What Content Credentials are, and what stripping the file changes

Three objects people mix up

The manifest in the file is what this tool can see and, in AI provenance mode, remove. On a JPEG it is typically an APP11 segment using JUMBF, sometimes with an XMP pointer. On a PNG it is a caBX chunk. On a WebP it is a C2PA-style RIFF chunk, again sometimes with XMP. The remove C2PA page is the tool owner for those bytes. To see whether this file has the manifest before you strip, use check for C2PA credentials. This page is the map of what they mean.

The cloud record is a copy a publisher uploaded somewhere else. Photoshop’s export dialog can attach credentials to the file, publish them, or do both. Stripping your JPEG does not log into that service. The Generative Fill case, including the cloud leftover, is Photoshop Generative Fill metadata.

The platform label is a decision an app makes after it receives media. LinkedIn’s CR icon, when the upload still has a manifest, is what LinkedIn Content Credentials are. Instagram’s feed chip is how to remove the “AI info” label from an Instagram post. A clean verify pass does not flip either switch. If the badge remains on a file whose After report has no C2PA chip, use why Instagram still shows AI info.

What the manifest usually claims

A manifest is signed by whoever issued it. Readers look at the signature, then at assertions: actions such as created or edited, whether generative AI was involved, and sometimes a list of ingredients. The assertion is the issuer’s statement. It is not a measurement this website performs, and it is not proof the pixels are unedited if the signature does not cover the edit you care about.

Who writes one varies. Photoshop and Firefly exports often do, when Content Credentials are included on export. OpenAI documents both a C2PA manifest and a SynthID watermark on supported ChatGPT, API, and Codex images — only the manifest is in scope here, and the walkthrough is ChatGPT image metadata. A Midjourney download often has no C2PA manifest at all; unsigned IPTC is a different report line, covered on Midjourney export metadata. Local Stable Diffusion PNGs usually carry prompt text, not a signed manifest: Stable Diffusion PNG metadata.

How to read it, then remove it from this file

Drop the JPEG, PNG, or WebP into the tool above and press Inspect only. You want the category list, not a verdict that the picture is or is not AI. The same check is written as a shorter procedure on how to check photo AI metadata. Generation tags across a file, not only the C2PA chip, are the AI metadata cleaner. How that page differs from AI Metadata Cleaner is the alternative page.

When a C2PA chip is present and you want it gone from the copy you will publish, set AI only (AI provenance) and press Clean this file. The After column parses the new bytes. Download only if that chip cleared. The name ends in -cleaned. Upload or deliver that download, not the file next to it.

AI provenance leaves ordinary camera EXIF, including GPS, on purpose. A delivery set that must also drop the map pin is photo metadata before client delivery, using privacy or strip-all. Pricing for a folder of files is the batch unlock. One file on this page stays free.

What a successful strip does not do

• It does not remove SynthID, TrustMark, or any other watermark that lives in the pixels.
• It does not delete a manifest that only exists in a cloud account.
• It does not edit a post, Story, or LinkedIn update that already ingested the old file.
• It does not open RAW, PSD, PDF, or video. Export a still image first (HEIC, AVIF, GIF, TIFF, and BMP work as is).

Questions

Are Content Credentials the same thing as C2PA?

Content Credentials is the name people see on a file or a CR pin. C2PA is the specification that defines the signed manifest. This cleaner removes that manifest from JPEG, PNG, and WebP when it is stored in the file.

If I strip Content Credentials, will Instagram or LinkedIn drop their label?

Only when the label was coming from the manifest in the file you actually upload. A clean After report does not force Instagram’s AI info badge or LinkedIn’s CR pin off a post that is already live, and it does not stop a platform from labeling with some other signal.

Does this remove a Content Credentials record stored in the cloud?

No. Adobe and other tools can publish a manifest to a cloud service as well as attach it to the file. This tool only rewrites the local image. The cloud record stays until that service deletes it.

Is a Content Credential a watermark?

No. It is signed metadata beside the pixels. SynthID and TrustMark are watermarks in the image. Stripping the manifest leaves those watermarks where they were.

Related guides

• Clean metadata from a ChatGPT image download
• Remove metadata from a Midjourney export
• Remove Stable Diffusion metadata from a PNG or export
• Open the Remove AI metadata tool on the homepage if you want the general cleaner.
• Short Instagram upload workflow if you only need the four-step version.