01
Common causes
Messaging and social apps often create a new derivative file. Editors can strip metadata on export. Screenshots are newly captured pixels and generally do not inherit the original photo’s camera EXIF.
Key points
- Export or optimization removed the block
- The file extension is misleading
- Metadata exists in XMP or another namespace
- The file is incomplete or malformed
- The tag is outside the parser’s support
02
The safe conclusion
Say that no supported metadata was found. Do not call the file authentic, unedited, anonymous or safe based on absence alone.
What this does not prove
A metadata result describes the fields and structures that the supported parser could read. It does not, by itself, prove authenticity, intent, authorship or the truth of the visible scene.