What is Metadata?!

When I first heard the term “Metadata,” I looked up its meaning and found that all the answers mentioned that “Metadata is data about data.” While this definition might be sufficient for some people, it wasn’t enough for me. So, I decided to explain it better.

The general definition of metadata is additional information about other information, helping us to better understand the data we have. It provides more details about the data, aiding us in a deeper comprehension. Metadata is important because it gives us information about the nature of the data we possess.

Alright, maybe it’s not clear yet. Let me give you examples of metadata, where it is used, and where it can be found, so you can understand it better.

Messages

When you send a message, the primary data is the message itself, while the metadata is the information about the message that provides additional details such as the time sent, sender, recipient, message length, message type, and so on. This information, which gives us more details beyond the primary data, is the metadata.

Photos

When you take a photo with your phone, the primary data is the photo itself, while the metadata is the information that gives us more details about the photo, such as the time it was taken, the location it was taken, the photo’s quality, size, and much more. This is the metadata.

Files

When you create a file on your device, the metadata is the additional information we have about the file, such as the file creation date, file size, storage location, file type, and other details about the file.

Books

When you buy a book, the book’s content is the primary data, while the metadata includes the author’s name, the number of pages, the title, the number of chapters, and so on.

It is clear that metadata plays an important role in enhancing our understanding of the primary data we deal with daily. It provides additional information about the data we have, helping us to understand, analyze, and perform operations on it, such as searching, organizing, analyzing, and more.

Hope You Now Understand what is Metadata

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