How can I remove XMP from JPGs?

[jimh]

Many of my photo JPGs contain XMP keywords, titles and descriptions embedded by some Adobe application in the past.  I now use IPTC because (ironically) it's universally recognized.   The XMP metadata is obsolete and is causing a problem when I upload to some sites, which use it in preference to the IPTC.

I need a way to remove all this XMP data from hundreds of photos.

Can I do this with a command-line invocation of ExifTool?

[StarGeek]

You can remove xmp data with
exiftool -XMP:All= /path/to/files

This command creates backup files.  Add -Overwrite_Original to suppress the creation of backup files.  Add -r to recurse into subdirectories.

[jimh]

Thanks StarGeek, that sounds promising.

[jimh]

If I try this...
exiftool -r -Overwrite_Original -XMP:All= *.jpg
   
... it removes the XMP, and doesn't create a backup copy, but subdirectories are ignored. 


I have a 'photos' folder containing a set of subfolders, each of which contains JPGs.  Let's say I have a command prompt at D:\photos.     What's the exiftool syntax to modify all the JPGs in all the subfolders? 

[StarGeek]

See the docs on the -r (-recurse) option and Common Mistake #2.
   Recursively process files in subdirectories. Only meaningful if FILE is a directory name.

Instead of *.jpg, use the -ext (extension) option.
exiftool -r -ext jpg -XMP:all= /path/to/top/dir/

[jimh]

Thanks, will try that shortly.