Removing exif data using Linux exiftool

How to remove exif data from photos

Here’s a handy linux command line tool that rcan remove all exif data from your photographs. This one I use to remove the exif data from my photographs before I publish them to my website.

These instructions are aimed at people who use linux as their daily driver (like myself), if you use a debian based distribution, then all the instructions below will apply.

If you use a distribution not based on debian, then the install syntax will vary accordingly.

Removing EXIF is a smart idea, particularly if you’re especially privacy-conscious however, your biggest concern is most likely the geolocation information.

Install the appication

sudo apt install exiftool

Show the metadata

exiftool photo.jpg

Show metedata for all *.jpg files. Note: The extension is case sensitive

exiftool -ext jpg .

Same as above, but include sub directories

exiftool -r -ext jpg .

Remove all metadata

exiftool -all= -overwrite_original photo.jpg

Remove all metadata of all *.jpg files in the current directory

exiftool -all= -overwrite_original -ext jpg .

Does the same as above, but includes subdirectories

exiftool -all= -r -overwrite_original -ext jpg .

Remove all GPS metadata of *.jpg files in the current directory

exiftool -gps:all= *.jpg

References

• Linux Nightly online Linux Magazine.
• Removing exif data using other operating systems