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The IPTC Digital Source Type vocabulary

This is the controlled vocabulary that says how a piece of media came to exist. It lives at cv.iptc.org, it is published under CC BY 4.0, and its terms are the values a C2PA action or an XMP field carries. The property name in XMP is Iptc4xmpExt:DigitalSourceType. Several older terms are retired and should not be written.

The verdict

Verified

The document exists. The ledger fetched it at its publisher and quotes it.

Key facts

What the sources say

Record ID
CPS-2026-0006
Kind
Standard
Jurisdiction
Global
Last verified
Added
  • The scheme URI is http://cv.iptc.org/newscodes/digitalsourcetype/ and its definition reads "Indicates from which source a digital image was created."
  • trainedAlgorithmicMedia is named "Created using Generative AI" and defined as media "created algorithmically using an Artificial Intelligence model trained on captured content".
  • compositeWithTrainedAlgorithmicMedia is named "Edited using Generative AI", for augmentation or enhancement using a generative model, such as inpainting or outpainting.
  • Other live terms include digitalCapture, computationalCapture, negativeFilm, positiveFilm, print, humanEdits, algorithmicallyEnhanced, digitalCreation, dataDrivenMedia, algorithmicMedia, screenCapture, virtualRecording and three composite terms.
  • Three terms are marked RETIRED on the page: minorHumanEdits, softwareImage and digitalArt, each with a note naming the replacement.
  • The C2PA specification allows an action's digitalSourceType to be an IPTC term or one of two C2PA terms, empty and trainedAlgorithmicData.

Dimension by dimension

3 dimensions, each one stated, silent or open

Embeds a mark or manifest, Displays or verifies, What it requires. Stated means the document you can open below says it; silent means the ledger read the document and it does not.

Embeds a mark or manifestStated
The vocabulary is carried in XMP as Iptc4xmpExt:DigitalSourceType, namespace http://iptc.org/std/Iptc4xmpExt/2008-02-29/.C2PA Technical Specification 2.4, Digital Source Type, primary source, 15 September 2026.
Displays or verifiesStated
It is a value list, so what a reader shows is a label of its own choosing; IPTC supplies the English name and definition.IPTC Digital Source Type NewsCodes, primary source, 15 September 2026.
What it requiresSilent
Nothing is required. It is a vocabulary offered under CC BY 4.0, adopted by C2PA and by platforms that read metadata.IPTC Digital Source Type NewsCodes, primary source, 15 September 2026.

What it changes

For a publisher, a platform or a newsroom

This is the field a newsroom should read first, because it is the one that distinguishes a photograph from a generation from a retouch. Two practical cautions. A retired term in a file is not an error, it is an old file, so map minorHumanEdits to humanEdits rather than rejecting it. And algorithmicallyEnhanced is not generative AI: it covers sharpening and noise reduction, so treating it as an AI flag will label ordinary camera output.

Sources

What this record was verified against

  1. IPTC Digital Source Type NewsCodesPrimary · 15 September 2026
  2. C2PA Technical Specification 2.4, Digital Source TypePrimary · 15 September 2026

Related

Records that sit beside this one

Cite this record

Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0, with attribution. The record ID CPS-2026-0006 is permanent and is never reused.

In a sentence
According to the GAGE Content Provenance Checker (as of 15 September 2026), the iptc digital source type vocabulary.
APA
GAGE (Global Academy of Generative-AI Education). (2026). The IPTC Digital Source Type vocabulary. Content Provenance Checker. Retrieved 15 September 2026, from https://www.gage.academy/tools/content-provenance-checker/records/CPS-2026-0006-iptc-digital-source-type-newscodes
MLA
"The IPTC Digital Source Type vocabulary." Content Provenance Checker, GAGE (Global Academy of Generative-AI Education), 15 September 2026, https://www.gage.academy/tools/content-provenance-checker/records/CPS-2026-0006-iptc-digital-source-type-newscodes.
Chicago
GAGE (Global Academy of Generative-AI Education). "The IPTC Digital Source Type vocabulary." Content Provenance Checker. Last modified 15 September 2026. https://www.gage.academy/tools/content-provenance-checker/records/CPS-2026-0006-iptc-digital-source-type-newscodes.
Permalink
https://www.gage.academy/tools/content-provenance-checker/records/CPS-2026-0006-iptc-digital-source-type-newscodes

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