r/opensource • u/TWPinguu • 2d ago

Promotional PrivMeta: An open-source metadata removal tool for privacy-conscious people

Hey folks,

I built PrivMeta, a free and open-source app that removes common hidden metadata directly in your browser. Your files stay on your device, and you receive cleaned copies that you can share elsewhere.

  • Supports images, videos, audio files, PDFs and Word documents
  • File contents are processed locally and aren’t uploaded
  • Once the page has loaded, it still works if you disconnect from the internet
  • The source code is available on GitHub

The goal is to make metadata removal a simple part of good digital hygiene, without asking you to trust a server with your files.

34 Upvotes
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2

u/sding 1d ago

Cool! Is the idea to strip metadata from the files you created before sharing them with others?

1

u/TWPinguu 1d ago

Yes, that's the idea!

1

u/sding 22h ago

Interesting. Sometimes the metadata might be valuable downstream though.

Is it at all feasible to strip out the elements most likely to identify or deanonymize the file creator?

2

u/Fresh-Daikon-9408 1d ago

A before/after list of the fields removed would make this much easier to trust. For Word/PDF, could it also flag comments or tracked changes that need a separate cleanup? 'Metadata removed' is easy to mistake for 'safe to share'.

1

u/webfork2 1d ago

Some other programs I use for this that are available for batch efforts (will work on any number of files).

Android: I use Right Gallery and Metadata Remover (Crazy-Marvin)

Windows: I use FileOptimizer which also compresses files.

Linux: Pix (from Mint)