Local tool

Remove metadata from an image

Strip EXIF, GPS, XMP, IPTC and a Content Credentials container from an image, then download the cleaned file. JPEG, PNG and WebP are rewritten in your browser without re-encoding the pixels. The file is not uploaded.

17 October 2026 · Check AI Free

Two ways to strip metadata, and what each one keeps

The first method rewrites the container and leaves the compressed pixels alone. In a JPEG, EXIF and XMP live in APP1, IPTC and Photoshop data live in APP13, a C2PA manifest lives in APP11, and a comment lives in a COM segment. Those segments are dropped. The entropy-coded scan is copied byte for byte, including the stuffed bytes a JPEG uses so a marker is not invented in the middle of the image. JFIF and an ICC profile stay, so color stays closer to the original than a blind re-encode. Bytes after the end-of-image marker are dropped. In a PNG, text chunks, eXIf, tIME and a caBX manifest are removed. Image data, the palette, transparency and the color chunks stay. Unknown ancillary chunks are removed. An unknown critical chunk is kept so the file still decodes. WebP drops the EXIF and XMP chunks and clears those feature flags. An ICCP chunk stays.

The second method is the fallback, and it is a real tradeoff. If the file is not a JPEG, PNG or WebP this rewriter understands, or the container fails its structural check, the browser decodes the image onto a canvas and encodes a new file. JPEG output uses quality 0.92, so it is a new compression, not the original scan. PNG and WebP inputs are encoded as PNG. Animation is not preserved. A color profile is not preserved, because the canvas has already turned the pixels into the browser’s bitmap. Alpha can change at the edges. This path still does not upload the file. It is the right path for a file the segment rewriter refuses, and it is the wrong path when you wanted a byte-preserving JPEG. The result card says which method ran.

When to strip, and when to keep the original

1. Step 1

   Keep an untouched original

   Stripping is for the copy you are about to send. The camera original, the generator’s download, or the file a client delivered is evidence of what that file contained. Download the cleaned copy under a new name. The tool suffixes the name with no-metadata and does not overwrite a file on disk by itself.

2. Step 2

   Read the fields you are about to drop

   GPS, a creator name, a prompt and a Content Credentials manifest are easy to delete and hard to remember. If the question is “what did this file claim?”, read it with the viewers on this site before you strip it. A later argument about a missing EXIF block is much weaker if you never recorded that the block was there.

3. Step 3

   Prefer the segment copy for photos

   A JPEG from a phone should normally take the segment path. You get the same scan, without the APP1 block that held the location. If the card says the browser re-encoded the file, the container was not a clean JPEG, PNG or WebP. Decide whether that lossy copy is acceptable before you post it.

4. Step 4

   Do not confuse stripping with anonymity

   A face, a house number, a school shirt or a screenshot of an account is still in the pixels. Metadata removal does not blur those. It also does not pull the picture back from a platform that already stored a copy. The metadata guide explains why a platform’s own recompress is a different event from this download.

There is a second, quieter reason people strip a file: they hope a detector will stop naming a generator. That is a reason to understand the limit, not a reason to expect a different pixel. A Stable Diffusion parameters block and a ComfyUI workflow are PNG text. Removing them removes the claim. It does not change the image data. The image checker can still look at a smaller copy of the pixels, and it will say when it is doing that. This remover never sends the file. If you wanted the workflow saved somewhere, copy it first with the ComfyUI reader.

Files over 20 MB are refused before the browser holds several copies. A smaller file can still fail when a segment length points past the end of the buffer. That failure is reported, and the canvas fallback then gets a chance. Neither path is a forensic wipe. The status line says the work happened in the browser and the file was not uploaded.