Skip to main content

Assets & DAM

Almost every page references images, videos, PDFs, or other binaries. In AEM those binaries live in the Digital Asset Management (DAM) repository under /content/dam, managed through the Assets console. This chapter covers how assets are stored, processed, tagged, and delivered.

What is the DAM?​

The DAM is a structured store of dam:Asset nodes. Each asset bundles the original binary, a set of generated renditions (resized/reformatted copies), and metadata (title, description, copyright, dimensions, tags).

Asset node structure​

/content/dam/mysite/hero.jpg
├── jcr:content
│   ├── jcr:primaryType = "dam:AssetContent"
│   ├── metadata
│   │   ├── dc:title = "Hero banner"
│   │   ├── dc:description = "People collaborating in an office"
│   │   ├── tiff:ImageWidth = 1920
│   │   └── cq:tags = ["mysite:topics/marketing"]
│   └── renditions
│       ├── original          # the uploaded file
│       ├── cq5dam.thumbnail.140.100.png
│       └── cq5dam.web.1280.1280.jpeg

Uploading and organizing assets​

  1. Open Assets > Files (http://localhost:4502/assets.html/content/dam).
  2. Create a folder hierarchy that mirrors your sites or brands, e.g. /content/dam/mysite/heroes, /content/dam/mysite/logos.
  3. Create > Files (or drag-and-drop) to upload. Bulk uploads and folder uploads are supported.

A clean folder structure matters: it is the unit for permissions, metadata profiles, and processing profiles, and it keeps search and reuse manageable.

:::tip Folder metadata and policies Select a folder and open Properties to apply a metadata schema, a processing profile, and (on AEMaaCS) allowed Content Fragment Models. Settings applied at the folder level cascade to assets inside it. :::

Metadata and metadata schemas​

Metadata powers search, governance, accessibility, and dynamic content. Standard fields use the Dublin Core (dc:*) and XMP namespaces; you can add custom fields with a Metadata Schema:

  1. Go to Tools > Assets > Metadata Schemas.
  2. Edit the default schema or create one, then drag in fields (text, dropdown, date, tags).
  3. Apply the schema to a DAM folder via the folder's Properties.

Good metadata habits:

  • Fill in title and description on upload - the Image Core Component can use the description as alt text, which is essential for accessibility.
  • Capture copyright/usage rights (dc:rights) so authors know what they may publish.
  • Use tags (see below) rather than free-text for anything you want to filter or query on.

Tagging​

Tags are a controlled vocabulary stored under /content/cq:tags. Apply them to assets to enable faceted search and dynamic lists. Manage taxonomies in Tools > General > Tagging. For the full model, see the Tags & Taxonomies reference.

Renditions and processing profiles​

On upload, AEM runs asset processing:

  • AEM as a Cloud Service uses Asset Compute microservices (cloud-native, fast, supports modern formats like WebP and AVIF).
  • AEM 6.5 uses the DAM Update Asset workflow with ImageMagick/Sling.
Rendition patternPurpose
originalThe untouched uploaded file
cq5dam.thumbnail.*Console thumbnails
cq5dam.web.*Web-optimized delivery rendition
Custom (processing profile)Project sizes/formats, e.g. a 2048px WebP hero

Configure custom renditions in Tools > Assets > Processing Profiles (AEMaaCS) and apply the profile to a folder. The Image Core Component requests the appropriate rendition (or an on-the-fly resize via the adaptive image servlet) automatically.

Smart Tags and AI​

AEM can auto-tag images using Adobe Sensei Smart Tags - it predicts relevant tags from image content, which speeds up tagging large libraries. Smart Tags require the appropriate Assets capability to be enabled. Treat them as suggestions an author reviews, not ground truth.

Dynamic Media​

For sites with heavy image/video needs, Dynamic Media delivers responsive, on-the-fly transformed media (smart crops, zoom/pan, interactive video) from Adobe's CDN. It is an opt-in capability; for most projects the Core Components + adaptive image servlet are sufficient. See Adobe's Assets documentation (Dynamic Media section) when you need it.

Using assets on pages​

Authors reference assets by path from component dialogs (a pathfield or fileReference), or by dragging an asset from the asset finder onto a drop target (see Component Dialogs -- drop targets). The stored value is the asset path (e.g. /content/dam/mysite/hero.jpg), which the component resolves at render time.

Programmatic access​

The com.day.cq.dam.api package exposes Asset and Rendition. Adapt a resource to Asset:

import com.day.cq.dam.api.Asset;
import com.day.cq.dam.api.Rendition;

Resource assetResource = resolver.getResource("/content/dam/mysite/hero.jpg");
Asset asset = assetResource.adaptTo(Asset.class);

if (asset != null) {
    String mimeType = asset.getMimeType();
    Rendition web = asset.getRendition("cq5dam.web.1280.1280.jpeg");
    String title = asset.getMetadataValue("dc:title");
}

To create or modify assets, use the AssetManager service (see Adobe's Assets API). For one-off bulk changes, the Groovy Console is often the fastest route.

Best practices​

  • Organize by site/brand, then by purpose (heroes, logos, documents). Folders are your permission and policy boundary.
  • Require metadata (title, description, rights) via a metadata schema so assets are accessible and governable by default.
  • Let processing profiles produce delivery renditions - never upload pre-resized "web copies" manually; you lose the original and the renditions drift.
  • Publish assets with their pages. A page that references an unpublished asset renders a broken image on the publish tier (see Publishing & Replication).
  • Tag instead of naming conventions for anything you need to search or list dynamically.

Summary​

You learned:

  • The DAM stores assets as dam:Asset nodes with an original, renditions, and metadata
  • Uploading and organizing assets, and why folder structure drives permissions and policies
  • Metadata schemas and tagging for governance, search, and accessibility
  • Renditions and processing profiles (Asset Compute on AEMaaCS, DAM Update Asset on 6.5)
  • Smart Tags and Dynamic Media as opt-in capabilities
  • Referencing assets from components and accessing them with the Asset API

Official Documentation​

Next up: Content Fragments & GraphQL - channel-neutral structured content, Content Fragment Models, the AEM GraphQL API, and headless delivery.