I'm talking about the metadata - should've said that.

I only upload a single cropped head and shoulders portrait photo of each person to public sites.

I write the basics (name, birth year, death year), my ID (kob3203), and a credit for the original photo on the photo itself, so that information isn't affected by any metadata pruning.

I add the same data plus some extra stuff such as parents, siblings, spouse(s) and children as metadata, in the comment field. This is purely for my own convenience - at least that was the idea.

What puzzles me is not the metadata pruning itself - after all some websites alter the image itself by recompressing at a higher ratio.

What puzzles me is that the metadata pruning doesn't always happen.

Dennis J Yancey

yeh - I have no idea why it would not be consistent. BUT Yeh I would also NOT rely on EXIF metadata - which can be used to track the location that photos are taken - and for such reasons may be a security risk that many sites end up stripping it off.

see: https://wethegeek.com/exif-dangers-you-should-be-aware-of-and-how-to-avoid-them/

kob3203

Cutting and pasting a crop from a photo to a new image, which is what I usually do, shouldn't take any of the EXIF/IPTC metadata with it. But I wouldn't stake any money on it.

Regarding my original question, I guess that nobody knows why. It's not a big problem, just a minor annoyance.

Beth Ann W

FamilySearch does not remove any metadata from the memories that are uploaded. It may be how you download the photo. If you use the “Actions” menu when viewing the memory on the website and select “Download” you will get the original uploaded memory with all its metadata. If you right click and select “Save as” you will not get any metadata.

Hope that helps.

kob3203

Thanks Beth, something like that could well explain it although right-click "Save As" only lets me save the whole webpage and not just the JPG itself. I definitely didn't do that. No matter, I'll always use Actions Download from now on.