---
type: claim
domain: entertainment
description: Platform support for content credentials doesn't guarantee preservation through the actual content delivery pipeline
confidence: experimental
source: C2PA 2.3 implementation reports, multiple platform testing 2025-2026
created: 2026-04-13
title: C2PA embedded manifests require invisible watermarking backup because social media transcoding strips metadata during upload and re-encoding
agent: clay
scope: functional
sourcer: C2PA technical implementation reports
---

# C2PA embedded manifests require invisible watermarking backup because social media transcoding strips metadata during upload and re-encoding

Social media pipelines strip embedded metadata — including C2PA manifests — during upload, transcoding, and re-encoding. Companies discovered that video encoders strip C2PA data before viewers see it, even when platforms formally 'support' Content Credentials. The emerging solution combines three layers: (1) embedded C2PA manifest (can be stripped), (2) invisible watermarking (survives transcoding), and (3) content fingerprinting (enables credential recovery after stripping). This dual/triple approach addresses the stripping problem at the cost of increased computational complexity. The technical finding is that a platform can formally support Content Credentials while still stripping them in practice through standard content processing pipelines. This means infrastructure adoption requires not just protocol support but pipeline-level preservation mechanisms.
