---
title: "Content provenance (C2PA)"
description: "Signed, tamper-evident information about where a piece of content came from and how it was edited, bound to the asset."
canonical: https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/content-provenance-c2pa
author: "Jorge García Aibar"
license: "CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)"
doi: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22956197
version: "0.5.0"
updated: 2026-09-24
---

# Content provenance (C2PA)

Signed, tamper-evident information about where a piece of content came from and how it was edited, bound to the asset. The C2PA specification packages it as a manifest of assertions, a claim and a claim signature [1]; NIST treats provenance tracking as one approach to synthetic-content transparency [2].

- Developed in: [ch. 20, Deepfakes and synthetic media](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/existing-law#deepfakes-and-synthetic-media)
- Chapters: [ch. 18, EU AI Act](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/eu-ai-act) · [ch. 20, Existing Law](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/existing-law)
- Contrast with: [Watermarking](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/watermarking) · [Data provenance](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/data-provenance)
- In the glossary chapter: https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/glossary#t-content-provenance-c2pa

## Sources

[1] Content Credentials: C2PA Technical Specification, version 2.2 (a manifest of assertions, a claim and a claim signature bound to an asset). Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA). 2025-05. https://spec.c2pa.org/specifications/specifications/2.2/specs/C2PA_Specification.html (verified: primary)
[2] NIST AI 100-4, Reducing Risks Posed by Synthetic Content: An Overview of Technical Approaches to Digital Content Transparency (provenance data tracking, watermarking, metadata recording and synthetic-content detection). NIST. 2024-11-20. https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.AI.100-4 (verified: primary)