EXIF Owner Name and Copyright
Fields that can contain your real name or legal entity. These are the tags that turn a photo from anonymous into attributable.
Quick facts
| Tag ID | 0x013B Artist, 0x8298 Copyright, 0xA430 CameraOwnerName, IPTC 2:80 By-line, IPTC 2:116 Copyright Notice, XMP dc:creator |
|---|---|
| Stored in | IFD0 / ExifIFD / XMP / IPTC |
| Example value | Jane Doe, © 2026 Jane Doe Photography, Acme Studios Ltd. |
| Also known as | Artist, OwnerName, Copyright, CameraOwnerName, By-line, Creator |
| Privacy risk | High risk. Often contains your real name, studio, or company. |
What the Owner Name and Copyright tag actually means
Artist (0x013B) and Copyright (0x8298) are optional TIFF fields. CameraOwnerName (0xA430) is written by some camera makers with the registered owner name. The IPTC By-line field carries a photographer credit, and the XMP dc:creator creator property does the same in the modern packet format.
Why it matters
These fields are filled in deliberately — by the photographer, by a camera that remembers its owner, or by software that injects a studio name. The content is a real name or business, which makes the photo attributable to a person or company regardless of any other metadata.
What to do about it
Remove the name fields unless you want to be credited. Most cameras let you set the owner name in their settings, and removing it at the point of capture prevents the problem entirely.
Who writes this tag
The photographer, the camera owner settings, or editing software with a preset studio name.
Sources and how this was verified
Tag IDs and encodings are taken from the CIPA DC-007-Translation (Exif 3.0) and ISO/IEC 21222-1 specifications. The privacy rating is our own editorial judgement, based on what each field can uniquely identify. Every entry in this reference is checked against real files produced by the cameras, phones and editors we test with.
- CIPA DC-007-Translation 2019 (Exif 3.0) — tag identifiers and IFD structure
- ISO/IEC 21222-1:2015 — data element registration
- Adobe XMP Specification (2024) — XMP packet properties
- IPTC IIM 4.2 — news/photo metadata field numbers
See our editorial and review policyfor how we test, rate and correct these entries. Found an error? Tell us.
Related EXIF tags
A unique serial number for the exact camera body. It identifies one specific physical device in the world and is the strongest non-location identifier in a photo.
The exact moment the shutter fired, down to the second. It is one of the most revealing tags on a photo and one of the most frequently leaked.
The application that last wrote the file — a camera firmware, a phone, or an editor such as Lightroom or Photoshop. It can reveal your editing workflow.
A copyright statement, sometimes including a year, a name and a URL. It is a deliberate attribution and it is not always wanted on a shared photo.
Owner Name and Copyright FAQ
Common questions about the EXIF owner name and copyright tag, its values and its privacy implications.
What is the Artist tag in EXIF?
Artist (0x013B) is an optional ASCII field intended to hold the name of the creator of the image. It is frequently left empty, but cameras with an owner-name setting and editing software with a preset identity will populate it.
Does removing EXIF remove the copyright field?
Yes, if the tool targets the metadata block. Be aware that a copyright notice in the visible image itself — burned into the pixels — cannot be removed by any metadata tool.
Cite this reference
If you are writing about the EXIF owner name and copyright tag, you are welcome to link to this entry. It is maintained, versioned and reviewed on a published schedule.
“EXIF Owner Name and Copyright (0x013B Artist), freexifdata.com EXIF Tag Reference, reviewed October 20, 2026.”