Image Metadata Remover: EXIF, GPS & AI Prompt Stripper

Remove EXIF, GPS location, XMP and embedded AI prompts from JPEG, PNG and WebP images. Give it image URLs, get cleaned files back plus a report of what was removed from each one.

The pixels are not re-encoded. The Actor cuts the metadata blocks out of the file container, so there is no quality loss and the cleaned file is byte-for-byte the same picture.

What it removes

Format	Removed	Kept
JPEG	EXIF (camera, GPS, timestamps), XMP, IPTC/Photoshop, comments, other APP blocks	Color profile (optional), a minimal rotation flag (optional)
PNG	tEXt / zTXt / iTXt text (Stable Diffusion parameters, ComfyUI prompt and workflow, NovelAI Comment, InvokeAI metadata, author, description), eXIf, tIME	Color profile (optional)
WebP	EXIF, XMP	Color profile (optional)

Use cases

• Publish AI-generated images without leaking your prompt, seed, model or ComfyUI workflow.
• Remove GPS coordinates and camera serial data from photos before sharing them.
• Prepare image sets for marketplaces, galleries and client delivery.
• Audit which files in a set carry location or prompt data (the report shows it per file).

Quick start

Keep the example URLs (a small PNG with an embedded prompt and a JPEG with GPS data) and press Start. Cleaned files appear in the run's Key-value store; the dataset lists what was removed.

Input

{
  "imageUrls": ["https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ianare/exif-samples/master/jpg/gps/DSCN0010.jpg"],
  "keepColorProfile": true,
  "keepOrientation": true
}

Field	Default	Notes
imageUrls	(required)	Up to 2,000 direct links to JPEG, PNG or WebP files.
keepColorProfile	true	Keeps the ICC profile so colors do not shift.
keepOrientation	true	JPEG: keeps a minimal EXIF block with only the rotation flag, so phone photos stay upright.
maxImageSizeMb	30	Larger files are skipped with an error.
maxConcurrency	4	Parallel downloads.

Output

{
  "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ianare/exif-samples/master/jpg/gps/DSCN0010.jpg",
  "status": "cleaned",
  "format": "JPEG",
  "removed": ["EXIF (GPS)", "APP1"],
  "had_gps": true,
  "camera": "NIKON COOLPIX P6000",
  "had_ai_generation_data": false,
  "bytes_before": 161713,
  "bytes_after": 146420,
  "cleaned_file_key": "00002-DSCN0010-clean.jpg",
  "cleaned_file_url": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/<id>/records/00002-DSCN0010-clean.jpg"
}

status is cleaned, already_clean (nothing to remove, no file written, not charged) or error. GPS coordinates themselves are never copied into the report, only whether they were present.

Limits

• Pixel-level watermarks are not touched. That includes the hidden "stealth" prompt some AI tools write into the alpha channel of PNGs.
• Only JPEG, PNG and WebP. Other formats are reported as errors.
• Metadata is removed from the copy in the key-value store; the original at your URL is never changed.
• Each site's robots.txt is checked before downloading. Use it on images you are allowed to process.

Pricing

Pay per event: you are charged once per image that was cleaned. Images with nothing to remove, and failed downloads, are free.

Related Actors

• Stable Diffusion Prompt Extractor: read the prompt and settings embedded in AI images instead of removing them.
• Bulk Image Compressor & WebP / AVIF Converter: shrink and convert images (metadata is dropped there too).
• Duplicate & Similar Image Finder: find repeated images in a gallery before you publish it.