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How to clear metadata from photos

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What metadata do the images include?
Clear photo metadata in Windows
Delete metadata on Mac
ExifTool: the all-rounder app to remove metadata from photos
Installation on Windows
Installation on macOS

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How to clear metadata from photos

Whether taken with a smartphone or digital camera, photos uploaded to the Internet often reveal more information than we would like. Any user with a minimum of knowledge can easily find out the date and time the snapshot was taken or discover the location by consulting the GPS coordinates. For this reason, it is very important to know how to remove this metadata..

Index
  1. What metadata do the images include?
  2. Clear photo metadata in Windows
  3. Delete metadata on Mac
  4. ExifTool: the all-rounder app to remove metadata from photos
    1. Installation on Windows
    2. Installation on macOS

What metadata do the images include?

Before explaining how to remove metadata from photos, let's look at the most common types of data that can be stored in an image:

  • The  EXIF data  provides information on the date, time and location of the snapshot on the one hand and on the camera and its settings on the other. The camera automatically stores metadata such as shutter speed, exposure time, focal length, and ISO value.
  • The  IPTC data  typically entered manually. For example, photographers write down their contact details, copyright, or title and description of images.
  • Adobe introduced XMP metadata , which stores different metadata such as EXIF ​​or IPTC in a container and thus facilitates the exchange of metadata between different applications.

Clear photo metadata in Windows

In Windows, the metadata can be removed very easily. In Windows Explorer, navigate to the photos folder and select the photos for which you want to remove the metadata. Right click to open the context menu and click on? Properties ?:

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Open the "Properties" option at the bottom of the context menu, to delete the metadata of the photos.

In the "Properties" window, open the "Details" tab. and click on? Remove properties and personal information ?:

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Open the menu? Remove properties? to remove the metadata from the photo.

You have two options to remove the IPTC and EXIF ​​data:

  1. Make a copy of the image with all metadata removed
  2. Remove some or all metadata directly in the original file

Windows Explorer is a good option to remove metadata from some images occasionally. However, since the settings cannot be saved as a template, this procedure is a bit cumbersome for regular use.

Note

In Windows 7 and 8, GPS data cannot be deleted with the above method due to a technical system failure. If you try, you will get an error message..

Delete metadata on Mac

On macOS, the free ImageOptim app is the easiest way to remove all metadata from photos. You just have to drag and drop the images in the application or press the icon with the plus sign, in the lower left:

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To clear the metadata of your photos in ImageOptim, drag and drop the images or press the plus sign icon.

The application starts the process automatically and finishes it in a few seconds , overwriting the original files with the files without metadata. The functions of this application are very easy to use . For example, you can specify whether to remove PNG and / or JPEG metadata and compress images.

advice

If you want to delete only some EXIF ​​data , the? Preview? Mac is a good alternative. With it you can quickly delete GPS data, for example. You just have to open the image and show the information by pressing Apple + i. If the "GPS" tab is displayed, it means that the image contains location metadata, which you can delete with a single click..

ExifTool: the all-rounder app to remove metadata from photos

Phil Harvey has created a flexible solution to clear metadata regularly easily and quickly with ExifTool, an application available for both Windows and macOS and Linux, and compatible with all imaginable graphic formats. For inexperienced users, this program can be difficult to use, because it only runs from the command line. However, it is appreciated by photography professionals because of its great analytical power: no other program displays so much metadata .

advice

ExifTool GUI is an extension to ExifTool that incorporates a graphical user interface and allows you to easily remove metadata with the mouse instead of using the command line. However, ExifTool GUI is currently only compatible with versions up to Windows 8.

Installation on Windows

  1. Download the Windows executable file (ZIP file) from the ExifTool website.
  2. Extract the ZIP file and rename the exiftool (-k) .exe file to exiftool.exe .
  3. Move the exiftool.exe file to C: \ WINDOWS or another folder of your choice.
  4. Type exiftool on the command line to start the program.

Installation on macOS

  1. Download the macOS package (DMG file) from the ExifTool website.
  2. Double click on the disk image to begin the installation and follow the instructions.
  3. Type exiftool in the terminal to start the program.

With ExifTool you can create scripts that remove metadata from selected photos quickly and automatically or add certain data to images with the convenient batch mode. If you usually work with digital images, this tool will make your work much easier .

advice

Use the IONOS HiDrive cloud storage service to save your images, free up space on your computer and flexibly access your files from anywhere.


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