To remove metadata in Photoshop, use File > Export > Export As and set Metadata to None, or use Save for Web (Legacy) with Metadata set to None. In Lightroom Classic, open the Export dialog, go to the Metadata panel, choose the most limited Include option and tick Remove Person Info and Remove Location Info. The regular Save As command in Photoshop and the "Original" export format in Lightroom keep everything.
What Photoshop and Lightroom put in your files
Before choosing settings, it helps to know what you are dealing with. A photo that passes through an Adobe workflow can carry three layers of information:
- Camera EXIF: make, model, lens, exposure, capture date in
DateTimeOriginal, serial numbers, and GPS coordinates if your camera or phone recorded them. - Your own IPTC and XMP fields: title, caption, keywords, creator, copyright, and location fields such as city and country, often filled in automatically by a metadata preset or from the GPS position.
- Adobe's processing data: XMP written by Photoshop and Camera Raw, including the software name, document and instance IDs, edit history if you enabled the history log, and in Lightroom the develop settings. Photoshop files can also accumulate a
DocumentAncestorslist: identifiers of other documents that were placed or pasted into the image.
None of this is visible in the picture, and all of it travels with a file you email, upload to a portfolio site or send to a client. The good news: both programs let you choose at export time. For the differences between these metadata families, see EXIF vs IPTC vs XMP.
Remove metadata in Photoshop with Export As
Export As is Photoshop's current export dialog for web formats such as JPEG and PNG. It has only two metadata choices, which makes it simple:
- Open your image and choose File > Export > Export As.
- Pick the format (JPG or PNG) and quality on the right.
- Under Metadata, select None. The other choice, Copyright and Contact Info, writes only those IPTC fields.
- Under Color Space, keep Embed Color Profile ticked, or tick Convert to sRGB for web use. This keeps colors correct and does not identify you.
- Click Export and choose a file name.
Export As always creates a new, re-encoded file, so set the JPEG quality high enough for your use. Labels can vary slightly between Photoshop versions, but the Metadata and Color Space sections have kept these names for several releases.
Quick Export uses your export preferences
File > Export > Quick Export as PNG (or JPG) skips the dialog and uses the settings in Edit > Preferences > Export on Windows or Photoshop > Settings > Export on a Mac. Check that the Metadata setting there is None once, and every quick export will follow it.
Remove metadata with Save for Web (Legacy)
The older Save for Web dialog (File > Export > Save for Web (Legacy)) is still included and gives finer control. Its Metadata menu offers five levels:
| Metadata option | What it writes | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| None | No EXIF, IPTC or XMP | Publishing images where you want nothing attached |
| Copyright | Only the copyright notice | Web images where you want a basic claim |
| Copyright and Contact Info | Copyright plus creator contact fields | Portfolio or press images |
| All Except Camera Info | Your IPTC/XMP fields, without camera EXIF | Keeping captions and keywords but not gear details |
| All | Everything, including camera data and GPS | Rarely, for archive copies only |
The Embed Color Profile and Convert to sRGB checkboxes in the same dialog are independent of the metadata setting. Be careful with All Except Camera Info: it removes camera details, but your own IPTC location fields and keywords stay, and they can name a place as precisely as GPS does.
Save for Web has one practical advantage for batches: it can be recorded in an action. Record an action that runs Save for Web with Metadata set to None, then apply it to a folder with File > Automate > Batch.
Save As and Save a Copy keep all metadata
File > Save As and Save a Copy are designed to preserve your document, so they write the full metadata: camera EXIF, GPS, IPTC, and Photoshop's own XMP. A JPEG saved this way from a phone photo still contains its coordinates. If you need to remove metadata in Photoshop, use one of the export commands above rather than Save As.
You can review and edit some fields first in File > File Info. It lets you clear description, keyword, IPTC and copyright fields, but camera EXIF such as the model and exposure is shown for reference rather than as a full removal tool. Treat File Info as a way to inspect and correct, and the export settings as the way to strip.
Content Credentials
Recent versions of Photoshop can attach Content Credentials, a signed record based on the C2PA standard that describes how an image was made or edited, and Adobe applies them to some content produced with its generative AI features. They are stored as an embedded metadata block. If you want your export to carry a verifiable edit history, keep them; if you want a bare file, check your Content Credentials settings before exporting. Our guide to C2PA and Content Credentials explains the trade-off.
Remove metadata in Lightroom Classic on export
Lightroom Classic never modifies your original files; it writes metadata into exported copies according to the Export dialog. Open it with File > Export (Ctrl+Shift+E on Windows, Cmd+Shift+E on a Mac) and scroll to the Metadata panel.
The Include menu
| Include option | What the exported file gets |
|---|---|
| Copyright Only | Only the IPTC copyright fields you filled in |
| Copyright & Contact Info Only | Copyright plus the IPTC creator and contact fields |
| All Except Camera Raw Info | Everything, including camera EXIF, minus your Develop settings |
| All Except Camera & Camera Raw Info | Your titles, captions, keywords and dates, without camera make, model and settings |
| All Metadata | Everything, including Develop settings |
For sharing, Copyright Only is the leanest choice. If your copyright fields are empty, the exported file carries very little beyond what is needed to display it. Order and wording can differ slightly between Lightroom Classic versions.
Remove Person Info and Remove Location Info
Below the Include menu are two checkboxes:
- Remove Person Info drops the names attached to faces you tagged in Lightroom.
- Remove Location Info drops GPS coordinates, whether your camera recorded them or you placed the photo on the map in the Map module.
Both are ticked automatically with the two copyright-only options. With the other Include options, you must tick them yourself. This is the most common mistake: choosing All Except Camera & Camera Raw Info to hide your gear but leaving Remove Location Info unticked, which exports the exact place you stood.
Removing location info does not touch your keywords or captions. If you keyword photos with a street, venue or neighborhood name, or your captions mention where you live, those words are exported with every Include option except the copyright-only ones. Check the keyword list before exporting sensitive images.
Mark sensitive places as private in the Map module
Lightroom Classic can also protect specific places automatically. In the Map module, add a saved location (the + button in the Saved Locations panel) around your home, and enable its Private option. According to Adobe's Map module documentation, location metadata, including GPS coordinates, city and country, is removed on export for photos inside a private location. You can keep location data for travel photos and still never export your home address.
Two exports that always include everything
The Include options apply to JPEG, TIFF and PSD exports. When the file format is Original or DNG, Lightroom writes all metadata. If you send originals or DNGs to someone, clean them separately or export a JPEG instead.
Save it as an export preset
Once your Metadata panel is set, click Add under the preset list on the left of the Export dialog and name it, for example "Web, no metadata". Every export with that preset, including large batches, will use the same settings. Our guide to removing metadata from multiple photos at once compares this with other bulk methods.
Check the exported file
Export settings are easy to get slightly wrong, and a preset made years ago may not match what you think. Export one test image and inspect it:
- On Windows, right-click the file, choose Properties > Details, and look for GPS, camera and author fields.
- On a Mac, open it in Preview and choose Tools > Show Inspector, then check the EXIF, IPTC and GPS tabs if present.
- For a complete view, run
exiftool -a -G1 -s exported.jpg. A file exported with Metadata set to None should show noGPS,IPTCor camera tags.
Our article on checking that metadata was really removed walks through what a clean result looks like on each system.
When you are not at your editing computer
Adobe's export settings only apply to files you export. Images already sitting in a shared folder, a client's download link or your phone were exported earlier, possibly with full metadata. For those, our free metadata remover cleans JPEG, PNG and WebP files in any browser without re-encoding them: it removes EXIF, XMP, IPTC and Content Credentials, keeps only the color profile and orientation flag, and shows a report of what it found. It removes everything, including copyright fields, so for client deliveries where credit matters, the Lightroom or Photoshop options that keep copyright are a better fit. Our guide for photographers deciding which metadata to keep goes deeper into that balance.
Settings checklist
- Photoshop: use Export As or Save for Web, never Save As, for files you share.
- Set Metadata to None, or Copyright and Contact Info if you want credit.
- Keep Embed Color Profile or Convert to sRGB enabled.
- Lightroom Classic: choose Copyright Only or tick both Remove Person Info and Remove Location Info.
- Mark your home as a private location in the Map module.
- Review keywords and captions for place names.
- Avoid Original and DNG exports for sharing.
- Save your settings as a preset and test one export with a metadata viewer.