# ASSET_METADATA: Image Taggor cannot verify as metadata-free

> Image Taggor cannot verify as metadata-free

| Severity | Fault                         | Stage        |
| -------- | ----------------------------- | ------------ |
| error    | customer (the source package) | build output |

## What it means

An image the component imports has a structure Taggor does not publish: an AVIF with embedded metadata (Exif, XMP, an ICC profile, a thumbnail or any box outside the supported still-image subset), or an AV1 stream or file layout that cannot be inspected safely. Images are published at a public, immutable address, so anything hidden in them (a location, a camera serial number, a signed provenance manifest, private data) could never be withdrawn. For PNG, JPEG and WebP Taggor removes the metadata itself (EXIF, XMP, text, ICC profile, C2PA, private chunks) and publishes the cleaned file; AVIF is stored as uploaded, so it must already be clean. The message names the file and what stopped it.

## How to fix

Export the image again without metadata (for example `magick in.avif -strip out.avif`), or use PNG, JPEG or WebP, whose metadata Taggor strips for you.