Private alternatives to Photo EXIF data, vetted against our public criteria.
MAT2 (Metadata Anonymisation Toolkit 2) removes embedded metadata from images, PDFs, audio files, office documents, and more. It runs as a CLI tool or as a file-manager extension for Nautilus and Dolphin on Linux.
ExifTool is a long-standing Perl library and command-line tool for reading, writing, and erasing metadata across an exceptionally wide range of file formats, including JPEG, RAW camera formats, PDF, video, audio, and Office documents.
Removes metadata for the most popular image and video formats. It also supports PDF files and comes with batch-processing to process multiple files at once. Drag and Drop…
Strips out metadata or remove location data only. Share without metadata just before sharing.
Every photo you take and most documents you create carry hidden metadata: GPS coordinates, device model, timestamps, and author names. These tools strip that information out before you share a file, so you are not leaking more than you mean to.
Good metadata tools handle a wide range of formats, remove rather than just hide the data, and let you check what was there first. Batch processing helps if you share lots of files, and a clean way to confirm the output is empty gives you confidence nothing slipped through.
A single photo can reveal where you live, what phone you use, and exactly when a picture was taken. Social platforms strip some of this, but not reliably and not everywhere, and documents are worse. Removing it yourself before sharing is the only way to be sure.
Run files through a metadata remover as the last step before posting or sending. For photos headed to people you do not fully trust, strip first. For documents, clear author and revision data, which can expose names and edits you forgot were there.