Metadata is bits of information about a file or folder used to describe data and stored in a separate document. Types of metadata can be names, content type, origin, creation date, modification date, ownership information, condition, and much more.
Simply put "metadata is data about data."
This phrase has been around for a while and it's an excellent, short way to describe what metadata is and what it does.
Metadata helps organize, locate, and manipulate data to make it easier to identify it and find it. This metadata can be stored in several locations and various formats. It can refer to any kind of information, such as documents, video files, images, sounds, and so on.
In macOS, filesystem metadata is used mainly to locate and manipulate files. Examples of filesystem metadata in macOS are file flags, extended file attributes (that is, tags, comments, and file extensions), and permissions.
In this section, we will explore the most important...