NSS Background Remover
Inspect and strip image metadata, including C2PA provenance
The metadata tool became an inspector: it shows everything hidden in an image — EXIF, GPS, camera details, and C2PA AI-generation provenance — before you decide what to strip.
Stripping metadata is easy. Knowing what you stripped, and what was in there in the first place, is the part that actually matters — and it is the part most tools skip by going straight to a "clean" button.
In the v2.3.0 release the metadata remover became an inspector first. It shows you what an image is carrying, including C2PA provenance manifests, and then lets you remove it.
Contents
Two ways to finish
Inspect
See EXIF, GPS, camera details, and C2PA provenance.
Strip
Remove it locally, with nothing uploaded.
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1. Look before you strip
Open /tools/metadata-remover and load an image. The inspector lists what is actually in the file rather than reporting a count. That distinction matters because the interesting fields are specific: a GPS coordinate is a different problem from a camera serial number, which is a different problem again from an editing history.
Photographs off a phone routinely carry precise location. That is the field most people are surprised by, and it is the one most likely to matter when an image is going somewhere public.
- EXIF, GPS, camera and lens details, timestamps, editing history.
- GPS on phone photos is the usual surprise.
- Knowing what was there is the point of inspecting first.
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2. Read the C2PA manifest if there is one
C2PA is the content-provenance standard, and its manifests increasingly carry a record of how an image was made — including whether a generative model was involved and what edits were applied afterwards.
The inspector surfaces that manifest. For anyone assessing where an image came from, this is a more useful signal than pixel-level guesswork, because it is a record the file carries rather than an inference about it.
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3. Decide deliberately what to remove
Not all metadata is a liability. Copyright and creator fields are worth keeping on work you want attributed, and colour-profile information genuinely affects how an image renders. Stripping everything by reflex can degrade the file as well as anonymise it.
The useful default: remove location, device identifiers, and timestamps for anything going public; keep the colour profile; keep authorship on work you are claiming.
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4. Understand what stripping does not do
Removing metadata removes the fields, not the content. The pixels still show wherever the photo was taken, and a visible landmark is not covered by an EXIF strip.
Nor does it retroactively affect copies already shared. Strip before publishing, not after — this is a preventative measure and it has no reach over files that have already left.
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5. Do it locally
Like everything else in the app, this runs on your device. The image is not uploaded, which is a meaningful property for a privacy tool specifically: sending a photograph to a remote server in order to remove its location data is a slightly absurd trade, and it is one plenty of online tools ask you to make.
Video carries the same fields, and /tools/video-metadata-remover strips creation date, GPS, and encoder info from MP4, WebM, and MOV.
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6. Make it the last step
Editors write metadata. Run the inspector at the end of a workflow rather than the middle, because an export after stripping can reintroduce editor and timestamp fields you thought you had removed.
Re-inspect the final file before publishing. It takes seconds and it is the only way to be certain about what actually shipped.
Inspect, then decide — do not strip by reflex
Look at what an image carries before removing it: GPS and device identifiers are usually the ones that matter, while colour profiles and authorship are often worth keeping. Read the C2PA manifest where there is one — it is a record the file carries rather than a guess about it. Strip last, then re-inspect the exported file.
Frequently asked questions
Quick answers to common questions about this topic.
What can the inspector show me?
EXIF fields, GPS coordinates, camera and lens details, timestamps, editing history, and C2PA provenance manifests — listed specifically rather than reported as a count.
What is C2PA?
A content-provenance standard whose manifests record how an image was made, including whether a generative model was involved and what edits followed. It is a record the file carries, not an inference about the pixels.
Should I strip everything?
No. Location, device identifiers, and timestamps are the usual liabilities. Colour profiles affect rendering and authorship fields matter on work you want attributed, so removing everything by reflex can degrade the file.
Is the image uploaded?
No. It runs on your device. Uploading a photograph to a remote server in order to remove its location data would rather defeat the purpose.