Not all metadata is the enemy
For most privacy tools, the goal is to strip everything. For a working photographer, that is too blunt. Your IPTC copyright notice, your credit line, and your contact information are metadata you want to survive — they are how your authorship travels with an image once it leaves your hands. Removing them indiscriminately throws away your claim to your own work.
At the same time, the same files carry data you have every reason to remove before publishing: the GPS coordinates of a private shoot location or your home studio, your camera body and lens serial numbers, the precise capture timestamp, and your editing software's history. None of that benefits the viewer, and some of it actively exposes you.
The selective approach
This is exactly what presets are for. The Web Publishing preset is built for this case: it removes location, device serials, and timestamps while preserving your copyright, credit, and IPTC fields. You publish work that still carries your authorship but not your coordinates or equipment fingerprint.
| Field | What it does | Web Publishing preset |
|---|---|---|
| IPTC copyright / credit | Asserts your authorship | Kept |
| GPS location | Reveals where you shot | Removed |
| Camera / lens serial | Fingerprints your gear, links all your photos | Removed |
| Capture timestamp | Reveals when and your routine | Removed |
| Editing software history | Exposes your workflow | Removed |
| ICC colour profile | Ensures correct colour | Kept |
Why the serial number matters more than you think
Every frame your camera produces embeds its body serial number, and often the lens serial, in the EXIF. That means anyone can link every photo you have ever published from that body — across clients, galleries, and even pseudonymous accounts — by matching the serial. If you keep separate public identities, or simply do not want your entire portfolio cross-referenced, removing the serial is essential. It is also a hedge against equipment theft being traced back through your published work.
Clean, in your browser, in bulk
- Drop a shoot — or your whole export folder — into the image tool.
- Choose Web Publishing to keep copyright while removing location and serials.
- Download the cleaned set as a ZIP and publish.
It handles JPEG, PNG, WebP, TIFF, HEIC, and TIFF-based RAW (DNG, NEF, ARW, CR2, ORF) — walking into the EXIF and GPS sub-directories to strip serials and coordinates while leaving the image data untouched. Canon's CR3 can be inspected but not stripped (it's a proprietary container where removal risks corruption — export a JPEG/TIFF to clean instead). Nothing is uploaded, so your unpublished work never touches a server.
Frequently asked questions
Can I keep my copyright but remove the location?
Yes. The Web Publishing preset preserves your IPTC copyright and credit fields while removing GPS, camera serials, timestamps, and editing history.
Why should I remove my camera's serial number?
Every photo embeds the body (and often lens) serial. Anyone can link all your published photos — across clients and accounts — by matching it. Removing it prevents that cross-referencing and is a hedge against theft tracing.
Does it work on RAW files?
Yes, for the TIFF-based RAW formats: DNG, NEF, ARW, CR2, and ORF. It strips the EXIF, GPS, and camera/lens serials — including those in the sub-directories — while keeping the image data byte-for-byte intact, with a built-in check that aborts if cleaning would touch the image. Canon's CR3 can be inspected but not stripped, since it's a proprietary container where removal risks corruption; export a JPEG or TIFF and clean that instead.
Will cleaning affect my image quality or colour?
No. Images are not re-compressed, and the ICC colour profile is preserved by default so colours render correctly. Quality is identical.
Can I process an entire shoot at once?
Yes. Drop the whole folder and each file is cleaned locally in your browser, then returned as a ZIP.
Are my unpublished photos uploaded anywhere?
No. All processing happens in your browser. Your work never leaves your device.