Better Visual Web with Image Display Control

Currently, there's no sustainable way to communicate downstream how an image should be used. This is a huge problem for media, advertising, branding, and ecommerce.

If parts of an image have been cut off, they can't be recovered, so more and more of the image is lost every time the image is redistributed. This means you lose part of the story and diminish the scope of creating different vertical and horizontal versions. It also leads to pixelation when higher resolutions are required and the original full resolution image is not available.

The answer is Image Display Control, or IDC. It is a standard that chains together the various steps of the image lifecycle using image metadata. Image-specific display instructions spread across platforms behind the scenes in the embedded metadata of the image file.

Established with our friends at  IPTC  — the global standards body of the news media — IDC embeds all relevant display options into the metadata of an image.

It's like having a "wardrobe" of display options for every occasion. For example, a photographer can define display instructions that a publisher — or anyone else who needs to share the image — can rely on. Or when a website is undergoing a redesign, all old image material can be easily converted to fit the new look.

There are endless use cases and scenarios, and that's what makes IDC so powerful. Developers and vendors can easily contribute, tailoring IDC to their own users and extending the ecosystem.

Getting started in building a healthy visual future is simple:

1. Respect copyrights.
2. Fight against biased content and for equal representation: speak up for marginalized groups and make active efforts to be inclusive in media representation, in hiring choices, and editorial practices.
3. Don't erase embedded metadata. The data that is hidden in every image file helps the photographer by keeping copyright information intact, tells about the origins of the image, and carries the IDC instructions.
4. Use up-to-date, open standards and formats.
5. Fact-checking — for example, by checking with established media sources or doing reverse image searches to identify the provenance of images.
6. Support your local photographers and creatives, for example, by attending exhibitions and buying their artwork.
7. Spread the word: Talk about visual matters, and respect visual culture.

You are invited to join our mission for a better visual future. Together, we can raise awareness and come up with new solutions. We want to acknowledge the role of creators, developers, and legislators as important stakeholders in the development of our visual world.