Getting started (delete meta data)

[Andromedus]

OK, so a friend recommended ExifTool to me because I'm going to be posting a bunch of pictures and mp3s online, and I want to remain totally anonymous.  In the case of the pictures, my friend recommended to delete the metadata of the location taken, etc (so nobody can trace me).

So...  I downloaded ExifTool.  But now what?  How the heck do you use this thing?

I have a mac 10.6.4

THANK YOU!

[Phil Harvey]

Sorry, but apparently your friend doesn't know that ExifTool doesn't have the ability to edit metadata in MP3 files.  So you will need another utility for this.

- Phil

[Andromedus]

Okay, but how about the jpgs?
How do you use ExifTool to view and edit metadata on a picture?

[Phil Harvey]

To view metadata in OS X:

• Launch the Terminal application (found in the /Applications/Utilities folder).
• Type "exiftool" followed by a SPACE in the Terminal window.
• Drag and drop one or more files or folders onto the Terminal window.
• Press RETURN in the Terminal window.

To write metadata in OS X:

• Launch the Terminal application (found in the /Applications/Utilities folder).
• Type "exiftool" followed by a SPACE in the Terminal window.
• Type in the information you want to write in the form: -TAG=VALUE followed by a space after each entry.
• Drag and drop one or more files or folders onto the Terminal window.
• Press RETURN in the Terminal window.

After writing information you will discover files with names ending in "_original".  These are the backups of your original files.

For examples, see the Writing Examples section of the application documentation, and for a complete list of tag names, see the Tag Name documentation.

- Phil

[Andromedus]

Ah!  Perfect!  So I get the first part just fine.
Now, I have a jpg and I want to DELETE metadata.
Specifically, this picture was taken with my iPhone and it includes the GPS coordinates where the picture was taken.   How do I DELETE this information from the picture?

Thanks so much!!!!

[Phil Harvey]

To delete all metadata, use the -all= option:

exiftool -all= ...

- Phil

[Andromedus]

What do you put where you put the "..."?

[Andromedus]

Oh, so I'm guessing you you type "exiftool -all= "
and then drag the jpg into the Terminal window, right?
And then it should erase all the metadata?

Well, I tried that, and then when I go too LOOK at the metadata by typing "exiftool " and then dragging the file, all the same data (with the GPS and everything) is all still there

[Phil Harvey]

Yes that's right.  What messages did you get after the command with -all=?  There must have been an error if it didn't erase all the metadata.  Either that, or you are looking at a different file.

- Phil

Edit:  Or maybe the file doesn't have any metadata?  ExifTool will extract the following basic JPEG properties from files which contain no metadata:

Code Select Expand

> exiftool a.jpg -all=
    1 image files updated

> exiftool a.jpg
ExifTool Version Number         : 8.47
File Name                       : a.jpg
Directory                       : .
File Size                       : 251 bytes
File Modification Date/Time     : 2011:01:28 08:01:46-05:00
File Permissions                : rw-r--r--
File Type                       : JPEG
MIME Type                       : image/jpeg
Image Width                     : 8
Image Height                    : 8
Encoding Process                : Baseline DCT, Huffman coding
Bits Per Sample                 : 8
Color Components                : 3
Y Cb Cr Sub Sampling            : YCbCr4:2:0 (2 2)
Base Name                       : a
File Extension                  : jpg
File Type Description           : Joint Photographic Experts Group
Image Size                      : 8x8


[Andromedus]

Jeez, OK.  I THOUGHT I had it a few months ago, and now I'm doing it again, and I keep getting the "command not found" error.

Specifically, it says "-bash: exiftool: command not found"

[Phil Harvey]

The application must exist in a directory somewhere in your system path.  Either that, or you must type the path when entering the command, ie)

path/to/exiftool a.jpg

- Phil