How to Scrub Metadata from Photos in Batch?
Sharing photos in today’s digital age is very common. However, when sharing, we often ignore the aspect of embedded metadata. Metadata may include highly sensitive information that could violate your privacy. To ensure privacy and protect personal information, learn how to scrub metadata from photos.
When we take a photo, a certain metadata is attached to it. This data may include camera settings, date and time of photos, and even location data. This information is highly sensitive and can be used for identity theft, stalking, and other cyber-crimes. Removing identifying data can reduce the risk of revealing details and protect your privacy.
Why Remove Metadata from Photo Files?
- When you take a photo with a mobile phone or digital camera, metadata data is automatically embedded in it. This data may include your geolocation, which online scammers can track to learn your routine and track you down to your home address.
- Since metadata includes a lot of your details including the date, time, device used to take the photo, etc., this can increase the overall size of the photo. This can generally impact the sharing process, especially in bulk quantity. Removing metadata can reduce the size and make it easier to share your batch photos.
- When sharing images online, metadata should be checked and removed beforehand to ensure that the image does not inadvertently reveal personal identity. This is especially useful in the case of journalists.
How to Manually Scrub Metadata from Photos?
- First, organize all your photos in one place to make the process easier.
- Now, right-click on any individual image and select Properties.
- Go to the Details tab and click Remove Properties and Personal Information.
- Now, select individual properties or you can select all at once.
- Finally, click the OK button to remove all metadata information.
- Repeat the process for all images from which you want to clear metadata.
Limitation of the Manual Method
- This method is time consuming as it can remove metadata from one image at a time.
- In most cases, this can affect the quality of your photos.
- Some metadata such as location data may not be removed.
- Duplication of images may arise leading to confusion and organization problem.
Do you want to scrub metadata from multiple images at the same time within a short period of time? You should avoid the manual method and focus on the expert solution that saves you time.
Expert Software to Scrub Complete Metadata from Photos
4n6 MetaRaser is the easiest and most effective way to remove complete metadata from photos. This is an all-in-one utility that supports all types of image extensions, whether they are in JPG or TIFF format. Unlike the manual method, this software is time efficient and can clean metadata from multiple image files at the same time. Also, this software is completely standalone and does not require additional support from Adobe or other applications.
It is cost-effective and also comes in a trial version. You can download the tool from the button and try and test it for free. Also, if you want to know why this tool is preferred over the manual method, check out its features.
Why Photo Metadata Scrubber Software?
- Remove metadata from multiple photos at the same time in one operation.
- Support all image extensions such as JPG, JPEG, TIFF etc.
- Allows saving images with metadata removed on internal or external storage.
- It works completely offline and does not require you to enter your personal info.
- It offers you a full preview of your image files before clearing the metadata.
- It is completely safe and does not reduce the quality of your image files.
- It has a simple GUI so that even a non-technical user can use it without any hassle.
So, these are some of the features of the software, which distinguish it from the manual method and other tools available online. If you need any instructions on how to scrub metadata from photos using this tool, check out its working below.
Steps to Batch Remove Embedded Metadata in Photo
- Download, install and start the software on your device.
- Click Open >> Images >> JPG/JPEG/TIFF.
- Browse and import your photos into the program panel.
- Next, click Action >> Clear Metadata.
- Specify the destination path for the output and click the Save button.
That’s it! At this level of ease, you can remove all metadata from photos using this software.
In Conclusion
The increase in cybercrime occurs because we often ignore the metadata embedded in photos before sharing. Removing metadata from image files is essential to protect the privacy of you and your loved ones. In the informational text above, you learn how to scrub metadata from photos. You can explore the manual and automatic method. However, while the manual method has some limitations, the automated method aims to overcome them all.
Frequently Asked Questions
Question) What is GIMP?
GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a free and open source image editing software that allows image editing, graphic design, image composition and metadata removal as well.
Question) How to remove metadata from image using GIMP?
- Open the image in GIMP and go to File > Export As
- In the Export menu, select the image file format.
- Click Export and uncheck Save Exif data.
- Finally, click Export.
Question) How to scrub metadata embedded in photos on a macOS?
- Open Preview on your Mac and import the image
- Go to Tools and Show Inspector
- Select Info and go to Exif Data.
- Next, go to File and click Export
- Save the image in a different image format.
Note: Preview doesn’t remove metadata directly, but saving the image in a different format usually does.
Question) How to batch remove metadata from photos?
No manual processing software like Windows File explorer, preview or GIMP allows you to scrub metadata from photos in batch. For this purpose, you need a third-party software, and 4n6 Photo metadata remover is the best for this.
Question) Do photos contain location metadata?
Yes, as per the settings most of the smartphones attach location metadata in your photos.
