Should I enable XMP sidecars

DxO PhotoLab
1

I should know the answer to this…but don’t! Is there any benefit in enabling XMP sidecar files for metadata or is it best left off.

Thank you

2

Syncing xmp enables some transport of metadata to other apps and vice versa. The transport includes such things as IPTC metadata as well as e.g. image orientation, star ratings and labels. Please note that labels often don’t work well or at all. It depends on language settings and whether apps store labels in English or as localised text.

Develop settings, e.g. from Lightroom are ignored, but DNG files exported by PhotoLab convey settings that can be understood (or ignored) by other apps.

Should you enable? This depends on whether you work with a single source of definition (preferred method) or a kind of Babylonian way, where every app is used/allowed to change metadata (not recommended). If you’re serious about image metadata. PL is good enough if you have nothing else, but then, you can leave xmp sync off. Other apps are more elaborate managers of metadata, and then, you best leave xmp sync off and work with a single point (app) of definition.

Read about such things in several threads of this forum.

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3

Hello Colin,

  1. Work on Metadata only within one app!! This will keep you safe from a lot of problems
  2. If you use Photolab exclusively for Metadata. Turning on xmp is not problem. This will allow other apps to read those files and use the information
  3. if you use DAM software then my recommendation is to NOT turn it on
  4. If you use DAM software be also careful when you see the “out of sync” sign on a file in Photolab. Make sure you only select “read” and not write when you click on it.

Sigi

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4

Thank you chaps and all the best for 2026. I “almost” use PL as my main tool for Metadata, the exception is Geo Tagging. PL is very limited in this respect so where needed I add this via a stand alone dam (ApolloOne).

After editing I export the image from PL to an alternative program (on my NAS).

Would exif off be the way to go with this workflow?

5

If I understand you do keywords etc…. in PL and only Geo Tagging in an external app. In that scenario I would personally tend to use xmp files and tick the boxes in DPL.

To be on the safe side you could create a test environment and play around with it to make sure it works as expected. What I would definitely NOT do is doing Geo tagging also in DPL, do that exclusively in the other app. Even when you just want to make slight correction in the coordinates. I am a bit paranoid about that because I learned this the hard way.

6

If one feels confident with a text editor, geotags could be modified in the xmp sidecars without any other app that could otherwise compromise existing entries. Just make sure that the editor is set for text and a compatible character set. And again, test before changing the real files.