Sidecar files or embedded metadata?

June 2026

For JPEGs I write keywords into the file. For raw files I keep XMP sidecars next to them, because rewriting a raw file is a risk I do not want to take.

Before trusting a new app I copy ten files to a scratch folder, tag them, move the folder, rename two files and open everything in a second app. If any tag disappears, that app only ever gets read access.