8 Ways to Remove Metadata Before Sharing Files
Metadata as a concept has existed since the mid-20th century, but its importance has grown significantly in recent years. You may have heard about the risks of exposing your metadata online. Let’s take a look at how to remove metadata from your files.
What Is Metadata?
Metadata is data that contains information about another set of data, often much larger. Metadata rarely contains parts of the file itself. Usually, it provides brief technical and archival information about the file’s contents.
Every file you use contains metadata: from selfies you take to Word documents and mp4 videos. While you can manually add or edit metadata for most files, the majority of metadata is added automatically. Metadata is created through the combined work of your device and the application used to create the file.
Metadata isn’t just useless information. Your device, as well as websites or cloud services, use uploaded metadata to sort, filter, and better archive files. Metadata can reveal a lot about you and expose confidential information.
Removing metadata before sending or uploading files is fairly easy, but the process can be time-consuming. Fortunately, there are countless apps, websites, and software tools that let you do this with just one click.
Online Tools
Websites and online tools are a great option if you’re short on time. There’s nothing to download or install. You simply upload your file, click a button, and download it without metadata.
MetaClean
MetaClean is a free online tool from Adarsus, a Spanish IT and cybersecurity company. MetaClean can be used to view and remove all metadata from files in various formats. It works with images, videos, PDF and Docx files, mp3 tracks, and many others.
The maximum upload size is 5 MB per file.
PDFYeah
The 5 MB size limit can be inconvenient if you need to remove metadata from much larger files, which is common for many PDFs. No matter why you’re sending or receiving PDF files—whether for fun, study, or work—it’s best to remove any traces you’ve left in the file.
PDFYeah is a free all-in-one online solution for PDF files. It has a dedicated tool for removing PDF metadata. Unlike MetaClean, PDFYeah allows files up to 50 MB, making it possible to work with larger files without compromising your privacy.
MetaCleaner
MetaCleaner is a comprehensive and professional online tool for removing metadata. It supports over 40 different file formats directly on the website. MetaCleaner provides encrypted connections, guarantees privacy, and is GDPR compliant.
With a free account, you can clean up to 20 files per day. Unfortunately, the free plan limits file size to 5 MB. You can increase this limit by purchasing a paid account (starting at $5.95).
Desktop Applications
Online tools are great for quick fixes, but they’re inconvenient if you need to upload and download files repeatedly—especially if you regularly need to clean large files of metadata.
Metadata++
Metadata++ is software created by Logipole for editing and removing metadata from files. While Metadata++ isn’t open source, it’s classified as free software, giving users full access to all features at no cost.
Metadata++ can be used to edit and remove metadata and any personal information from images, audio files, video files, and text files in various formats. In addition to being easy to use on Windows, it allows you to batch edit large numbers of files without having to select them individually.
Metadata Touch
Metadata Touch is a professional tool that supports over 30 file formats, from Microsoft Office and OpenDocument files to various image, audio, and video formats, including scalable vectors and compressed audio files.
Metadata Touch is perfect for batch editing or removing metadata. You can customize different formats and metadata fields to suit your needs. Metadata Touch works only on Windows and supports systems as far back as Windows XP and 2003 Service Pack.
Remove Metadata Manually
If your needs don’t require special software for editing or removing metadata, you can edit the file yourself.
You don’t need to be tech-savvy to remove metadata from photos and protect your privacy online.
Mobile Apps
Online tools and software can be great options when using a desktop device. But what about uploading freshly taken selfies and photos? Do you have to wait until you can remove metadata on your desktop?
Fortunately, there are mobile apps for removing and editing metadata. You can install them directly on your smartphone or tablet.
Scrambled EXIF
Scrambled EXIF is an open-source Android app used to remove EXIF metadata from images. This small, minimalist app lets you remove metadata from multiple images at once.
You can also access the app’s settings and control the types of data and metadata the app can modify. For example, you can have the app automatically rename your images, since camera roll images often contain the date and time.
Download: Scrambled EXIF for Android (free)
EXIFTool
EXIFTool is another open-source Android app for removing metadata from various files. Compared to Scrambled EXIF, EXIFTool doesn’t allow batch removal of metadata. However, EXIFTool supports a wider range of file formats, from images, audio, and video files to text documents like PDF and Docx.
Instead of simply removing metadata, EXIFTool lets you edit it directly on your smartphone or tablet. While the process is manual, the result is more customizable. You’ll only send files you’ve approved to others or to the open internet.
Download: EXIFTool for Android (free)