What Metadata Fields Can FilesMD Extract from Files?

FilesMD is a browser-based metadata viewer and editor that accepts almost any file type and returns the metadata and EXIF fields embedded in it. According to the site, the fields it surfaces include timestamp, thumbnails, software version, language, author, GPS location, original document ID, and many more. What you actually see depends on the file: a phone photo carries camera and location data, while a PDF or Word document carries authoring and revision data instead. The tool works on images, video, audio, documents, compressed archives, and other binary files, so the field list below is a map of what is commonly available rather than a guarantee for every upload.

The fields FilesMD names explicitly

The site's own description lists these example fields:

• Timestamp — creation, modification, or capture time, depending on the format
• Thumbnails — embedded preview images, common in camera and phone photos
• Software version — the application or firmware that wrote the file
• Language — the language tag stored in the file
• Author — the person or account credited with creating the file
• GPS location — coordinates recorded by a device with location services
• Original document ID — an identifier that ties a file back to its source document

These are the fields the page calls out by name. In practice a single file usually exposes a subset of them, and the exact labels come from the metadata standard the file uses.

What different file types tend to contain

Metadata is not one format. Each file family follows its own standard, which is why the same tool returns different field sets for a JPEG and a DOCX.

The supported-type list on FilesMD is long and spans all of these categories, so the practical question is not "does it accept my file" but "does my file's format store the field I care about."

EXIF: the field set most people are looking for

EXIF is the metadata standard that cameras and phones write into image files, and it is the richest source of the fields FilesMD advertises. A typical EXIF block from a phone photo can include:

• Date and time the photo was taken
• GPS latitude, longitude, and sometimes altitude
• Camera or phone make and model
• Lens information and focal length
• ISO, shutter speed, and aperture
• Image orientation
• A small embedded thumbnail
• The software or OS version that processed the image

This is why the same photo can reveal where it was taken and which device took it. If you are checking a photo before sharing it, EXIF is the block to inspect first.

How to check which fields a specific file has

1. Open FilesMD and drag your file onto the upload area, or click to select it.
2. Wait for the metadata panel to populate. The tool reads the file and lists the fields it finds.
3. Scan the list for the fields you care about — timestamp, GPS, author, software version, and so on.
4. If a field you expected is missing, the file's format likely does not store it, or the writing application stripped it.

The expected result is a field list, not a fixed template — two files of the same type can return different fields depending on what the creating software chose to write.

Common reasons a field is missing

• The app stripped it on export. Many social platforms and messaging apps remove EXIF, including GPS, when you upload.
• The format does not support it. A plain TXT file has almost no metadata to show.
• The field was never written. Screenshots, for example, usually have no camera or GPS data.
• The file was re-saved. Editing and re-exporting a file often rewrites or drops the original metadata block.

If you need a field that is not appearing, check whether the original, unedited file still has it before assuming the tool missed something.

What this means for you

FilesMD is useful when you want to see what a file reveals about itself before you send, publish, or archive it — especially GPS location in photos and author or revision data in documents. The fields it names on its page (timestamp, thumbnails, software version, language, author, GPS location, original document ID) are the ones to look for first, and the table above tells you which file types are most likely to carry them.