AI metadata remover: erase AI signatures from your images
Images from ChatGPT, Midjourney, DALL‑E, Gemini and Stable Diffusion carry hidden AI metadata — content credentials, prompts, generation settings. Remove just the AI layer or wipe everything. Processing is 100% client-side: nothing is uploaded.
The file is read into browser memory only — check the network inspector: nothing is transmitted.
The four layers
What AI metadata looks like inside a file
AI images rarely carry a single "AI" flag. Depending on the generator, the traces land in up to four different places:
- C2PA content credentials. A signed provenance manifest stating the file was AI-generated. DALL‑E API exports and Adobe Firefly attach one by default.
- IPTC DigitalSourceType. A controlled-vocabulary value such as
trainedAlgorithmicMediathat names the process behind the image. - PNG generation parameters. Stable Diffusion and ComfyUI write the full prompt, negative prompt, seed, sampler and model into plain text chunks inside the PNG.
- XMP packets with AI tool signatures. Editing apps and generators record the software name and history in XMP; packets carrying AI tool signatures are removed wholesale in AI-only mode.
This tool strips all four layers. For the deeper walkthrough — per-generator embed tables, platform labeling behavior and power-user options — read the guide to removing AI metadata. If you only care about the provenance manifest, the remove C2PA tool focuses on that single layer.
What this tool CANNOT remove
- Pixel-level watermarks such as Google SynthID. These live inside the image's pixel data, not in its metadata. Stripping metadata leaves them fully intact.
- Visible watermarks and burned-in text. Anything drawn into the picture itself is part of the image, not metadata, and is not touched.
- A platform's own judgment. Platforms can label content using their own classifiers, regardless of metadata. Removing AI metadata does not promise any particular treatment by any platform.
When to KEEP AI metadata
- When disclosure is required. Some platforms, marketplaces and regulations require AI-generated content to be labeled. Removing the label there can break those rules.
- When you need to prove origin. Content credentials and AI tags are evidence of how an image was made — useful for licensing, copyright questions and disputes.
- When credibility matters. In journalism, research and legal contexts, provenance is the chain of custody. Stripping it undermines the file as evidence.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Is it legal to remove AI metadata from an image?
For your own files, removing metadata is generally lawful — metadata itself is not specially protected in most jurisdictions. What can break the law or platform rules is what you do next: misrepresenting the origin of content where disclosure is required. The file is your responsibility.
Will platforms still detect my image as AI-generated after stripping?
Possibly. Metadata is only one signal. Pixel-level watermarks (like SynthID) and visual classifiers work without any metadata. No metadata tool can promise how a platform will treat your image.
Is removing C2PA the same as removing a watermark?
No. C2PA Content Credentials are metadata attached to the file. Watermarks such as SynthID are embedded in the pixel data itself. This tool removes the former; it cannot and does not touch the latter.
Can I use this to pass AI images off as human-made?
The tool removes metadata; how you use the output is on you. Where a platform, marketplace or regulation requires AI disclosure, presenting stripped content as human-made can violate those rules. We do not encourage that use.
Does removing metadata affect my copyright?
Removing metadata does not change who owns an image. But copyright and author fields stored in metadata are removed with it in remove-all mode. AI-only mode preserves copyright fields stored in EXIF and IPTC.
More free tools
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Open the cleaner →C2PA Credentials Checker
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Strip C2PA content credentials and provenance manifests from an image.
Remove credentials →