What is C2PA, and what does its "CAPTURE – STORE – VERIFY" lifecycle describe?

C2PA (Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity) is an open technical standard for attaching a tamper-evident, signed history to digital media across its whole life.

The lifecycle follows an asset from creation to consumption:

• Capture/Create — a C2PA-compliant camera or app records who/what/when at the moment of creation.
• Store / Edit — each edit (in compliant software) appends a new signed manifest describing what changed.
• Verify — anyone can later inspect the full chain and confirm it hasn't been tampered with.

The signed history is called a Content Credential (the consumer-facing brand, marked with a small "cr" pin icon). C2PA was published as a technical specification in 2022.

Tip: Think of it as a chain of custody for media — like evidence in a court case, every handoff is logged and signed.