Re: Proposed XMPP Extension: Link Metadata

Greetings.

This argument is also valid to XEP-0446 and XEP-0447.

Should we, perhaps, consider Metalink (RFC 5854) instead of OpenGraph,
and any other similar solution which be specific to XMPP, for such task?


Metalink
--------

Metalink is a metadata document with references to any kind of file
over any protocol (be it FastTrack, Gemini, Gnutella, MUTE, et cetera).

Generally, I think that, Metalink is the best choice for that task of
sending document and multimedia documents with description of the
linked data.


Multimedia
----------

Metalink can be also utilized to send a video (hosted over eD2k, FTP,
Gnutella, HTTP, and IPFS) with textual description.

Metalink can be utilized to send a gallery of images, and people would
select whether to retrieve all images or a selected few.


Adoption
--------

Metalink probably does not even necessarily require an XEP, as it is
solely a software client task to parse and realize the Metalink
document.

I think that, if XMPP developers would adopt Metalink, this would
prompt developers of IRC, and other messaging platforms, to do the
same; and, thereby, to contribute to interoperability of exchange of
data with XMPP.


Example
-------

I have attached a short example Metalink document of the video "Trusted
Computing (2004)" which realizes a few of the possibilities of Metalink
which be useful with chat software.


(X)HTML
-------

While (X)HTML documents are not always meant to be downloaded; I think
that, Metalink can be a valid mean to handle the described concern.


Conclusion
----------

To summaries, my argument is to substitue XEP-0446 and XEP-0447 by
Metalink, and to extend the use of Metalink to the concern of "Link
Metadata".


Kind reagrds,
Schimon

On Fri, 06 Feb 2026 11:08:00 -0000
Daniel Gultsch <[email protected]> wrote:

> The XMPP Extensions Editor has received a proposal for a new XEP.
> 
> Title: Link Metadata
> Abstract:
> This specification describes how to attach metadata for links to a
> message.
> 
> URL: https://xmpp.org/extensions/inbox/link-metadata.html
> 
> The Council will decide in the next two weeks whether to accept this
> proposal as an official XEP.

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