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