MP4

Remove video metadata

Up to 100 files at once. Mixed formats are fine.

Removing metadata from a video strips the title, the comments, the recording date, the device that made it and any location tag — without re-encoding a single frame. The container is rewritten and the picture and sound are copied across, so the result is visually identical and the process takes seconds rather than the minutes a re-encode would need.

  • Where it runsIn your browser. A file you are stripping for privacy is never uploaded.
  • What is removedCamera, location, author, software and timestamps written into the MP4.
  • What staysThe content itself, untouched and at the same quality — this is not a re-encode.

Remove video metadata

Why this is fast when converting a video is slow

Converting a video means decoding every frame and encoding it again, which is why it takes minutes and why the result is never quite the original. Removing metadata needs none of that. The compressed frames are copied from the old container into a new one untouched — a remux, not a re-encode.

The practical difference is large: a file that would take four minutes to convert is cleaned in a few seconds, and the picture that comes out is bit-for-bit the picture that went in.

What a phone writes into a video

The make and model of the device, the software version, the creation date and time, and — on most phones with location enabled — the coordinates where the recording started, stored in a dedicated location atom.

Files that have been through an editor carry more: the name of the application, sometimes the project, and occasionally the name of the user account. A video downloaded from a platform and re-uploaded may carry the original uploader's tags.

Creation time is the field people forget

A video carries a creation timestamp written by the recording device, and it survives most editing and re-encoding because tools copy it forward deliberately. It is frequently the only thing left that says when footage was shot.

That is useful when organising an archive and unhelpful when a clip is meant to be undated. Stripping metadata removes it along with everything else, which is worth knowing if the timestamp is the thing you were relying on to sort a folder afterwards.

Location in a video is usually more precise than expected

Phones write GPS coordinates into video the same way they write them into photographs, and the field is standard rather than exotic. A clip filmed at home carries the address of the house.

Platforms differ in whether they strip it on upload, and a file sent directly — by email, by messaging app, on a memory card — is untouched. For footage being published rather than uploaded to a service that might clean it, removing it deliberately is the only reliable version.

What stays behind after stripping

The container metadata goes: title, artist, comment, encoder, creation time, location, and the assorted tags editing software adds. What remains is everything the picture itself contains, which is a great deal — a house number, a reflection, a screen, a lanyard.

Metadata removal is a data-hygiene step rather than anonymisation, and conflating the two is the mistake worth avoiding. It removes what a file says about itself; it cannot remove what a camera pointed at.

Subtitle and chapter tracks are separate

A video file can carry subtitle tracks and chapter markers alongside the picture and sound, and those are structure rather than metadata. Stripping the metadata leaves them in place, which is usually what you want.

It does mean a subtitle track can carry text worth reviewing on its own — names, place names, transcribed conversation — that a metadata pass will not touch. If the point is to remove identifying information, the subtitle track deserves a look separately.

How to remove metadata from a video

  1. Drop your video onto this page, or click to choose one.
  2. Look at what was found before anything is removed.
  3. Remove it and download. The content of the file is untouched.

Removing video metadata: common questions

Is the video re-encoded?

No. The encoded frames are copied into a fresh container without being decoded, so the picture and audio are identical to the original. That is also why it finishes in seconds rather than minutes.

Does the file size change?

Barely, and it can go either way. The tags and any embedded cover art are gone, which usually takes more off than the rewritten container adds back — but on a short clip with little metadata the new container can be a few bytes larger, and that is not a fault. The video and audio streams are the same size either way, because they are the same bytes.

Which formats work?

MP4, MOV, M4V, MKV and WebM. The container is rewritten by the browser's own media handling, which is also why nothing is uploaded.

Is the file uploaded?

No. The file is rewritten inside your browser and never leaves your device — which is the only arrangement that makes sense for a tool whose job is to remove information you would rather not share.

How do I know it worked?

The page lists what it found before the removal and inspects the result afterwards, so you watch the list go empty. You can also check independently: the properties dialog of whatever application opens the file will show the same thing.

Sometimes the better answer is a different format — especially for a photograph stored as MP4.