XMP files exist as 2 different types. Please find information about each of them below.
Type 1: Extensible Metadata Platform File
XMP (Extensible Metadata Platform) files contain metadata about your files. This file format is used by Adobe programs, including Photoshop, Lightroom, and Bridge. You can open an XMP file in several ...
XMP (Extensible Metadata Platform) files contain metadata about your files. This file format is used by Adobe programs, including Photoshop, Lightroom, and Bridge. You can open an XMP file in several programs, but you can only edit the metadata using an Adobe program.
The Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) is an ISO standard, originally created by Adobe Systems Inc. XMP standardizes a data model, a serialization format and core properties for extensible metadata definition and processing. The defined XMP data model can store metadata properties as name/value pairs, structured values or lists of values. Data can be nested. The standard defines namespaces for core property sets and allows custom namespaces to extend the data model.
In Photoshop, the XMP file is generated when you open a camera raw file, set options, and click OK. You can eliminate the need for separate XMP files by saving raw files in the DNG format, which embeds XMP metadata. If you find an XMP file, there is likely a corresponding raw file like NEF or CR2 in the same location. XMP files are referenced by the application used to open the raw file, not opened manually. However, you can view metadata by opening an XMP file in a text editor.
Adobe’s Extensible Metadata Platform lets you embed metadata into files during content creation. As team members modify assets, they can edit and update metadata in real time. With XMP, applications and publishing systems gain a method for capturing, sharing and leveraging this metadata.