About PDF metadata viewer
A PDF describes itself in two places, and most people have only seen one. The document information dictionary holds the classic fields: Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, Creator (the application the content was authored in), Producer (the library or driver that wrote the PDF), and creation and modification timestamps. Alongside it, many files carry an XMP packet — an XML block that can hold the same fields plus tool-specific extensions, document identifiers that persist across saves, and sometimes a full revision history. The two sources can disagree, because some editors update one and not the other. This tool displays both, side by side, including the raw XMP so nothing is hidden behind a friendly summary. Reading it is usually instructive: timestamps reveal when a document was really written, the Producer string names your software and often its exact version, and the Author field is frequently a name or account nobody intended to publish.
How to PDF metadata viewer
- 01
Load the PDF
The metadata is read from the trailer and the metadata stream; no content parsing is needed.
- 02
Compare the two sources
The info dictionary and the XMP packet are shown separately. Disagreements between them are themselves informative.
- 03
Read the raw XMP
Expand the raw packet to see extension schemas and identifiers that a summary view would drop.
What this tool does
- Both metadata sources shown — info dictionary and XMP — never silently merged
- Raw XMP packet available in full, including vendor extension schemas
- Timestamps displayed with their original timezone offsets as recorded
- Producer and Creator strings shown verbatim, version numbers included
- Read-only: the file is inspected and never rewritten
Limitations worth knowing
Every PDF tool has constraints. Stating them plainly is more useful than discovering them halfway through your work.
- Reports only what is present. An absent Author field means the field is empty, not that the document is anonymous.
- Metadata is trivially editable, so none of these values should be treated as evidence of origin or authorship.
- Encrypted documents need their password before metadata strings can be decoded.
- Per-object and per-image metadata such as XMP on individual embedded images is not enumerated.
How your file is handled
This tool runs entirely inside this browser tab. When you choose a file, your browser reads it from your own disk and hands the bytes to JavaScript running on this page — no network request carries your document anywhere. You can confirm that yourself: open your browser’s developer tools, switch to the Network panel, and run the tool. You will see no upload.
Nothing is stored after the fact. Closing or reloading this tab discards the file, the result and everything derived from them, because none of it ever left your machine. Read how local processing works.
Questions about PDF metadata viewer
What is the difference between Creator and Producer?
Creator names the application the content was authored in — a word processor or design tool. Producer names whatever actually wrote the PDF bytes, such as a print driver or a PDF library. A file converted between tools often names both.
Why do the info dictionary and the XMP disagree?
Because editors are inconsistent about updating both. One tool writes the info dictionary, another the XMP, and a file passed through several ends up with stale values in one of them. The mismatch can reveal the editing chain.
Can metadata be trusted to prove who wrote a document?
No. Every field here can be set to any value in seconds. Metadata is useful as a leak indicator on documents you control, not as evidence about documents you receive.
How do I remove what this shows me?
Use PDF Metadata Remover to strip the fields entirely, or Edit PDF Metadata to replace specific values while keeping the rest.
Tools that pair with this one
- PDF Metadata RemoverClear selected document properties before sharing; this is not secure anonymisation.
- Edit PDF MetadataSet a document’s properties deliberately instead of inheriting them.
- PDF Security InspectorEvery security-relevant feature of a document, inventoried in one pass.
- PDF Metadata CleanerAttempt standard metadata cleanup, with image compression still enabled and no secure-erasure guarantee.
- PDF InspectorA complete technical report on any PDF, produced without uploading it.
- PDF Version CheckerCheck which PDF version a file claims, and what that version can and cannot do.