A single metadata (""metadatum"") is represented by a triple: a symbol representing the type, a symbol representing the key, and either a string or a list that represent the value.

The symbol depends on the [[metadata key type|00001006030000]].
The value also depends somehow on the key type: a set of values is represented as a list, all other values are represented by a string, even if it is a number.

The following table maps key types to symbols and to the type of the value representation.
|=Key Type<|=Symbol<|=Value<
|[[Credential|00001006031000]]|''CREDENTIAL''|string
|[[EString|00001006031500]]|''EMPTY-STRING''|string
|[[Identifier|00001006032000]]|''ZID''|string
|[[IdentifierSet|00001006032500]]|''ZID-SET''|ListValue
|[[Number|00001006033000]]|''NUMBER''|string
|[[String|00001006033500]]|''STRING''|string
|[[TagSet|00001006034000]]|''TAG-SET''|ListValue
|[[Timestamp|00001006034500]]|''TIMESTAMP''|string
|[[URL|00001006035000]]|''URL''|string
|[[Word|00001006035500]]|''WORD''|string
|[[Zettelmarkup|00001006036500]]|''ZETTELMARKUP''|string
:::{="syntax"}
__ListValue__ **=** ''('' String,,1,, String,,2,, … String,,n,, '')''.
:::
Examples:
* The title of this zettel is represented as: ''(EMPTY-STRING title "Encoding of Sz Metadata")''
* The tags of this zettel are represented as: ''(TAG-SET tags ("#api" "#manual" "#reference" "#zettelstore"))''