Asset Metadata

Grail supports two types of metadata on assets, giving you flexible ways to organize and find your media.

Type	Source	Editable	Example
File metadata	Extracted from file contents (FFprobe)	No	Resolution, duration, codec
User metadata	Custom fields you define	Yes	Status, editor, notes

On the asset detail page, file metadata appears in the File Information panel and user metadata appears in the Metadata panel. Both types can be used to filter assets in the asset browser.

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File Metadata

File metadata is technical information extracted automatically from file contents using FFprobe during indexing. This includes:

• Resolution — Video width and height (e.g., 1920x1080)
• Duration — Length of the media file
• Codec — Video and audio codec information
• Frame rate — Video frame rate
• Bit rate — Overall and per-stream bit rates
• Audio channels — Number of audio channels and sample rate

File metadata appears in the File Information panel on the asset detail page. These values are read-only and update automatically when a file is re-indexed.

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User Metadata

User metadata fields are custom fields that you define for your organization. Unlike file metadata, user metadata is fully editable — you can set values per asset or update many assets at once with bulk editing.

Defining Metadata Fields

1. Open metadata field settings

   Navigate to Settings > Metadata Fields.

2. Add a field

   Click Add Field and configure:

   • Label — The display name (e.g., “Project Code”)

   • Description (optional) — Help text shown below the field name

   • Field Type — Choose from:

     Type	Description
     Text	Free-form text input
     Number	Numeric values
     Date	Date values
     Single List	Choose one value from a dropdown
     Multi List	Choose multiple values from a dropdown

3. Save the field

   The field is immediately available on all assets in your organization.

Note

List field types (Single List and Multi List) build their dropdown options automatically from values that have been used across your assets. As you add values, they become available as suggestions for other assets.

Editing Metadata on an Asset

On the asset detail page, expand the Metadata panel to see all defined fields. Click a field value to edit it, or click the + icon to add a value to an empty field.

• Text fields — Click to open a text editor. Press Cmd/Ctrl+Enter to save.
• List fields — Use the dropdown to select or search for values. For Multi List fields, select multiple values.

Bulk Editing

To update metadata across multiple assets at once:

1. Select assets

   In the asset browser, select the assets you want to update using the checkboxes. Bulk actions support up to 1,000 selected assets at a time.

2. Open bulk edit

   Click Edit Metadata in the batch action bar.

3. Choose fields and values

   Check the fields you want to update, then enter new values. For Multi List fields, choose between:

   • Replace — Set the exact values (overwrites existing)
   • Add — Append new values to existing ones

4. Apply changes

   Review the summary and click Apply to update all selected assets.

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Filtering by Metadata

Both metadata types can be used to filter assets in the asset browser. Click the Metadata filter to see available fields grouped by type:

• User metadata fields show a person icon
• File metadata fields show a document icon

Select values to filter, or use text search for text-type fields. Active metadata filters appear as pills in the filter bar alongside other filters like tags, date range, and media type.