ExifTool Metadata Scrubber

🛡️ Remove EXIF metadata, GPS coordinates, and personal information from images and videos to protect privacy and comply with GDPR/CCPA regulations.

🎯 What This Actor Does

This Actor uses ExifTool to strip potentially sensitive metadata from media files before sharing, uploading, or storing them. It removes:

• GPS Coordinates - Exact location where photo/video was taken
• Camera Serial Numbers - Device identification data
• Timestamps - Creation and modification dates
• Software Information - Editing software used
• Thumbnail Images - Embedded preview images
• Personal Data - Author names, comments, copyright (optional)

🔒 Privacy Use Cases

Use Case	Why It Matters
Social Media Uploads	Prevent location tracking from shared photos
E-commerce Product Images	Remove photographer details from product shots
User-Generated Content	Sanitize uploads before storing in your platform
GDPR Compliance	Strip PII before data processing
Whistleblower Protection	Remove identifying device information
Real Estate Photos	Hide exact coordinates of properties

📥 Input Options

Option 1: Upload File Directly

Drag and drop an image or video directly in the Apify Console.

Option 2: Provide File URL

Enter a direct URL to the file you want to process.

Option 3: Batch Processing

Provide a list of URLs to process multiple files at once.

⚙️ Configuration

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
file	string	-	Upload a file directly
fileUrl	string	-	URL to download the file from
fileUrls	array	-	List of URLs for batch processing
preserveOrientation	boolean	true	Keep rotation data for correct display
preserveColorProfile	boolean	true	Keep ICC profile for accurate colors
preserveCopyright	boolean	false	Keep copyright and author info

📤 Output

The Actor outputs cleaned files to the Key-Value Store and metadata to the Dataset:

{
    "fileName": "vacation-photo.jpg",
    "originalUrl": "https://example.com/photo.jpg",
    "cleanedFileUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/.../records/cleaned-abc123.jpg",
    "originalSize": 2456789,
    "cleanedSize": 2234567,
    "metadataRemoved": [
        "GPSLatitude",
        "GPSLongitude",
        "Make",
        "Model",
        "SerialNumber",
        "CreateDate",
        "Software"
    ],
    "status": "success",
    "processedAt": "2024-01-15T10:30:00.000Z"
}

📁 Supported Formats

Images

• JPEG / JPG
• PNG
• GIF
• WebP
• HEIC / HEIF (iPhone photos)
• TIFF
• BMP

Videos

• MP4
• MOV (QuickTime)
• AVI
• MKV

🚀 Quick Start

Using Apify Console

1. Go to the Actor page on Apify
2. Upload your file or enter a URL
3. Configure preservation options
4. Click Start
5. Download cleaned file from Storage → Key-Value Store

Using Apify API

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/YOUR_USERNAME~exiftool-metadata-scrubber/runs?token=YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "fileUrl": "https://example.com/photo-with-gps.jpg",
    "preserveOrientation": true
  }'

Using Apify Client (JavaScript)

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('YOUR_USERNAME/exiftool-metadata-scrubber').call({
    fileUrl: 'https://example.com/photo.jpg',
    preserveOrientation: true,
    preserveColorProfile: true
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log('Cleaned file:', items[0].cleanedFileUrl);

Using Apify Client (Python)

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient('YOUR_TOKEN')

run = client.actor('YOUR_USERNAME/exiftool-metadata-scrubber').call(run_input={
    'fileUrl': 'https://example.com/photo.jpg',
    'preserveOrientation': True
})

items = client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items
print('Cleaned file:', items[0]['cleanedFileUrl'])

💰 Cost Estimation

File Size	Approx. Time	Compute Units
1 MB	~2 seconds	~0.001
10 MB	~5 seconds	~0.002
100 MB	~30 seconds	~0.01

Processing 1,000 average photos (~3MB each) costs approximately $0.10-0.20 on Apify.

🔧 Technical Details

• Base Image: apify/actor-node:22
• ExifTool Version: Latest from Debian repositories
• Memory: 256MB-1GB (scales with file size)
• Timeout: 120 seconds per file

📋 Metadata Fields Removed

❓ FAQ

Does this affect image quality?

No. ExifTool modifies only the metadata, not the actual image data. The visual quality remains identical.

Can I keep some metadata?

Yes! Use the preserve options to keep orientation, color profiles, or copyright information.

What about videos?

Videos are fully supported. ExifTool removes metadata from MP4, MOV, AVI, and other container formats.

Is this GDPR compliant?

This tool helps with GDPR compliance by removing personal data from media files before processing or storage.

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.