1. A method comprising: determining, by a first network device configured to export application metadata via an Internet Protocol Flow Information eXport (IPFIX) protocol, types of the application metadata that the first network device has a capability to detect through analysis of network packets, the application metadata comprising data representative of network protocols used by networking processes that exchange packets; and executing, by the first network device, the IPFIX protocol to advertise the types of application metadata to a second network device configured to collect a subset of the application metadata.