Secure

Remove metadata from a PDF, and see it proved

Take your name off the file.

On this device

Take the metadata off

The document is read in this tab and never sent anywhere. You will be shown what was removed, by name.

    Opened on this device · never transmitted

    What this tool does, exactly

    A PDF keeps who made it in two places. Your reader's properties dialog shows one of them; the other is an XMP packet beside it, holding the same facts as XML. This tool removes both, then searches the finished bytes for every value it took out.

    The two places
    The Info dictionary holds the title, author, subject, keywords, creator, producer and the two timestamps — that is what a reader's document-properties dialog shows and what its clear button clears. Beside it sits an XMP packet: the same facts again as XML, written by whatever produced the file, which that button does not touch.
    Why that matters
    A file whose properties look empty routinely still carries the author's full name, the licensed copy of the software that made it and the minute it was written, two objects away, in plain text. That is what a recipient's own tooling reads.
    The dates are removed, not zeroed
    Some tools set the timestamps to the moment you cleaned the file, which is itself a fact about you. The keys are deleted here, so the finished document does not answer the question at all.
    What it does not touch
    The pages. Text, images, annotations, form fields and page order come through exactly as they were — this tool changes what the file says about its origin and nothing about its content.
    What it proves
    Every value found before the strip is searched for again in the finished bytes: the properties must be empty, no XMP packet may remain, none of the values may appear anywhere in the file, and every page must still be there. If any of the four fails, there is no download.

    About this tool

    I already cleared the document properties. Is that not enough?

    Usually not. That dialog edits one of the two places a PDF keeps this, and the XMP packet beside it holds the same facts as XML — your name, the software, the timestamps — where the dialog does not look. This tool removes both and then searches the finished file for the values it took out, so you can see rather than assume.

    Does this change how my document looks?

    No. Pages, text, images, annotations, form fields and page order are untouched. What changes is what the file says about who made it and when.

    Is my file uploaded?

    No. This is a static page with no endpoint to upload to: the document is read, stripped and checked in this browser tab. Open your browser's network panel while you use it, or disconnect from the internet once the page has loaded and watch it keep working.

    What about the metadata inside images in the PDF?

    This tool removes the document's own metadata, not camera data carried inside an image that was placed on a page. If that is what you need gone, the image tools on this site strip camera metadata when they re-encode a picture, and the redaction tool rebuilds pages as images and carries none of it across.

    Can I do this to a password-protected PDF?

    Not directly — an encrypted file cannot be read without its password. Remove the password with the unlock tool on this site, then strip the copy it gives you.

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