Metadata is structured information that describes, explains, locates, or otherwise makes it easier to retrieve, use or manage an information resource. The standard defines fifteen metadata elements for resource description in a cross-disciplinary information environment.

The Dublin Core metadata element set is a standard for cross-domain information resource description. Here an information resource is defined to be anything that has identity; this is the definition used in Internet RFC 2396, Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI):Generic Syntax, by Tim Berners--Lee et al. For Dublin Core applications a resource will typically be an electronic document.

This standard is for the element set only,which is generally used in the context of a specific project or application.Local or community based requirements and policies may impose additional restrictions, rules, and interpretations.It is not the purpose of this standard to define the detailed criteria by which the element set will be used with specific projects and applications.

This standard supersedes Internet RFC 2413, which was the first published version of the Dublin Core.