HIPAA Photo Metadata Remover: Strip Dates and GPS from Patient Photos
A photo taken on a phone or a clinical camera records when and where it was taken, and often the camera's serial number. Under HIPAA's Safe Harbor method, dates more specific than the year, small geographic areas and device serial numbers are all identifiers, so a photo that leaves the practice with its metadata intact carries them along.
This page opens the Metadata Remover on its Source protection preset: every removable field goes, the embedded dates are reset, and each file is renamed to a neutral sequence so a name like IMG_20250314_181502.jpg does not give the date back. The photos are processed in your browser and are never uploaded, so the cleaning step does not involve another vendor.
Metadata Remover: Remove EXIF, GPS & Hidden Data from Your Files
Find and permanently remove hidden metadata from images, documents, video, audio and vector files: EXIF, GPS, XMP, IPTC, MakerNotes, ID3 tags, Office properties and QuickTime atoms. Deep Clean goes further in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OpenDocument and PDF files and removes tracked changes, comments, speaker notes, hidden sheets, attachments and scripts. Every byte is parsed and rewritten in your browser, and nothing is uploaded. We never fetch map tiles either, because that would leak the very coordinate you are erasing.
How it removes metadata (per format)
JPEG / PNG / WebP: the EXIF block is rewritten with only the tags you allow (drop GPS, keep orientation); XMP, IPTC and comments are removed as chosen. Pixels are untouched.
TIFF / HEIC / AVIF: these can’t be edited byte-safely, so the pixels are re-encoded to a clean PNG/JPEG. All metadata goes and the format changes.
PDF: the Document Info dictionary (custom keys included), XMP on the document, pages and images, and the file ID are removed. Deep Clean also drops JavaScript and launch or submit actions, attachments, comments and markup, XFA form data and editor data (PieceInfo). Objects nothing points to any more are pruned, so removed data is out of the file, not just unlinked, and incremental-update history collapses into one revision.
DOCX / XLSX / PPTX:docProps/core.xml, app.xml and custom properties are cleared. Deep Clean accepts tracked changes and removes comments, hidden text, speaker notes, hidden sheets, custom XML and the saved preview, and local file paths in links are cut to the file name.
ODT / ODS / ODP:meta.xml authors, dates, editing time and custom fields, the preview thumbnail and the printer name go; Deep Clean also accepts tracked changes and removes comments and speaker notes.
MP4 / MOV / M4A:udta/meta boxes (including QuickTime GPS) are zeroed in place, so playback is unaffected.
MKV / WebM: title, dates, writing app and Tags are neutralised in place as EBML Void elements.
MP3 / WAV / FLAC: ID3v2, RIFF INFO and Vorbis comments are rebuilt without the removed fields; ID3v1 and cover art are dropped.
SVG / EPS:<script> elements, on* handlers, editor namespaces, RDF metadata and author/date comments are stripped.
Add your details after cleaning
Switch on Add your details to sign each cleaned file with your name, copyright notice, credit line, title and licence. It runs as a second pass over the cleaned bytes, so nothing that was removed can come back. JPEG files get the details in XMP, IPTC and EXIF, which covers Google Images (including the Licensable badge when you add a licence URL), Adobe apps, Windows and macOS; PNG and WebP get XMP, EXIF and, for PNG, its own text fields; PDF gets Author, Title and XMP; Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OpenDocument files get Author, Title and custom properties. Text in any language is stored as UTF-8, and EXIF, which only holds plain Latin text, is used only when the text fits. Fields accept {year}, {filename} and {n}, profiles are saved in your browser, and every file is read back to list the readers that will show the credit.
The optional AI-training opt-out writes the IPTC Data Mining flag “Prohibited for AI/ML training”. It states your terms; it does not stop anyone technically. Instagram, Facebook and X strip metadata on upload, so the details stay with the files you send and publish yourself. GIF, SVG, EPS, audio and video files are cleaned but not signed.
Limits
This tool edits metadata and hidden content. It does not run OCR and cannot remove what is part of the visible content, such as text under a black box or faces in a photo. PDF form answers are kept, and PDF layers that are switched off are flagged for you to check rather than deleted. A formula that reads from a hidden Excel sheet shows #REF! once that sheet is removed. MP4/MOV and Matroska tags are cleared as a block, not field by field. Browsers stamp a downloaded file with the time it is saved, so “Preserve file dates” only controls the timestamps embedded in the file.
Frequently asked questions
Which HIPAA identifiers can a photo's metadata contain?
Three of the eighteen Safe Harbor identifiers commonly sit in a photo's EXIF data: dates more specific than the year (the capture date and time), geographic areas smaller than a state (GPS coordinates) and device serial numbers (the camera or lens serial). The Metadata Remover removes all three, along with the device model and editing software.
Is a patient photo de-identified once its metadata is removed?
Not on its own. Full-face photographs and comparable images are themselves one of the Safe Harbor identifiers, and a visible tattoo, wristband, chart or monitor can identify a patient too. Removing metadata deals with the hidden identifiers; what the picture shows has to be cropped, redacted or covered by your consent and disclosure policy.
Why are the files renamed as well?
Phones and cameras name photos after the moment they were taken, so IMG_20250314_181502.jpg states the capture date and time even with the EXIF data gone. The preset renames every file to file-001.jpg, file-002.jpg and so on before the ZIP is built.
Is my photo uploaded anywhere to be checked?
No. The whole check runs in your browser and the file is never uploaded. Previewing and checking need no account; an account is needed only to spend tokens when you download the result.
Key facts about Metadata Remover: where it runs, what it costs, what it accepts and produces, and its limits.
Where it runs
Entirely in your browser. Files are never uploaded.
Cost
20 tokens per file (about $0.20 at the base rate); 250 tokens for up to 50 files
Accepts
JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, TIFF, HEIC, AVIF, PDF, Word/Excel/PowerPoint, ODT/ODS/ODP, MP4, MKV, MP3, WAV, FLAC, SVG, EPS, a folder or a ZIP
Produces
The same file with its metadata removed and, with Deep Clean, its tracked changes, comments, speaker notes, hidden sheets, PDF attachments and scripts too, plus a before/after field report. Batches download as a ZIP that keeps your folders, with optional neutral file names.
Batch
Up to 50 files per run.
Account needed
Only to spend tokens. Browsing and previewing are free.
What it does not do
It removes metadata and hidden content, not visible content. Text, faces or a location shown on the page or in the image itself stay there, and PDF form answers are kept.
Metadata Remover: before and after
An illustration with sample files; your own files show their own results.
