What is the metadata for backups?

Question

When I run backups, I see cPanel creates metadata for backups. What is this for?

Answer

Every time that cPanel & WHM creates a backup, it creates metadata for that backup. The system stores that metadata as entries in a username.db database (where username represents the cPanel account’s username). Then, the system saves the database to the .meta directory under your configured backup directory. The metadata databases store the indexed information of their related backups. These smaller database entries provide a faster information-retrieval method than their source backup.

You can read more on this through our documentation page How to manage metadata.