After you’ve imported a project into Select you may notice a bunch of new files in your image folder. These .XMP files are known as sidecar files. Many programs that interact with RAW files use sidecars to store changes to metadata without changing anything on the original file.

Don't worry about storage – they are tiny files! 1000 XMP files takes up no more room than a single RAW file.

Caution*** Make sure you keep these files in the same folder as your RAWs or you will lose your ratings.

We decided to default to including sidecar files for all types of RAW files as it is more reliable than writing directly to a RAW file – especially when you consider that the dozens of types of RAW files out there can all have slightly different ways of encoding metadata. We also prefer sidecar files because Select only has to read your original files, and doesn't need to make any changes to the original files at all. However, for JPGs we write metadata directly to the file in line with other programs.

No, it is not possible to turn off the creation of XMP files when working with RAW images. These files are essential as they store changes to metadata—like edits, ratings, and labels—without altering the original RAW files. This ensures that your original images remain untouched, and all changes are recorded separately, allowing for non-destructive editing and easy transfer of metadata across different editing software.

We know that some people don’t like sidecar files, so, over time we will be working towards giving you the option to write directly to file if you choose. Watch this space.