Deleting metadata from files
Housekeeping
Digital camera images often reveal personal information embedded in metadata. Several Linux tools let you remove unwanted metadata to help preserve your privacy.
The progressive digitalization of all areas of life makes it difficult to cope with the growing flood of data. Many users like to share photos taken with their smartphones or webcams, music and video files, and even PDF documents on the Internet. However, all of these file formats contain metadata that can be read with various programs and often reveals private information about the file's creator. Before you publish files on the Internet, you should first check for unwanted metadata and remove sensitive information to protect your privacy. This article looks at some Linux tools that will help you delete metadata from your files at the push of a button.
The Purpose of Metadata
Metadata is usually generated on the basis of defined specifications and intended to record certain characteristics of the files concerned. For example, in the case of image and video files, this metadata includes the camera model and the photo's technical settings. Often the metadata also includes time and date stamps and – if supported and activated on the hardware side – the GPS coordinates where the photo was taken. For all file formats, the author can also be listed in the metadata to make it easier to prove copyright infringements. In addition, the metadata can be used to keyword the files in order to categorize them and make them easier to find in applications such as image collections.
Standards
For video and image files, Exif, IPTC, and XMP are the standards for generating metadata. The respective data can be found in fixed data fields in the files' headers.
The International Press Telecommunications Council – Information Interchange Model (IPTC-IIM) specification [1] was defined as early as 1991 and can be used for all digital media.
More targeted to technical details, the much younger Exchangeable Image File Format (Exif) standard [2] is used on almost all common smartphones and digital cameras to provide images with metadata. Exif's last specification dates from 2010 and was last revised in 2019.
The Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) [3] container format, similar to Exif, primarily maps the metadata for image files. However, XMP, which was developed by Adobe about 20 years ago, can also store free text and is therefore popular with applications such as Lightroom or darktable. All Adobe products support XMP.
Reading and Editing
Reading metadata does not require any special application software: The file managers of all common desktop interfaces can handle the existing standards. The file managers usually show some of the identified metadata when you view a file, for example, in an image viewer. In many cases, you can also display the most important metadata in a context menu in the respective file manager's Properties dialog (Figure 1). However, to edit metadata, you need special applications that usually focus on one of the existing specifications.
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Canonical Bumps LTS Support to 12 years
If you're worried that your Ubuntu LTS release won't be supported long enough to last, Canonical has a surprise for you in the form of 12 years of security coverage.
-
Fedora 40 Beta Released Soon
With the official release of Fedora 40 coming in April, it's almost time to download the beta and see what's new.
-
New Pentesting Distribution to Compete with Kali Linux
SnoopGod is now available for your testing needs
-
Juno Computers Launches Another Linux Laptop
If you're looking for a powerhouse laptop that runs Ubuntu, the Juno Computers Neptune 17 v6 should be on your radar.
-
ZorinOS 17.1 Released, Includes Improved Windows App Support
If you need or desire to run Windows applications on Linux, there's one distribution intent on making that easier for you and its new release further improves that feature.
-
Linux Market Share Surpasses 4% for the First Time
Look out Windows and macOS, Linux is on the rise and has even topped ChromeOS to become the fourth most widely used OS around the globe.
-
KDE’s Plasma 6 Officially Available
KDE’s Plasma 6.0 "Megarelease" has happened, and it's brimming with new features, polish, and performance.
-
Latest Version of Tails Unleashed
Tails 6.0 is based on Debian 12 and includes GNOME 43.
-
KDE Announces New Slimbook V with Plenty of Power and KDE’s Plasma 6
If you're a fan of KDE Plasma, you'll be thrilled to hear they've announced a new Slimbook with an AMD CPU and the latest version of KDE Plasma desktop.
-
Monthly Sponsorship Includes Early Access to elementary OS 8
If you want to get a glimpse of what's in the pipeline for elementary OS 8, just set up a monthly sponsorship to help fund its continued existence.