Why It Matters
The Internet Was Not Built to Preserve Ownership
When images are uploaded, platforms strip metadata, rename files, and remove attribution.
What happens to your images online:
- ✗
Metadata is stripped
Every major platform removes EXIF, IPTC, and XMP data on upload. Your name, copyright, and camera info — gone.
- ✗
Filenames are changed
Platforms rename files to random hashes. The original filename that linked the image to you no longer exists.
- ✗
Visible marks are removed
Visible watermarks are cropped, painted over, or AI-removed. They don't reliably survive real-world distribution.
- ✗
Images are recompressed
Platforms re-encode images at lower quality. Any fragile signal embedded in the file is destroyed.
PixelSeal solves this
Instead of relying on metadata or visible marks, PixelSeal embeds identity directly into the pixels themselves — into the DCT coefficients of the image. The signal is invisible, remains recoverable after compression and resizing under tested conditions, and can be verified by anyone, anywhere.
Invisible
No visual change to the image
Durable
Recoverable after compression & platforms
Verifiable
Anyone can check attribution
This transforms images from files into verifiable assets.
As media attribution becomes harder to preserve, recoverable identity becomes more valuable.