Where was this photo taken?
You find a photo on your phone. You do not remember when you took it.
You open its details. It says: 14 June, Brighton, 2.4 MB, taken with your phone. Nobody typed this. The phone wrote it for you.
That extra information about the photo is called metadata.
Metadata means data about data.
Key words
| Word | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Metadata | Data that describes other data. It is data about data. | Date, size and place of a photo |
| Context | The facts that tell you what a piece of data is about. | Who, when, where |
| Dictionary | In Python, a set of names with a value for each name. The names are called keys. | {"place": "Brighton"} |
| Database | A place where data is kept in tables. | A photo library |
| Personal data | Facts about a real person, such as where they live. | A home address |
| KB and MB | Units for file size. KB is kilobyte. MB is megabyte. 1 MB is 1000 KB. | 2400 KB is 2.4 MB |
| Data | The content itself, such as the picture in a photo. | The picture |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Quick check: data or metadata?
Have a go
Quick check: data or metadata?
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Metadata in everyday things
| Thing | The data | The metadata |
|---|---|---|
| A photo | The picture | Date, place, size, camera |
| A song | The sound | Title, artist, album, length |
| A web page | The words and pictures | Page title, description, author, date |
| A school file | The report | File name, size, who made it, last changed |
| A text message | The words | Who sent it, to whom, what time |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
What metadata is for
Metadata does four jobs.
- Describes the data: what it is, how big it is.
- Gives context: who made it, when, and where.
- Helps you find it: search for all photos from Brighton.
- Helps you organise it: sort songs by artist.
Try it: metadata in a dictionary
photo = {
"name": "beach.jpg",
"size_kb": 2400,
"taken": "2026-06-14",
"place": "Brighton",
}
print(photo["place"])
print(photo["size_kb"] / 1000, "MB")
photo["place"] = "London"
print(photo)
# Add a new line with the key "camera" and run it again.
Try it: find photos by their metadata
photos = [
{"name": "beach.jpg", "size_kb": 2400, "place": "Brighton"},
{"name": "pier.jpg", "size_kb": 3100, "place": "Brighton"},
{"name": "coach.jpg", "size_kb": 1800, "place": "Leeds"},
{"name": "lunch.jpg", "size_kb": 900, "place": "Brighton"},
{"name": "group.jpg", "size_kb": 2700, "place": "Leeds"},
]
# Find the photos taken in Brighton. Only the metadata is read.
for photo in photos:
if photo["place"] == "Brighton":
print(photo["name"], photo["size_kb"], "KB")
# Change Brighton to Leeds and run it again.
Metadata can be private
data-callouts.warning.label
A photo can store the place where you took it. That can show where you live. Many sites remove this metadata when you upload. Check before you share a photo.