Popular P2P file-sharing tools tend to focus solely on search and retrieval capabilities. LionShare aims to be a more generalized tool proficient at search and retrieval but also useful for organizing resources downloaded or imported from local storage.

Metadata is the descriptive information for a digital resource.  Within LionShare, metadata plays a vital role, not only in search and retrieval, but also for media organization. Metadata should not be viewed only for sharing a resource with the outside world; it also can serve as a mechanism for individuals organizing their own personal media collections, regardless if they intend to share them with others. 

A major emphasis of the LionShare strategy centers on providing tools for users to automate the metadata entry creation process.  All files located on a computer's file system have some basic descriptors, such as file name, size, and type. The LionShare metadata entry process will automatically populate this information to the correct metadata fields. 

Many different file formats have their own internal metadata located in the headers of each file. For example, the header metadata is stored with each picture taken by a digital camera. Each JPG file in a digital camera contains information about that file, including time and date taken, camera settings, and image information. LionShare harvests worthwhile information from these files and automatically populates this information into the appropriate metadata fields.