If you search for how to remove metadata from a photo, two answers come up again and again: ExifTool, the command-line tool that photographers and forensic analysts have relied on for years, and browser tools like Remove AI Metadata. Both remove EXIF, GPS, XMP, IPTC, PNG text and C2PA Content Credentials. They are built for different people.
Disclosure: we make Remove AI Metadata. ExifTool is excellent, free software, and for some jobs it is the better choice. This guide says which ones. ExifTool facts were checked on exiftool.org on October 20, 2026.
The short answer
- Choose ExifTool if you are comfortable with a command line, process hundreds or thousands of files, work with RAW, video or PDF files, want to edit metadata rather than only remove it, or need to work fully offline. It is free with no limits.
- Choose Remove AI Metadata if you want nothing to install (for example on a phone or a locked work laptop), want to see what a file contains in plain language before you clean it, including who signed its Content Credentials and whether they validate, and want each clean file rescanned for you.
Side by side
| ExifTool | Remove AI Metadata | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Free, open-source command-line program and Perl library | Web page that inspects and cleans images in your browser |
| Install | Yes: Windows, macOS or Linux (graphical front ends exist) | No: any modern browser, including on phones |
| Formats | Almost every image, video and document format, including RAW, MP4 and PDF | JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC and other images the browser can open; no video, PDF or RAW |
| Batch | Whole folders, including subfolders | 1 image per run; up to 50 with a Credit Pack or Pro |
| Reads C2PA Content Credentials | Yes, as raw tags (JUMBF), including the signature data | Yes, with the Content Authenticity Initiative's library: signer, the app that made it, validation |
| Checks C2PA signatures | No | Yes, shows the validation state |
| Shows AI prompts in PNG files | Yes, as PNG text tags (for example Parameters) | Yes, flagged as AI generation parameters |
| Keeps the image data unchanged | Yes, it never re-encodes the image | Yes in Lossless strip (PNG and JPEG); Redraw, the default, writes a new image file |
| Edits metadata | Yes, any writable tag | No, it only removes |
| Checks the result | You run a read command again | Every clean file is rescanned automatically, with SHA-256 hashes before and after |
| Where files are processed | On your computer, fully offline | On your device; the page sends only the number of images to count credits, so it needs a connection |
| Price | Free | Inspecting is free; 2 cleaned images free without an account, then credits (from $4.99 for 50) |
How to remove metadata with ExifTool
Install ExifTool from exiftool.org, open a terminal in the folder with your image and run:
exiftool -all= photo.jpgThis deletes all metadata ExifTool can write and keeps your original as photo.jpg_original. A few things worth knowing from ExifTool's own documentation:
- C2PA lives in JUMBF boxes. ExifTool's docs say C2PA can be deleted by deleting the JUMBF group. To be sure it is gone, name it explicitly:
exiftool -all= -jumbf:all= photo.png. - Not everything is removed. In JPEG files ExifTool keeps the Adobe APP14 segment by default. In PNG files, its docs say only XMP, EXIF, ICC profile and native PNG text chunks are removed. The docs say plainly that deleting all metadata is not guaranteed to remove everything.
- Keep the colors right. Removing the ICC color profile can change how colors look. ExifTool's FAQ gives a command that removes everything but keeps the color profile.
- Whole folders:
exiftool -r -all= folder/processes a folder and its subfolders. Add-overwrite_originalonly if you already have backups, since it skips the_originalcopies. - Check the result by listing what is left:
exiftool -a -G1 -s photo.jpg.
How to do the same in Remove AI Metadata
- Open removeaimetadata.com and drop in your image. Nothing is uploaded.
- Read the scan: GPS location, camera data, XMP and IPTC fields, AI prompts and, for C2PA, who signed the record, which app created it and whether it validates. Inspecting is free and uses no credits.
- Pick Lossless (PNG and JPEG, image data unchanged) or Redraw (a new JPEG, PNG, WebP or AVIF file with no metadata at all), then clean.
- Check the result: the clean file is rescanned and shown with its SHA-256 hash before and after. Download it, or, with a Credit Pack or Pro, download several as a ZIP.
What ExifTool does better
- Scale and automation. Scripts, whole folders, thousands of files, no per-image cost.
- Formats. RAW, video, PDF and many more formats that a browser tool cannot open.
- Control. Remove exactly the tags you choose, copy tags between files, or edit them.
- Fully offline. Nothing about it needs a network connection.
What Remove AI Metadata does better
- No install and no command line. It works in a phone browser, which matters for iPhone HEIC photos you want to share right away.
- Content Credentials you can read. It shows the signer and whether the signature validates, not just raw boxes.
- A built-in second check. Every output is rescanned and hashed, so you see the result without running another command.
- A clean rewrite when you want one. Redraw writes a brand-new image file, which also drops chunks no tool recognizes.
- 14 languages, from Japanese to Hebrew.
What neither can do
Neither tool removes invisible watermarks such as Google SynthID, which are in the pixels (Gemini images and, since May 2026, ChatGPT images carry it), and neither removes visible watermarks. Neither can promise that Instagram or another platform won't add an AI label, because platforms can also read watermarks or rely on what you disclose. And neither changes what the law or a platform requires you to disclose about realistic AI content: see our responsible use page.
For a wider comparison that includes five other online tools, see Best AI Metadata Removers in 2026.
