What Is Metadata?

Metadata is data about data. It describes attributes of your data that can be important to know but may not be immediately relevant to your data’s primary function. This could include information about how data was collected, where it’s stored, and how it’s used.

For example, metadata is often attached to digital files, such as photos, videos, and audio, to describe aspects of the file, such as its name, size, when it was captured, and where it was captured.

Metadata can be helpful for verification and tracking purposes. You can refer to metadata to confirm data is accurate and reliable (data integrity) or to create an organisational system for your data. Certain software and programs also use metadata to interpret your data. For example, search engines use metadata to categorise web pages.

Types of metadata

Several types of metadata exist, but three common types are descriptive, structural, and administrative:

• Descriptive metadata describes identification attributes, such as the file name and author.

• Structural metadata describes how data is organised, such as versions and relationships to other pieces of data.

• Administrative metadata describes technical attributes, such as the file size and creation date.

Learn more about metadata and metadata management from experts at Google:

Related terms

• Data architect

• Data modeller

• Data warehouse

• Data wrangling

• Database administrator

• Relational database

Learn more about data with Coursera.

Metadata, or "data about data," provides details that describe a piece of information but aren't part of it.  This extra information helps you find, organise, and understand vast data.

Gain hands-on experience gathering, cleaning, and analysing data using databases and other analytics tools with the Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate on Coursera. Develop skills for an in-demand career in data analytics while you learn at the pace that works for you.