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Discussion => Security => Topic started by: joeblow2 on August 10, 2011, 07:53 am

Title: Tutorial: how to scrub metadata from photos on Mac...for beginners!
Post by: joeblow2 on August 10, 2011, 07:53 am
How to scrub metadata from photos on Mac

And as for photo scrubbing on Mac:

First, just to check that the photo in question has any metadata, double click the image and it should open in Preview (unless you have another photo software set as the default) and select Tools (from the menu bar) then Show Inspector.  Another panel will show up and you can click four buttons at the top of this panel -- the first two show metadata (particularly the 2nd one -- an "i" button).

To remove metadata, open the picture in Preview then go to File -> Save As...

Change the format to PNG and save it.  Reopen the file and if you look there will be no metadata (other than basic info that is calculated from the picture and can't be "erased").  If you can use PNG format then you are good to go.  If you need a JPG, for instance, use the same process (File -> Save As...) and save it as a JPG.  This "washed" JPG won't have any metadata.

This works because the PNG format doesn't save metadata whereas the JPG format does so if you go JPG -> PNG -> JPG, you will have lost any metadata originally in the JPG file.

This is the simplest way to do it given native Mac OS software.  There is probably some program that would just give you a different interface.  If you need to do a lot of pictures (batch processing) then let me know, I'll have to look for a method that can batch process.  (meaning it can remove the metadata for a whole folder of photos without you having to manually do each photo)
Title: Re: Tutorial: how to scrub metadata from photos on Mac...for beginners!
Post by: hybridmike on August 10, 2011, 02:22 pm
Good post, this is why i wont put any pictures on my items.. and if i have to create any images i use Command + shift + 4 to do a screen capture of the picture.. safest way to take a photo IMO
Title: Re: Tutorial: how to scrub metadata from photos on Mac...for beginners!
Post by: KarmaPharm on November 16, 2012, 07:09 pm
Worked like a champ thank you!