Every photo has two stories.
The first is the one you can see: a trip, a new product, a family moment, a screenshot, or something you created. The second is hidden inside the file. It may include the exact location where the photo was taken, the device and lens used, the date and time, camera settings, editing history, copyright fields, and even information added by generative AI tools.
Most of the time, we share the first story without realizing that the second one may travel with it.
That is why I built MetaCleanse: a free web tool that removes hidden metadata from JPG, PNG, and WebP images directly in your browser. There are no uploads, no account, and no ads. Your photos stay on your device from beginning to end.
The idea is simple:
Share the image, not its hidden biography.
A privacy problem hidden in plain sight
Image metadata is useful. Cameras use it to record technical settings. Photo applications rely on it to organize collections. Creators can add copyright and authorship information. Editing software may save details about how an image was produced.
The problem begins when that information leaves its original context.
Imagine taking a photo at home and publishing it in a public community. The visible image may reveal nothing unusual, but its metadata could contain GPS coordinates. A marketplace listing could disclose the phone model used to take the pictures. A file sent to a client might include an editing history or creator field that you did not intend to share.
None of this means that every photo is dangerous. It means that a file can contain more information than its owner expects—and the owner should have an easy way to remove it.
MetaCleanse turns that decision into a short, understandable process instead of asking people to install specialist software or learn how metadata standards work.
What is actually hidden inside an image?
“Metadata” is a broad term for information stored alongside the visible pixels. Depending on the format, device, application, and workflow, one image can contain several kinds of it.
| Category | Examples of hidden information |
|---|---|
| Location | GPS latitude and longitude, altitude, direction |
| Device | Phone or camera model, lens, manufacturer, serial number |
| Capture details | Date and time, ISO, aperture, exposure, shutter speed |
| Creator information | Author, copyright, contact fields, descriptions |
| Editing history | Software used, XMP records, document and modification data |
| AI and provenance | Generator-specific tags, workflow information, C2PA credentials |
Some of these fields are harmless or even valuable. A photographer may want to preserve camera settings in an archive, for example. But a copy prepared for social media, a forum, a marketplace, or a public website has a different purpose. In those situations, keeping every hidden field is often unnecessary.
MetaCleanse removes more than 100 types of metadata so that you can create a clean copy for sharing while keeping your original file untouched.
EXIF, XMP, and C2PA without the alphabet soup
You do not need to understand metadata standards to use MetaCleanse, but knowing the basics makes the privacy problem easier to see.
EXIF: where cameras record the shot
EXIF metadata commonly stores information created at capture time. It can include the camera or phone model, lens, orientation, timestamp, aperture, ISO, shutter speed, and GPS position.
For photographers, those details can be genuinely useful. For someone publishing a casual photo online, the exact coordinates of where it was taken may be information they would rather keep private.
XMP and related fields: what happened after capture
Editing and asset-management applications can add descriptive information, creator details, labels, identifiers, and editing history. These records help organize professional workflows, but they can also expose information about the software, author, or production process behind a public image.
AI metadata and Content Credentials
Generative AI tools may leave application-specific tags or workflow data inside an exported image. MetaCleanse checks for metadata associated with more than 20 AI tools, along with C2PA Content Credentials.
C2PA deserves a more precise explanation. A Content Credential is not merely a text label that says “AI.” It is a signed provenance record that can contain assertions about the origin and history of a piece of media. Platforms that support the standard can inspect that information and show it to users. LinkedIn, for example, can display a C2PA icon and available details for media containing supported credentials.
MetaCleanse can detect and remove embedded credentials from the cleaned copy. That gives you control over what accompanies your file, but it comes with an important distinction: removing provenance data does not prove that an image is authentic, original, or human-made. It only removes that embedded information. Privacy and authenticity are related topics, but they are not the same thing.
The field I would check first: GPS
Location metadata is probably the clearest example of why image cleaning matters.
A photo does not need to show a street sign or recognizable landmark to reveal where it was taken. If location services were enabled when the camera saved the image, its EXIF data may contain precise latitude and longitude coordinates. Depending on the situation, that could point to a home, workplace, school, hotel, or private event.
That does not mean you should panic every time you share a photo. Many platforms already process or remove some metadata, and not every camera stores location. The issue is that relying on unknown platform behavior leaves the decision outside your control.
With MetaCleanse, you can remove GPS coordinates before the file reaches a social network, marketplace, chat, or website. The clean copy begins its public life without that hidden location data.
Everything happens in your browser
Privacy tools should not require you to surrender the thing you are trying to protect.
MetaCleanse processes images locally inside your browser. Your photo is not sent to an image-processing server, stored in an upload folder, or attached to an account. The browser reads the file, removes the supported metadata, and prepares the cleaned version for download on your own device.
The flow looks like this:
You drag in a photo or select one from your device.
MetaCleanse inspects its metadata locally.
The tool removes the supported hidden information.
You download the cleaned copy.
That local-first design reduces the amount of trust you need to place in the service. There is no promise that your upload will be deleted later because there is no image upload in the first place.
How to clean a photo in seconds
Using MetaCleanse is intentionally uneventful:
Open MetaCleanse.
Drag your JPG, PNG, or WebP image onto the page—or click Select photos.
Review the metadata detected by the tool.
Download the cleaned version.
There is no registration, installation, subscription, or dashboard to learn. It works as a small utility should: open it, solve the problem, and move on.
Your original photo remains available on your device, so you can preserve the metadata-rich version for your private archive and share only the cleaned copy.
Who is MetaCleanse for?
Metadata privacy is not only for security specialists. It is useful anywhere an image moves from a private context into a public or semi-public one.
People sharing photos online
Before posting a photo to a social network, forum, dating profile, or public community, you can remove location, timestamps, and device details that the audience does not need.
Marketplace sellers and property owners
Product and property photos can reveal more than the listing itself. Cleaning the files first helps separate the item you want to show from the private information attached to the image.
Journalists, researchers, and community organizers
Images collected from contributors may contain identifying metadata. Removing it can be one step in a broader process for protecting sources and participants. For sensitive or high-risk work, however, metadata removal should be combined with appropriate professional security practices.
Designers, developers, and content teams
Exported assets can accumulate creator names, application records, internal paths, identifiers, and editing information. A clean delivery copy keeps public assets focused on their intended content.
People working with generative AI
AI tools and provenance systems can add information about the software or process used to make an image. MetaCleanse lets you inspect and control the embedded data before distribution. That control should be used honestly: cleaning metadata does not change the real origin of an image or justify presenting generated work as something it is not.
What metadata removal cannot do
Removing metadata is useful, but it is not an invisibility cloak.
MetaCleanse removes supported information embedded in the image file. It cannot remove details that are visibly present in the pixels, such as:
Faces, vehicle registration plates, house numbers, or documents
Reflections in windows, glasses, screens, or mirrors
Recognizable buildings, landscapes, uniforms, or landmarks
Visible usernames, notifications, QR codes, or text
Information inferred from the content of the image itself
It also cannot erase copies you have already published, and another platform or editing application may add new metadata after you download the clean file. If a photo is sensitive, inspect both the visible image and its metadata before sharing it.
A cleaned file is safer to distribute in one specific way. It is not automatically anonymous, untraceable, or proof of authenticity.
Why make it free, without accounts or ads?
MetaCleanse is meant to be a practical privacy utility, not another service that asks for personal information before helping you remove personal information.
There is no account because the tool does not need to identify you. There are no ads because the experience should remain focused. There is no payment step because basic control over the hidden data in your own photos should be easy to access.
Thousands of photos have already been cleaned with MetaCleanse, but the most important number for each session is zero: zero images sent to the server.
A small tool for a better sharing habit
The web has made publishing images nearly effortless. Checking what those images carry with them should be just as easy.
MetaCleanse is not designed to make every file mysterious or strip away useful archival information. It is designed to give you a clear choice. Keep the original with its full history. Create a clean copy for the public. Decide what you share before a platform decides for you.
If you are about to post a holiday photo, send a client asset, publish a product image, or upload AI-assisted artwork, take a few seconds to inspect the file first.
Try MetaCleanse—it is free, requires no registration, and processes everything in your browser.
MetaCleanse is created by Ballwictb.
Further reading
If it annoys you twice, turn it into a tool.
See you in the next build.
— Ballwictb
Originally published on ZyVOP
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