Provenance

Every WAV Result.save() writes carries a loudkit provenance manifest, by default. If you copied the three-line example from the README, your file has one. This page says what is in it, how it is verified, and how to switch it off.

It is not C2PA. A C2PA manifest is a signed manifest store, and this is one JSON assertion in boxes that borrow JUMBF’s shape and nothing else. C2PA tools do not read it, and it does not sit in the C2PA chunk they look in, so they pass over the file rather than reporting a broken manifest. loudkit verify is what reads it.

What it is

A JSON document in JUMBF-shaped boxes, carried in a RIFF chunk named LKPV after the audio. A player walks the chunks it knows and ignores the one it does not, so the audio plays unchanged, and the data chunk is byte-identical to the same synthesis saved without a manifest: adding provenance appends a chunk and grows the size the RIFF header declares, and touches nothing else.

r = engine.synthesize("Hello from loudkit.", narrator, seed=7)
r.save("hello.wav")  # manifest included
r.save("bare.wav", include_provenance=False)  # audio only

What it says

Two assertions. The first follows the shape C2PA uses for c2pa.actions, and carries IPTC’s digitalSourceType term for media a model made: this audio was created by software, naming loudkit and its version, with a timestamp. The shape is borrowed so that a future move to real Content Credentials is mechanical; it is not a claim that this file is one. The second is loudkit’s own:

field	what it pins
algorithm_fingerprint	which algorithm produced it: the same 16 hex digits the engine reports and the five implementations agree on
recipe_version	the checkpoint’s recipe
seed	the seed, so the render is repeatable
sample_rate, speed	how it was rendered
voice, language	labels, when the caller passed them
checkpoint_sha256	which weights spoke: the digest a release’s SHA256SUMS lists. The fingerprint pins the algorithm; two checkpoints can share one, so the manifest names the file
voice_profile_sha256	which profile bytes voiced it. A voice name is a label anyone can reuse; the digest is not. Empty when the profile never touched disk
backend, execution	the datapath: torch/onnx/coreml, device placement and per-module precision. Execution never changes what is computed, but reduced precision perturbs it within measured bands
audio_sha256	the audio the manifest is bound to
text_sha256	a hash of the text, never the text itself

Together with the identity contract, that makes a saved file self-describing. Given the same checkpoint, profile, fingerprint, seed and backend you can reproduce the audio and check audio_sha256 yourself. No hosted service can offer that property.

On text_sha256. The text is hashed, not stored, so sharing a file does not disclose what you typed. A hash still confirms a guess. For a short or predictable utterance, someone with a candidate list can test it. If that matters for your use, pass include_provenance=False.

Reading it back

from loudkit.provenance import read_provenance, verify_provenance

info = read_provenance("hello.wav")  # the manifest, or None
manifest, ok = verify_provenance("hello.wav")  # does audio_sha256 still match?

verify_provenance re-hashes the audio and compares. It catches a manifest transplanted onto different audio. Re-encoding changes the samples, so it fails verification too.

Trust model

It is unsigned. C2PA signs a manifest with a certificate, so a verifier can tell who made the claim and that nobody edited it. This one carries no signature, which is most of why it is not C2PA: anyone can write, alter, or strip it. Treat it as disclosure, not proof. It tells an honest downstream tool where a file came from, and it stops nobody who does not want to be told on.

It is also fragile in the ordinary sense: converting to MP3, editing in an audio tool, or re-uploading through a service that rewrites containers will usually drop the box. Metadata travels with a file, not with the sound.

The server attaches the same manifest to its replies (X-Loudkit-Provenance, and the box itself on the audio body). See the server guide.