About Erasemetadata

What this site is

Erasemetadata is a small, free tool that reads the metadata hidden inside a file — EXIF, GPS, XMP, IPTC, C2PA and the text chunks that image generators write — shows you every field it finds, and then removes them.

Everything happens inside your browser tab. There is no upload endpoint, no file storage and no account. The page keeps working with your network connection switched off, and you can confirm that in your browser's Network panel: no request ever carries the file.

Why metadata matters

A photo taken on a phone usually carries the coordinates where it was taken, the device model, and a serial number that ties every other photo from that device back to it. A video carries the same location data plus the app that saved it. A file exported from an image generator can carry the prompt, the model name and a signed provenance record.

Most social platforms strip this data when you upload. Direct transfers do not: the file you send over email, chat, a marketplace listing or a job application usually arrives exactly as it left the camera or the editor.

How it works

• The file is read locally with the browser's File API and processed in a Web Worker.
• The format is detected from the file's magic bytes, not its extension.
• Metadata is removed at the container level: JPEG segments, PNG chunks, WebP RIFF chunks, MP4 boxes. Image and video data are copied byte for byte, so nothing is re-encoded and quality does not change.
• Photos keep their colour profile and orientation tag on purpose — removing those would change how the image looks, not just what it reveals.

What it deliberately does not do

• It does not remove invisible watermarks. A mark such as SynthID is encoded in the pixels, not stored beside them. No metadata tool can remove it, and any tool claiming otherwise is guessing.
• It does not detect AI-generated images. It reads metadata. An absent signature means "no signature was found", never "this image is real".
• It does not judge whether a C2PA claim is true. A manifest is a claim made by whoever signed it. Where the tool shows a signer, it says so as a claim, not as a verification.
• It does not modify signed PDFs blindly. Signed documents will warn before anything is changed.
• It does not touch the original file. You download a cleaned copy; the original stays as it was.

What it is not

This is not an anonymity service. Removing metadata removes one layer of information from one copy of one file. The pixels, the watermark, the platform logs and the original upload are all still there.

Use it on files you own or have permission to modify.

Who runs it

An independent project, built and maintained in the open web, funded by nothing but time. There is no company behind the drop zone, no account system, and no plan to put a paywall between you and a file you already own.

Questions, format requests and corrections are welcome — see the contact page.