Removing Metadata
Simply put, Metadata is data about data. Metadata is the information surrounding something rather than the thing itself. For example the metadata of a picture could be when it was taken, what device it was taken with, the location the picture was taken and a lot of other information but the picture of what you took isn’t metadata.
Inspection + Removal
A useful program I recommend is exiftool (the wiki page). It is available on windows, macOS and various UNIX platforms. For android users, scrambled exif looks good for photos but still limited in comparison. IOS users can do something too. You can choose to select and remove all metadata or choose what in particular. For exiftool, I would suggest reading the manual. You can see a basic example below before and after metadata removal for an image.
exiftool IPTCpanel.jpg
ExifTool Version Number : 12.16
File Name : IPTCpanel.jpg
Directory : .
File Size : 85 KiB
File Modification Date/Time : 2023:05:15 19:16:33+01:00
File Access Date/Time : 2023:05:15 19:16:33+01:00
File Inode Change Date/Time : 2023:05:15 19:16:33+01:00
File Permissions : rw-r--r--
File Type : JPEG
File Type Extension : jpg
MIME Type : image/jpeg
JFIF Version : 1.02
Exif Byte Order : Big-endian (Motorola, MM)
Image Description : IPTC CONTENT PANEL: DESCRIPTION
Orientation : Horizontal (normal)
X Resolution : 600
Y Resolution : 600
Resolution Unit : inches
Software : Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows
Modify Date : 2009:05:19 10:56:21
Artist : IPTC CONTACT PANEL: CREATOR
Copyright : IPTC STATUS PANEL: COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Color Space : Uncalibrated
Exif Image Width : 300
Exif Image Height : 379
Compression : JPEG (old-style)
Thumbnail Offset : 464
Thumbnail Length : 6473
Current IPTC Digest : dac12b6161bf1efad456c84efd43e62e
Application Record Version : 2
Caption-Abstract : IPTC CONTENT PANEL: DESCRIPTION
Writer-Editor : IPTC CONTENT PANEL: DESCRIPTION
Special Instructions : IPTC STATUS PANEL: INSTRUCTIONS
By-line : IPTC CONTACT PANEL: CREATOR
By-line Title : IPTC CONTACT PANEL: CREATOR"S JO
Object Name : IPTC STATUS PANEL: TITLE
Province-State : IPTC IMAGE PANEL: STATE/PROVINCE
Country-Primary Location Name : IPTC IMAGE PANEL: COUNTRY
Original Transmission Reference : IPTC STATUS PANEL: TITLE
Keywords : IPTC CONTENT PANEL:, KEYWORDS
Copyright Notice : IPTC STATUS PANEL: COPYRIGHT NOTICE
IPTC Digest : dac12b6161bf1efad456c84efd43e62e
Displayed Units X : inches
Displayed Units Y : inches
Print Style : Centered
Print Position : 0 0
Print Scale : 1
Global Angle : 120
Global Altitude : 30
Copyright Flag : False
URL List :
Slices Group Name : IPTCpanel
Num Slices : 1
Pixel Aspect Ratio : 1
Photoshop Thumbnail : (Binary data 6473 bytes, use -b option to extract)
Has Real Merged Data : Yes
Writer Name : Adobe Photoshop
Reader Name : Adobe Photoshop CS2
Photoshop Quality : 10
Photoshop Format : Optimized
Progressive Scans : 3 Scans
XMP Toolkit : 3.1.1-111
Native Digest : 36864,40960,40961,37121,37122,40962,40963,37510,40964,36867,36868,33434,33437,34850,34852,34855,34856,37377,37378,37379,37380,37381,37382,37383,37384,37385,37386,37396,41483,41484,41486,41487,41488,41492,41493,41495,41728,41729,41730,41985,41986,41987,41988,41989,41990,41991,41992,41993,41994,41995,41996,42016,0,2,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,20,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,30;0BE53ED4CBB4BEF650B04C7C9C88B541
Create Date : 2009:05:19 09:46:29-07:00
Metadata Date : 2009:05:19 10:56:21-07:00
Creator Tool : Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows
Document ID : uuid:993145939244DE11AA90FB7B95BAE63C
Instance ID : uuid:4FFA861E9644DE11AA90FB7B95BAE63C
Derived From Instance ID : uuid:973145939244DE11AA90FB7B95BAE63C
Derived From Document ID : uuid:3A6DF2049244DE11AA90FB7B95BAE63C
Format : image/jpeg
Title : IPTC STATUS PANEL: TITLE
Creator : IPTC CONTACT PANEL: CREATOR
Description : IPTC CONTENT PANEL: DESCRIPTION
Subject : IPTC CONTENT PANEL:, KEYWORDS
Rights : IPTC STATUS PANEL: COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Color Mode : RGB
ICC Profile Name : Adobe RGB (1998)
Authors Position : IPTC CONTACT PANEL: CREATOR"S JOB TITLE
Caption Writer : IPTC CONTENT PANEL: DESCRIPTION WRITER
Date Created : 2007:11:19
City : IPTC IMAGE PANEL: CITY
State : IPTC IMAGE PANEL: STATE/PROVINCE
Country : IPTC IMAGE PANEL: COUNTRY
Headline : IPTC CONTENT PANEL:
Transmission Reference : IPTC STATUS PANEL: TITLE
Instructions : IPTC STATUS PANEL: INSTRUCTIONS
Credit : IPTC STATUS PANEL: PROVIDER
Source : IPTC STATUS PANEL: SOURCE
History :
Marked : False
Usage Terms : IPTC STATUS PANEL: RIGHTS USAGE TERMS
Job Status : 0-NotEdited
Approved : False
Intellectual Genre : IPTC IMAGE PANEL: INTELLECTUAL GENRE
Location : IPTC IMAGE PANEL: LOCATION
Creator Address : IPTC CONTACT PANEL: ADDRESS
Creator City : IPTC CONTACT PANEL: CITY
Creator Region : IPTC CONTACT PANEL: STATE/PROVINCE
Creator Postal Code : IPTC COPANEL: POSTAL
Creator Country : IPTC CONTACT PANEL: COUNTRY
Creator Work Telephone : IPTC CONTACT PANEL: PHONE(S)
Creator Work Email : IPTC CONTACT PANEL: E_MAIL(S)
Creator Work URL : IPTC CONTACT PANEL: WEBSITE(S)
Scene : IPTC IMAGE PANEL: IPTC SCENE
Subject Code : IPTC CONTENT PANEL: IPTC SUBJECT CODE
License : CREATIVE COMMONS PANEL: LICENSE URL
Profile CMM Type : Adobe Systems Inc.
Profile Version : 2.1.0
Profile Class : Display Device Profile
Color Space Data : RGB
Profile Connection Space : XYZ
Profile Date Time : 1999:06:03 00:00:00
Profile File Signature : acsp
Primary Platform : Microsoft Corporation
CMM Flags : Not Embedded, Independent
Device Manufacturer : none
Device Model :
Device Attributes : Reflective, Glossy, Positive, Color
Rendering Intent : Media-Relative Colorimetric
Connection Space Illuminant : 0.9642 1 0.82491
Profile Creator : Adobe Systems Inc.
Profile ID : 0
Profile Copyright : Copyright (c) 1999 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved.
Profile Description : Adobe RGB (1998)
Media White Point : 0.95045 1 1.08905
Media Black Point : 0 0 0
Red Tone Reproduction Curve : (Binary data 14 bytes, use -b option to extract)
Green Tone Reproduction Curve : (Binary data 14 bytes, use -b option to extract)
Blue Tone Reproduction Curve : (Binary data 14 bytes, use -b option to extract)
Red Matrix Column : 0.60974 0.31111 0.01947
Green Matrix Column : 0.20528 0.62567 0.06087
Blue Matrix Column : 0.14919 0.06322 0.74457
DCT Encode Version : 100
APP14 Flags 0 : [14]
APP14 Flags 1 : (none)
Color Transform : YCbCr
Image Width : 300
Image Height : 379
Encoding Process : Baseline DCT, Huffman coding
Bits Per Sample : 8
Color Components : 3
Y Cb Cr Sub Sampling : YCbCr4:4:4 (1 1)
Image Size : 300x379
Megapixels : 0.114
Thumbnail Image : (Binary data 6473 bytes, use -b option to extract)
# Removal
exiftool -all= IPTCpanel.jpg
# And below is the output after running this command
exiftool IPTCpanel.jpg
ExifTool Version Number : 12.16
File Name : IPTCpanel.jpg
Directory : .
File Size : 50 KiB
File Modification Date/Time : 2023:05:15 19:21:24+01:00
File Access Date/Time : 2023:05:15 19:21:24+01:00
File Inode Change Date/Time : 2023:05:15 19:21:24+01:00
File Permissions : rw-r--r--
File Type : JPEG
File Type Extension : jpg
MIME Type : image/jpeg
DCT Encode Version : 100
APP14 Flags 0 : [14]
APP14 Flags 1 : (none)
Color Transform : YCbCr
Image Width : 300
Image Height : 379
Encoding Process : Baseline DCT, Huffman coding
Bits Per Sample : 8
Color Components : 3
Y Cb Cr Sub Sampling : YCbCr4:4:4 (1 1)
Image Size : 300x379
Megapixels : 0.114
In many programs we use today, they automatically remove a lot of the metadata about a file. You may be able to find a setting in the program you use to remove the metadata and for things such as a camera app, there may be a setting to disable storing various different types of metadata with the video or photo you take. Some still do not do this or do not do it very well. Some programs even forward that metadata to be shared with the people that control the program for whatever purpose so make sure to use a program you can trust, verify the metadata you do not want included is removed and then publish.
Importance
Metadata is very valuable information. In a lot of circumstances, the metadata is more valuable than what the metadata is about. Even the NSA has admitted that “we kill people based on metadata”. You should make sure to be careful who you share information with and how much. A big part of that is metadata.