Delete metadata

[adayzdone]

Is there a command to delete all metadata (that ExifTool is capable of)  from a file regardless of the type of file specified. 

If not, is there a list of commands or a script for each file type?

[Phil Harvey]

The command is:

exiftool -all= FILE

But note that this is only really 100% effective for JPEG images.  Other file types may have some lingering metadata after this command is run.

- Phil

[adayzdone]

Hi Phil,

Thanks for the response. I should have been more specific in my question. Is there a script or a list that addresses the lingering metadata of all file types other than JPEG?

[Phil Harvey]

No, sorry.

- Phil

[Stephen Marsh]

My "go to" command is:

exiftool -all= -CommonIFD0= -Adobe:All= FILEorDIR


(the Adobe tag may be superfluous, I can't remember why I originally put it there, I'm hoping that it was for a good reason!

[StarGeek]

(the Adobe tag may be superfluous, I can't remember why I originally put it there, I'm hoping that it was for a good reason![/tt]

Maybe because it isn't deleted by default.  It can sometimes hold color data that may affect the image if removed, but I don't think any photo image is included.  The original example post (which I can't seem to find) showed an extreme color difference when it was removed, but it was also a created image, not a photo.

From what I recall, there wasn't any data in the chunk that could be used to identify the source of the image, so I tend not to worry about it.

[Phil Harvey]

Right. The Adobe APP14 segment stores only color information.

Here is the post that StarGeek was looking for.

- Phil

[StarGeek]

Actually, I was looking for the original bug report.  It should have been around February 2012 as that's when the avoid deleting APP14 code was added according to the version history.

It's just sorta weird that I couldn't find it.  I did far too much digging around in the depths of the forum, but it was interesting seeing some of the old posts.