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RemoveMetadata Help

Strip the hidden tags out of video and audio files. Runs entirely in your browser.

What it does

Media files carry a hidden note pinned to them: title, artist, comments, the software that made them, the camera or phone model, sometimes a GPS location, chapters and cover art. This tool tears that note off and gives you the same file back. The picture and sound are copied bit for bit, nothing is re-encoded, so there is no quality loss and it takes about as long as copying the file.

It is the browser version of the-Automator's Windows tool of the same name. Same one-line ffmpeg command under the hood, no install.

Privacy

Nothing is uploaded. The FFmpeg engine (about 31 MB) downloads once into your browser and every file is processed on your own machine. Close the tab and nothing is left behind except the cached engine.

Quick start

1. Wait for the engine banner to disappear (first visit only).
2. Drop files or a whole folder onto the page, or use the Browse buttons.
3. Press Remove metadata.

Where the cleaned files go

• Dropped or picked folder (Chrome and Edge): the folder is scanned recursively. With Replace originals ticked (the default) each cleaned file overwrites the original, exactly like the Windows tool. Untick it to get name-clean.ext beside each original instead. Chrome asks once for permission to edit the folder.
• Loose files, or any other browser: each cleaned file downloads as name-clean.ext. Browsers do not let a web page overwrite a single dropped file.

Replacing is done safely: the clean copy is written beside the original first and only then moved over it, so a crash mid-way cannot leave you with a half file.

Options

• Replace originals: folder drops only, see above.
• Also remove cover art from audio files: embedded album art in MP3, M4A, FLAC and friends is kept by default (the Windows tool keeps it too). Tick this to drop it. It never touches video files.

What gets removed

Container tags (title, artist, album, comment, date, encoder, device, location and any custom tag), per-track tags (track titles, language labels), chapters, and data tracks such as GoPro telemetry or timecode. A few structural labels that the file format itself requires stay put: MP4 brand codes and handler names, Matroska track durations. They identify the format, not you.

Supported files

Video: MP4, M4V, MOV, MKV, WebM, AVI, WMV, ASF, MPG, MPEG, VOB, TS, M2TS, MTS, FLV, F4V, 3GP, 3G2, GIF, IVF.
Audio: MP3, M4A, M4B, AAC, AC3, EAC3, WAV, AIFF, AU, AMR, CAF, FLAC, OGG, OPUS, WMA, WV, TTA, MP2.

Not supported (no writer in the browser engine): WTV, DVR-MS, RealMedia, SWF, APE, DSF, MIDI, playlists. Use the Windows tool for those.

Limits

• The cleaned copy is built in browser memory, so very large files (roughly over 1 to 2 GB, depending on the device) can fail with an out-of-memory error. Desktop machines handle more than phones.
• Firefox and Safari cannot write into folders, so everything downloads there.
• One file at a time; a queue of hundreds is fine, it just runs through them in order.

Troubleshooting

• A file failed: press Copy error on its row and send that text along. Usually the file is damaged or uses a feature the container writer cannot copy.
• Engine will not load: check the connection and reload. Corporate networks sometimes block the 31 MB download.
• Folder drop went to Downloads: the browser denied write access. Use Browse folder and allow editing when asked.

A dirtsimple tool by the-Automator. Powered by FFmpeg via ffmpeg.wasm (GPL).