Credentials stripped? Check what survived.
For JPEG and PNG, compare exact file bytes and decoded pixels with registered records. Review exact matches separately from resemblance leads.
Four answers, kept apart.
| Answer | What it means | What it does not mean | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exact byte match | The file is byte-for-byte a file covered by a signed ChaosMark record. | Who registered it, who owns it, or whether the content is true. | Verify, for records created online |
| Exact pixel match | The bytes differ, but the decoded image is pixel-for-pixel identical to a registered one: for example, metadata stripped, or a JPEG saved losslessly as PNG. | That anything in the image is unchanged beyond those pixels' identity, or anything about files that were resized, cropped or recompressed. | Enterprise evaluation |
| Descriptor lead | A registered image looks close enough to review by hand. | A match. A lead is a reason to look, never evidence on its own, and it comes without a score. | Not offered yet |
| No supported match | None of the answers above applied to this file. | That the file was never registered, or that it is genuine or edited. | Every check |
Exact pixel matching compares the pixels themselves; it is not AI detection and makes no judgement about how an image was made. We will not publish a similarity score until a measured operating point supports one.
An exact match links a file back to a record you registered. It is not a C2PA validation, it does not restore the file's Content Credentials, and it says nothing about whether the content is authentic.
When the credentials do not survive.
Three steps, from any file you care about.
- Check it free. Upload it to Verify. You learn whether it still carries Content Credentials, and whether its exact bytes match a signed ChaosMark record.
- If nothing survived, and the credentials are gone and the bytes no longer match, that is exactly the case recognition is for.
- Request a recognition check. For JPEG and PNG files you registered, we check for an exact pixel match and report which of the four answers applies to that file.
In scope
JPEG and PNG files up to 16 MiB. Byte-exact and pixel-exact answers, from records you registered.
Out of scope
Video, audio and documents; resized, cropped or recompressed images; any similarity score; and any claim about who made a file or whether it is real.
Recognition is reported separately from Content Credentials and from ChaosMark record signatures, and the three are never added into one verdict. Result vocabulary · Developers