Strip metadata before you share the file

Strip metadata means take the side records off a file and leave the picture. The card above is that metadata remover: drop a still, leave All metadata selected, press Clean one file free, and read the After list before you download. The work happens in the browser. One image is free. A folder uses the existing Pro ZIP. Nothing on this page changes the price or the free clean.

What it means to strip metadata

A still image carries two kinds of content. The pixels are the picture people see. The metadata is everything else the format allows: camera EXIF, GPS, XMP, IPTC, a C2PA manifest, a JPEG comment, a PNG timestamp, a prompt stored as text. To strip metadata is to delete those records from a copy you can download. It is not a crop, a blur, or a repaint. It is not a promise that a website will forget the file, and it is not a way to erase a watermark that was written into the pixels.

People use the words “remove”, “clean”, “scrub”, and “strip” for the same button. This page uses strip because that is the search, and because the button’s own modes are named that way in the tool: strip all detected metadata, or a narrower pass. The hub that lists every format and device guide is remove image metadata. Open that index when you already know the container and want the page that measured it. Stay here when you want the meaning, the privacy model, and the check that the download is actually clear.

There are three modes, and they are not synonyms. All metadata clears the categories the report lists, including GPS. AI only, on JPEG, PNG, and WebP, clears C2PA and known AI records and can leave the camera block and the location in place. EXIF / GPS clears camera fields, location, IPTC, and XMP, and also drops C2PA. On HEIC, AVIF, GIF, TIFF, and BMP, every metadata field this cleaner lists is removed in any mode. If you needed the camera block to survive, do not run those formats through a clean and expect EXIF to remain.

A metadata remover that stays in the browser

This metadata remover does not upload the picture to rewrite it. You drop the file. The page reads it locally, builds the cleaned bytes locally, and scans those bytes again for the After list. A heavy decoder for HEIC or TIFF loads only after you pick a file that needs it. The file name and the pixels are not handed to analytics.

That is the privacy reason to prefer the browser over a site that asks you to upload the original, especially when the record you want gone is GPS. Sending the photo to a server so the server can delete the location publishes the location first. A local clean does not. The same limit cuts the other way: we cannot see a file you did not drop, and we cannot clean a picture that already lives only on a platform.

One image per browser is free, with no account. The next image, and any multi-file run, uses Pro. Pro is the existing one-time unlock for unlimited images and a batch ZIP. Restore on another browser uses the checkout email at the restore page. Inspect only, if you press it before Clean, does not spend the free clean. A file this reader rejects shows an error that ends with “Nothing was changed.” It is not offered as a cleaned download.

Select several images when you want the folder path. On the free plan the existing batch offer opens, because a ZIP of many files is Pro. With Pro, Clean returns one ZIP named removeaimeta-batch-cleaned.zip. A file that cannot be decoded is skipped and named, and the rest of the ZIP still builds. The measured folder write-up is the bulk EXIF remover. A batch that should keep camera EXIF and drop only AI records is bulk remove AI metadata. Use AI only for that job. All metadata will take the camera block too.

Formats this metadata remover handles

The card accepts the still images the site already supports. PDF and Word are real tools on this site, and they are not this card. Video is not supported at all. The table is the contract. If a cell says “separate page”, dropping that file here will not strip it.

PNG text chunks are part of the strip. A Stable Diffusion parameters block, a prompt, and a ComfyUI workflow are metadata, and All metadata removes the keys this cleaner lists. Details sit on PNG, Stable Diffusion, and ComfyUI. WebP, including the chunk layout, is remove metadata from WebP. XMP and IPTC as a pair are remove XMP and IPTC.

The same job with ExifTool -all=

ExifTool is the command-line metadata remover many people already trust. The short form you will see in search results is exiftool -all=. On a JPEG, a bare -all= can also drop the Orientation tag and the colour profile. The variant this site’s ExifTool page tested keeps both, and it avoids leaving a backup file that still contains the GPS:

exiftool -all= -tagsfromfile @ -Orientation -ICC_Profile -overwrite_original photo.jpg

Check the result with exiftool -a -G1 -s photo.jpg. Without -overwrite_original, ExifTool writes photo.jpg_original beside the result. That backup still has the records. People upload it by mistake. The page that ran signed JPEG, PNG, and WebP through these commands is ExifTool remove all metadata. We did not re-time that run here.

Use ExifTool when you already live in a terminal, you need a script, or the format is one this browser card does not open. A HEIC stays a HEIC. Use the browser when you want no install, a Before list and an After list in the same card, and Orientation handled without remembering the tags-from-file flags. One is not a moral upgrade over the other. They strip metadata by deleting records, and neither one removes SynthID.

Strip metadata before you upload

Do the clean on the file you will upload, not on a different export you hope is “the same picture”. Cloud originals, a second save from an editor, and an uncleaned duplicate in the same folder are the usual way a label survives. Download the -cleaned file and upload that one.

1. Inspect first if you are not sure which mode you need. GPS means All metadata or EXIF / GPS. A manifest you want gone, with the camera block kept on a JPEG, means AI only.
2. Clean, read the After list, and download.
3. Upload the download. Do not upload the ExifTool _original backup if you also used the command line.
4. If a post is already live, this tool cannot edit it. Delete the post if the platform allows, and upload the cleaned file as a new one. That still does not force the label to stay off.

Platform pages on this site describe labels. They do not extend what the cleaner deletes. Instagram is remove AI info. A Story or a Reel cover is a different URL. Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and X each have their own note. A screenshot is a weak substitute for a strip: it often drops C2PA and it does not drop SynthID. See does a screenshot remove AI metadata.

Photographers handing a set to a client usually care about GPS and about keeping a caption. Read the rows before All metadata. The delivery write-up is clean photo metadata before delivery. Product shots have the same GPS problem and are covered on product images.

How to check that the file is actually clean

A download with a new name is not proof. The proof this tool can offer is a second parse of the bytes it just wrote. The After column is that parse. If a row you meant to remove is still listed, do not upload the file. Switch mode or use All metadata and clean again. The free clean is spent on a successful clean, so read the mode before you press the button.

After you download, you can drop the new file and press Inspect only. That pass does not spend another clean. You can also run exiftool -a -G1 -s locally. ExifTool may print Orientation on a JPEG we kept on purpose, and it may print tags this reader never claimed to show. “This reader found nothing” and “ExifTool printed nothing” are different sentences. The field report says it is not an -a dump.

A clean report does not mean the pixels are free of SynthID or TrustMark. It does not mean a cloud copy of a Content Credentials manifest was deleted. It does not mean the next website will skip its own label. If the goal was a watermark, stop. SynthID is not removed here.

What a strip does not do

• It does not edit one EXIF field and leave the rest of that block as you typed it. There is no field writer.
• It does not remove a visible mark, a burned-in caption, or an invisible pixel watermark.
• It does not open video or RAW. A cover image you already exported as a still can go through this card. The video file cannot. See video covers.
• It does not change a live post, a live Story, or a listing that already went up.
• It does not add a free quota. One image, then Pro, same as the homepage.

The index of those limits, by file type and device, stays remove image metadata. The command-line table stays on the ExifTool page. The folder measurement stays on the bulk page. This URL is the plain-language metadata remover: what strip means, where the bytes go, which formats are honest, and how to verify the download you are about to publish.

Questions

Does this upload the file to strip it?

No. Inspect, clean, and the After scan run in your browser. The picture is not sent to a server to be rewritten.

What does All metadata remove?

C2PA Content Credentials, EXIF including GPS, XMP, IPTC, AI generation parameters such as PNG keys parameters, prompt, and sd-metadata, known AI XMP such as DigitalSourceType, JPEG comments, and PNG tIME. A JPEG keeps Orientation so a portrait stays upright. SynthID and TrustMark stay in the pixels.

Can I strip a whole folder?

Yes, with Pro. Select the files together. The result is one ZIP. A file that cannot be read is skipped and named. On the free plan, one image can be cleaned. Dropping several files opens the existing batch unlock. This page does not add a second quota.

Does the picture change?

On JPEG, PNG, and WebP the metadata segments are removed and the image data is not recompressed. Dimensions stay the same. AVIF comes back as a JPEG or a PNG, which is a new encode. GIF and BMP stay GIF and BMP. TIFF comes back as a PNG, or stays a TIFF when a PNG would drop pages, colour, or layout.

Will a platform stop labelling the upload?

No. A clean After report means the metadata this tool can see is gone. Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and X can still label the file from a pixel watermark or from their own systems.

What about PDF, Word, and video?

PDF uses the PDF page. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint use the Word page. Video is not supported. RAW is not opened on this card. The hub lists each format.

How do I know the strip worked?

Read the After list before you download. Then drop that file and press Inspect only, or run exiftool -a -G1 -s on it. An empty Before list on the second pass means this reader found nothing left in the categories it checks. It is not an ExifTool -a dump.