---
title: "C2PA — Glossary | LLMind"
description: "Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity — a standard for cryptographically-signed origin metadata in image and video files."
url: https://llmind.org/glossary/c2pa/
source_format: html
---
[← Glossary](https://llmind.org/glossary/)

# C2PA

**Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity — a standard for cryptographically-signed origin metadata in image and video files.**

C2PA is an industry coalition and open standard founded by Adobe, Microsoft, BBC, Truepic, and others to address media authenticity. The standard defines how to cryptographically sign a file's provenance — its origin (capture device, creator, timestamp) and edit history (every transformation applied to it). C2PA manifests are signed with X.509 certificates, providing a cryptographic chain of custody that viewers and platforms can verify to confirm a file hasn't been silently manipulated.

## Who's behind it

C2PA is stewarded by the Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI), a coalition that includes major technology and media companies. Adobe has implemented C2PA in Photoshop and Lightroom, allowing users to automatically embed origin and edit provenance. Microsoft and other platforms are integrating C2PA readers. Because it's an open standard, any tool can implement a conformant reader or writer without paying royalties or seeking permission.

## Relationship to LLMind

C2PA and LRFS are complementary, not competitive. Both write signed metadata into the file's XMP packet. C2PA signs origin provenance (who created it, what edits were made); LRFS signs semantic meaning (what it is, what entities it contains). They coexist in the same file and can be verified independently. An image might have both a C2PA origin manifest and LRFS semantic metadata, each signed and each verifiable.

## Related terms

-   [Content Credentials](https://llmind.org/glossary/content-credentials/)
-   [Provenance](https://llmind.org/glossary/provenance/)
-   [Tamper-evident metadata](https://llmind.org/glossary/tamper-evident-metadata/)

## See also

-   [LLMind vs C2PA](https://llmind.org/compare/vs-c2pa/)
-   [Content Credentials comparison](https://llmind.org/compare/vs-content-credentials/)
-   [Learn](https://llmind.org/learn/)
-   [Spec](https://llmind.org/spec/)