EXIF & metadata remover for Windows
Photos, documents and videos carry hidden GPS positions, names, camera serial numbers and comment authors. Vow Metadata Remover shows you all of it, removes it in one click without re-encoding a single pixel, and reads every clean file again to prove it's gone. Nothing is uploaded.
The problem
A holiday photo can carry the GPS position of where it was taken. A Word file carries your name, your company and who commented on what.
Phones can write the GPS position into each photo. Share the original and anyone can find the place on a map.
Online EXIF removers want your private photos and documents on their servers first.
Crude removers strip the rotation tag too, or recompress the picture and shift its colours.
Author, company, last saved by, comment authors and the photos pasted inside all travel with the file.
Some tools only append new properties to a PDF, so the earlier ones can still be recovered.
Many removers hand back a file and a promise, with no before-and-after to show what actually went.
Vow Metadata Remover fixes all of it.
How it works
See exactly what a file gives away, then remove it in one click, with the result checked.
Drag in photos, documents, videos or whole folders, press Ctrl+O or paste with Ctrl+V. Files are recognised by their content, not their name.
Each file shows red Location and Names pills and amber Device, Dates and History. Click one to see every item, with its GPS on a map.
Press Remove metadata. Clean copies are saved beside the originals, and each one is read again to prove the data is gone.
Features
For anyone posting photos, sending documents or selling things online.
GPS positions and place names, plus GoPro, Google CAMM, Sony and DJI GPS telemetry tracks in videos, found and removed.
Pictures, video and audio are never decoded or re-encoded: same pixels, same quality, same speed.
The rotation and colour profile are kept by default, so photos don't turn sideways or change colour.
Author, company, editing time, comment and tracked-change authors, the preview picture and the GPS of photos inside.
The PDF is rewritten as one revision, so earlier versions of its properties go too, along with XMP and annotation authors.
MP4, MOV, AVI, MP3, FLAC, WAV and M4A: creation dates, make, model, author and tags, removed in place.
Every clean file is inspected again and pictures are decoded with Windows' own codecs; a file that fails is never saved.
Every item grouped into categories with risk colours and the GPS position on a map. Export the report as TXT, CSV or JSON.
Remove every personal detail, only GPS and place names, or the categories you pick, and keep copyright credit if you like.
Clean any number of files and folders in one go, or right-click files in Explorer and choose Remove metadata (Vow).
Light & dark theme
Metadata Remover comes with a crisp light theme and a calm dark theme. Switch with one click, or let it follow your Windows setting by itself. It remembers your choice.
Screenshots
Real screenshots of the real app, in both of its themes: 4 light, 4 dark. Click any picture to see it full size.
Light theme
Dark theme
Who it's for
Post photos of what you're selling without the GPS position of your home inside them.
Clean holiday and family photos before they go to people you don't know.
Strip author names, company details and comment authors from Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files.
Remove camera serial numbers, dates and locations that could point back to a photographer.
Remove GPS telemetry tracks from GoPro, DJI and other videos before you post them.
See exactly what each file reveals, then decide what to share.
Compare
Online EXIF removers, basic strippers and built-in options, compared.
| Feature | Vow Metadata Remover | Typical EXIF removers & built-in tools |
|---|---|---|
| Your files are uploaded | Never: 100% on your PC | Yes, for online removers |
| Re-encodes pictures | Never: lossless | Some recompress |
| Keeps rotation and colours | Yes, by default | Often stripped too |
| Shows before and after | Yes, every file verified | Rarely |
| Cleans photos inside documents | Yes | Rarely |
| Removes earlier PDF versions | Rewritten as one revision | Some only append changes |
| GPS telemetry in videos | GoPro, CAMM, Sony, DJI tracks zeroed | Rarely handled |
| Batches, folders and Explorer menu | Yes, with Unlimited | Often missing |
| Ads and watermarks | None | Common on free tools |
"Typical" describes what we found across the most-downloaded alternatives when we built Metadata Remover. Your mileage with any one of them may vary; ours won't.
Pricing
That is not a typo. Software this powerful usually means a monthly subscription; Metadata Remover is $4.95, once, for life: it's almost a giveaway. Use it free for as long as you like, and unlock Unlimited only if you need more.
See everything in any file, clean 10 photos a day.
Almost a giveaway. Less than a coffee for software this powerful: no subscription, no renewals, yours for life on 2 PCs.
Batches and folders, documents, video, music, right-click menu.
Payments by Stripe: we never see or store your card. Questions? Ask a real person.
Clean software
Most "free" Windows downloads pay for themselves with ads, bundled extras or your data. Vow Metadata Remover doesn't need to: it's paid for honestly, once, by the people who find it useful.
Download Metadata Remover freeStep-by-step guide
Strip location, names and camera details from a photo in under a minute, without uploading it anywhere.
Step 1: get it freeDownload it from this page and run the installer. It needs no administrator rights and no account, and nothing you add is ever uploaded.
Drag the photo in or press Ctrl+O. Red pills show Location and Names; amber pills show Device, Dates and History.
Click the file to see every item by category. If it records a GPS position, Show on a map opens the exact place.
All removes every personal detail; Location removes only GPS and place names. Under Advanced, keep the rotation, colour profile or copyright credit.
Press the button or Ctrl+Enter. A clean copy is saved next to the original as name_clean.jpg and read again to check, with What changed, Before and After in the details.
Technical details
FAQ
Yes. You can see everything inside any supported file for free, and clean photos one at a time, 10 a day, with every cleaning mode, verification and no watermarks. The count resets at midnight. Unlimited, a one-time $4.95 USD payment, adds batches and whole folders, documents, videos and music, and the Explorer right-click menu.
No. Everything happens on your PC, nothing is uploaded and nothing is downloaded at run time. The app works offline.
No. Pictures, video and audio are never decoded or re-encoded, so you keep the same pixels and the same quality. The rotation and colour profile are kept by default, so photos don't turn sideways or change colour.
Exif (GPS, camera make, model and serial numbers, lens, owner, dates, maker notes, thumbnail), XMP, IPTC, Photoshop resources, comments, C2PA Content Credentials and hidden data after the end of a JPEG, such as motion-photo video and depth maps.
Yes, with Unlimited. It removes the author, company, dates and other properties, the preview picture, comment and tracked-change authors (anonymised to "Author") and the GPS from photos inside. PDFs are rewritten as one revision, so earlier versions of their properties are gone too.
Not by default. Clean copies are saved beside the originals as name_clean.jpg, or in a folder you choose. If you pick Replace, the old versions go to the Recycle Bin. A clean file that fails the check is never saved, and the original stays untouched.
Old Office 97-2003 .doc, .xls and .ppt files (save them as .docx first), camera raw files other than DNG, password-protected documents and BigTIFF. The app shows the reason for each.
Yes. It is made and published by XTO Pty Ltd, an Australian company. There are no ads and no bundled software, it installs per user without administrator rights, and it uninstalls cleanly from Windows Settings, removing its right-click menu entries.
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