Reading & Validating

Reader::fromBytes() runs the complete C2PA validation once, up front, and caches the verdict; every accessor after that is a cheap in-memory read.

use Automattic\VIP\C2PA\Reader;
use Automattic\VIP\C2PA\Settings;

$reader = Reader::fromBytes($bytes, 'image/jpeg');           // integrity only
$reader = Reader::fromBytes($bytes, 'image/jpeg', $settings); // + trust check

• $bytes — the raw image, as an ordinary PHP string. PHP strings are binary-safe and cross the Rust boundary byte-for-byte; never run image bytes through any text/encoding transformation first.
• $mime — the asset’s MIME type (image/jpeg, image/png, image/webp, …). The c2pa crate dispatches its parser on this value, so it must match the actual bytes.
• $settings — optional trust configuration. Without it, validation still verifies well-formedness and cryptographic integrity; it just can’t assert trust.

The three outcomes

Treating “no manifest” as a clean verdict rather than an exception matters in bulk pipelines: a media library full of unsigned images is the normal case, not a failure mode.

Verdict accessors

$reader->validationState(); // "Valid" | "Invalid" | "Trusted" | ""
$reader->isValid();         // true for Valid or Trusted
$reader->isTrusted();       // true only for Trusted

Trusted is only reachable when Settings carried trust anchors — see Trust & Verdicts for exactly what each state promises.

Two views of the manifest

json() returns the complete manifest store — every manifest in the asset, all assertions, ingredients, signature info, and validation results — as JSON. It is the full fidelity view, and the empty string when there was no manifest.

summary() returns a compact, stable, UI-oriented projection of the active manifest:

{
  "state": "Valid",
  "has_manifest": true,
  "signer": "C2PA Test Signing Cert",
  "claim_generator": "wp-c2pa",
  "title": "photo.jpg",
  "format": "image/jpeg",
  "ai_generated": false,
  "actions": ["c2pa.created", "c2pa.resized"],
  "ingredients": [{ "title": "orig.jpg", "relationship": "parentOf" }]
}

Field notes:

• signer — the issuer from the manifest’s signature certificate.
• claim_generator — the producing software’s name (handles both claim v1 and v2 layouts).
• ai_generated — true when any c2pa.actions assertion carries an IPTC digitalSourceType of trainedAlgorithmicMedia or compositeWithTrainedAlgorithmicMedia; this is how “Made with AI” style badges are driven.
• actions — the flat list of action names (c2pa.created, c2pa.resized, …) across the manifest’s action assertions.
• ingredients — title + relationship per ingredient; a parentOf relationship is the provenance link back to a parent asset.

When there is no manifest, summary() still returns the same shape with has_manifest: false and null/empty fields — callers can decode it unconditionally.