---
canonical: https://amplience.com/developers/docs/apis/media-delivery/media-delivery-reference/metadata/
title: Metadata
  interactive: true
description: Retrieve and filter Amplience Dynamic Media asset metadata with the Media Delivery API, and reference metadata values in image queries.
keywords:
  - Dynamic Media
  - Media Delivery API
  - Dynamic Media metadata
  - asset metadata
  - metaFilter
  - image metadata API
audience: Developer
date_published: 2026-07-12
date_modified: 2026-07-27
---

# Metadata {#metadata}

Use the Media Delivery API to return an asset's metadata instead of the asset itself, narrow the response to the fields you need, and reference metadata values from inside an image query.

> **Note: Base URL pattern**
> The parameters on this page are appended to a Dynamic Media image URL. For the URL pattern and how parameters chain together, see the [Media Delivery API guide](https://amplience.com/developers/docs/apis/media-delivery/media-delivery-reference/).

## `metadata=true` — Retrieve all metadata {#metadata-true}

Returns all metadata associated with an image. Specify the format by appending the appropriate extension to the URL.

| Extension | Format |
|---|---|
| `.js` | JSONP |
| `.json` | JSON |
| `.xml` | XML |

**Example:**

```uri
https://cdn.media.amplience.net/i/ampproduct/Hero-Banner-720-model2.json?metadata=true
```

## `metaFilter` - Filter metadata {#metafilter}

Returns only metadata for the specified type. Use `metaFilter=*` to return all types. The `image` metadata block is always included.

**Example:**

```uri
https://cdn.media.amplience.net/i/ampproduct/Hero-Banner-720-model2.json?metadata=true&metaFilter=pointOfInterest
```

## Referencing metadata in queries {#metadata-tokens}

You can reference an image's metadata directly within transformation queries using the following tokens:

| Token | Description |
|---|---|
| `{$this.metadata}` | Metadata from the current layer. |
| `{$root.metadata}` | Metadata from the root layer. |
| `{$root.layerX.metadata}` | Metadata from the root layer. Where multiple layers exist, this allows you to check the specific layer you want, for example layer2.  |
| `{$parent.metadata}` | Metadata from the parent layer. Where multiple layers exist, this will always check for the immediate parent. |

The example below crops using the point of interest stored in the image's own metadata - no hard-coded `poi` values. Resize the output and the crop keeps following the focal point:

```uri
https://cdn.media.amplience.net/i/ampproduct/woman-with-hat-travel?w=320&h=480&sm=c&poi={$this.metadata.pointOfInterest.x},{$this.metadata.pointOfInterest.y},{$this.metadata.pointOfInterest.w},{$this.metadata.pointOfInterest.h}&scaleFit=poi
```