It's a word that actually refers to a very simple thing.
In computer systems, metadata is basically the
information of the file (i.e. file size, date created, date modified, etc.)
Metadata is—
for the most part—specific depending on the type of file. For music and video files, it can include
information such as length, bitrate, artist, title, resolution, etc etc.
"Before sharing the
document, make sure to remove any
sensitive metadata such as author names, revision history, and
comments to protect the privacy and confidentiality of the file"