French Accent in Metadata

[fourdogslong]

Hi,
What is the proper way to setup the IPTC/XMP preferences to support french accents?

Right now, most times that I import my pictures into another app or web platform, the words that contain french accents get messed up even though they show up ok in Photo Mechanic Plus 6.

Thanks

[Kirk Baker]

What is the proper way to setup the IPTC/XMP preferences to support french accents?

Right now, most times that I import my pictures into another app or web platform, the words that contain french accents get messed up even though they show up ok in Photo Mechanic Plus 6.

XMP is always written as Unicode text (UTF-8 encoding) by the standard.  The legacy binary IPTC data is supposed to be 7-bit ASCII (which doesn't support accented characters), but it was extended to allow a character set to be set and PM/PM Plus will allow you to write IPTC as Unicode (again encoded as UTF-8).  Some apps support this, some do not.

I would suggest trying different settings including not writing out legacy IPTC at all and see which combination of settings produces the best results.  It may be that some of the software you're trying to use is very old and ignores XMP altogether, or prefers IPTC over XMP when both are present.

-Kirk

[fourdogslong]

Thanks,
When you say not writing legacy IPTC, does that mean I should tick the "write IPTC as unicode" case?

Also, right now the Default IPTC encoding is Mac Roman, is that ok for French accents. I'm sorry I really don't know much about this tech stuff.

I was uploading to flicr when I noticed the problem, it also happened in Capture One when I used embeded metadatsa in RAW files, the issue doesn't exist since I moved to sidecar XMP.

[Kirk Baker]

When you say not writing legacy IPTC, does that mean I should tick the "write IPTC as unicode" case?

If you're going to write legacy IPTC and you're going to use non-ASCII characters (like the French accented characters), you should set the "Write IPTC as Unicode" checkbox.

Also, right now the Default IPTC encoding is Mac Roman, is that ok for French accents.

No, see my previous answer.

I was uploading to flicr when I noticed the problem, it also happened in Capture One when I used embeded metadatsa in RAW files, the issue doesn't exist since I moved to sidecar XMP.

I still think you should try eliminating legacy IPTC from a sample file and see where that gets you.

-Kirk

[fourdogslong]

I still think you should try eliminating legacy IPTC from a sample file and see where that gets you.

I do that by ticking the Write IPTC as Unicode case?

Also, is there a way to update all my photo's metadata with the new setting?

[Kirk Baker]

I still think you should try eliminating legacy IPTC from a sample file and see where that gets you.

I do that by ticking the Write IPTC as Unicode case?

No.  You do that by unchecking the "Add embedded IPTC (XMP will always be written)" checkbox.

Also, is there a way to update all my photo's metadata with the new setting?

I suggest that you first find out what combination of settings work best with the external applications/websites that you're going to use first.  Once you've decided on final settings, you could select your photos and apply a Metadata Template that clears an unused field.

HTH,

-Kirk

[fourdogslong]

Excellent, thank you very much.