---
title: AVMetadataObject
framework: avfoundation
role: symbol
role_heading: Class
path: avfoundation/avmetadataobject
---

# AVMetadataObject

The abstract superclass for objects provided by a metadata capture output.

## Declaration

```swift
class AVMetadataObject
```

## Overview

Overview The AVMetadataObject class is an abstract class that defines the basic properties associated with a piece of metadata. These attributes reflect information either about the metadata itself or the media from which the metadata originated. Subclasses are responsible for providing appropriate values for each of the relevant properties. You shouldn’t subclass AVMetadataObject directly. Instead, you use one of the defined subclasses provided by the AVFoundation framework. Similarly, you don’t create instances of this class yourself but use an AVCaptureMetadataOutput object to retrieve them from the captured data.

## Topics

### Inspecting the metadata

- [bounds](avfoundation/avmetadataobject/bounds.md)
- [duration](avfoundation/avmetadataobject/duration.md)
- [time](avfoundation/avmetadataobject/time.md)
- [type](avfoundation/avmetadataobject/type.md)
- [AVMetadataObject.ObjectType](avfoundation/avmetadataobject/objecttype.md)
- [isFixedFocus](avfoundation/avmetadataobject/isfixedfocus.md)
- [cinematicVideoFocusMode](avfoundation/avmetadataobject/cinematicvideofocusmode.md)
- [groupID](avfoundation/avmetadataobject/groupid.md)
- [objectID](avfoundation/avmetadataobject/objectid.md)

## Relationships

### Inherits From

- [NSObject](objectivec/nsobject-swift.class.md)

### Inherited By

- [AVMetadataBodyObject](avfoundation/avmetadatabodyobject.md)
- [AVMetadataCatHeadObject](avfoundation/avmetadatacatheadobject.md)
- [AVMetadataDogHeadObject](avfoundation/avmetadatadogheadobject.md)
- [AVMetadataFaceObject](avfoundation/avmetadatafaceobject.md)
- [AVMetadataMachineReadableCodeObject](avfoundation/avmetadatamachinereadablecodeobject.md)
- [AVMetadataSalientObject](avfoundation/avmetadatasalientobject.md)

### Conforms To

- [CVarArg](swift/cvararg.md)
- [CustomDebugStringConvertible](swift/customdebugstringconvertible.md)
- [CustomStringConvertible](swift/customstringconvertible.md)
- [Equatable](swift/equatable.md)
- [Hashable](swift/hashable.md)
- [NSObjectProtocol](objectivec/nsobjectprotocol.md)

## See Also

### Metadata capture

- [AVCaptureMetadataInput](avfoundation/avcapturemetadatainput.md)
- [AVCaptureMetadataOutput](avfoundation/avcapturemetadataoutput.md)
- [Metadata types](avfoundation/metadata-types.md)