How to access original image files in a deployed build?

I have some jpg files that I need to extract meta data from and that information is no longer available once the jpg is converted into the texture2D format. Also I need to be able to do this at program startup and NOT as an offline preprocess.

I have tried:

1. Native .net loading with DirectoryInfo

2. WWW("file:/// .....")

3. Resources.Load

1 and 2 work fine in the editor but the files will not exist in a deployed build. 3 only returns the Texture2D. I'm assuming AssetBundles would have the same problem as 3.

What's the best way to do this?