CIP-0025: Why is the image tag marked as required?

[Jack-0]

CIP 25's title is NFT Metadata Standard which implies it's the standard for Non Fungible Tokens on Cardano.

However the image property tag is required in the current specification. Implying all 721 based NFTs require an image.
Is 721 metadatum metadata for all assets or only image focused assets? If so should the title be NFT Image Metadata standard for consistency and to avoid confusion.

This might seem pedantic but it matters when parsing 721 metadata to ensure it applies to the standards proposed in CIP25. The proposal currently implies without an image tag the NFT metadata is invalid.

[rphair]

The reason I remember was that image thumbnails both:

1. can be made from data types that are not images
2. are needed according to the semantic of NFT wallets so they have something to show for any NFT.

The dialogue establishing this on the Cardano Forum begins, as far as I can tell, with this post: https://forum.cardano.org/t/cip-nft-metadata-standard/45687/125

... and is the subject of the first review of the originally posted CIP here: #85

If you need more detail you can look in the BiweeklyMeetings section of the repo around the dates the comments above were posted, since I remember there was vigorous discussion in the CIP editors' meeting about it. Though @KtorZ @SebastienGllmt @crptmppt may remember otherwise, I think it was the best way to handle representation in the wallets to the owner without a lot of subjectivity about what the wallets should do or how dynamically generated thumbnails would look.

[Jack-0]

Thank for the link to the discussion. It looks to be required to ensure there is something included to represent the NFT. Though marking it as required seems to me as incorrect behavior. At worse if an NFT has no image then a wallet / 'user' could fall back on the asset name (centered in a div or something), this seems to be the default behavior with most 'wallets'. I would suggest altering CIP 25 to change image from required to suggested.

I've replied to that discussion. I'll update or close this issue depending on the outcome generated.

[SmaugPool]

CIP 25 is for NFTs with media files. You can make an NFT without CIP 25, and without any metadata actually. There are a lot of such NFTs used by DEXes for example.

If you don't need media associated with the NFT, maybe you simply don't need CIP 25.

This is why at some point it was proposed to rename CIP 25 "Media NFT standard" or something close. Not sure of the status of this discussion.

[Jack-0]

@SmaugPool this is the point I am raising. It's confusing to any new developers as CIP 25 implies it's the metadata standard. Instead like you say, it's the "Media NFT standard".

Is 721 metadatum metadata for all assets or only image focused assets? If so should the title be NFT Image Metadata standard for consistency and to avoid confusion.

[Jack-0]

Noticed the merge, I would still petition for NFT standard to become Media NFT standard to avoid confusion.
See this very simple PR -> #353

[rphair]

CIP-0025 has been retitled as suggested: effective with merging #353.