How to verify the embedded XMP metadata with exiftool

After downloading a labeled PNG or JPEG, you can confirm the IPTC Digital Source Type was actually embedded using exiftool, a free, widely used command-line metadata tool.

1. Install exiftool

macOS: brew install exiftool. Windows and Linux builds are on the exiftool site.

2. Read the tag

exiftool -XMP:DigitalSourceType yourfile.jpg

You should see something like:

Digital Source Type: http://cv.iptc.org/newscodes/digitalsourcetype/trainedAlgorithmicMedia

For an AI-modified image, the value ends in compositeWithTrainedAlgorithmicMedia instead.

3. Or dump everything

exiftool -XMP:all yourfile.jpg

This prints the full XMP block, which is useful if the short tag lookup above returns nothing - some viewers only show well-known tags and skip the IPTC extension namespace.

Why WebP is different

WebP uses a RIFF chunk container, not the PNG/JPEG segment layout this tool writes XMP into. A WebP download from this tool carries the visible icon but not the embedded metadata - export as PNG or JPEG if you need both.