# Strip Image AI Metadata > Strip C2PA and AI-generation metadata from images (PNG, JPEG, WebP) and their .xmp/.json sidecars, to remove "Generated by AI" / "ChatGPT" / "DALL-E" labels that platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, and X display. Use when the user wants to clean AI-generated images before posting, remove AI attribution from photos, strip C2PA manifests, sanitize image metadata for professional use, or verify whether an image contains C2PA data. - Skill: `getedgehq/strip-image-ai-metadata` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 5 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add getedgehq/strip-image-ai-metadata` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/getedgehq/strip-image-ai-metadata/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Coding & Dev Tools - Author: getedgehq (https://skillmd.com/u/getedgehq) - Updated: 2026-09-22 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/getedgehq/strip-image-ai-metadata --- # Strip Image AI Metadata Platforms like LinkedIn read C2PA metadata embedded by AI image generators (ChatGPT, DALL-E, Midjourney, etc.) and display an attribution label. This skill removes that metadata without re-encoding, so image quality is preserved. ## Supported formats - **PNG**: removes `caBX` chunks, generator text chunks (`parameters`, `prompt`, `workflow` and friends) and AI-related `tEXt`/`iTXt`/`zTXt` chunks, and erases AI attribution tags inside `eXIf` - **JPEG**: removes APP11 C2PA segments and AI-related APP1 (XMP) segments, erases AI attribution tags inside structured EXIF, and cleans the trailer after the `FFD9` end-of-image marker - **WebP**: removes `C2PA` chunks and AI-related `XMP ` chunks, and erases AI attribution tags inside `EXIF` - **Sidecars**: `.xmp` and `.json` files next to the image, or passed directly ## Quick use Run the bundled script on one or more images: ```bash python3 scripts/strip_c2pa.py image.png # strips metadata + renames to IMG_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.png python3 scripts/strip_c2pa.py image.jpg -o cleaned.jpg python3 scripts/strip_c2pa.py *.png python3 scripts/strip_c2pa.py photo.xmp # a sidecar on its own ``` By default the script writes a cleaned copy with a neutral camera-style filename (`IMG_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.`) in the same directory and leaves the original untouched. Use `-i`/`--in-place` to overwrite the original, or `-o` for an explicit output path. **Check the exit code.** `0` means the output is clean. `1` means something is still wrong and the file must not be published. Every failure is also printed. ## Workflow 1. **Inspect** (optional): If the user is unsure whether an image has C2PA metadata, run: ```bash strings -a image.png | grep -i c2pa ``` or read PNG chunks with Python to look for `caBX`. `strings -a` matters: without `-a` some builds skip the trailer that follows the end-of-image marker, which is exactly where a hidden manifest lives. 2. **List the sidecars** before touching the image, so nothing is missed: ```bash ls -1 image.jpg.xmp image.xmp image.jpg.json image.json 2>/dev/null ``` The script finds these itself, but seeing them first tells you what the run should report. 3. **Strip**: Run `scripts/strip_c2pa.py `. The script writes a neutral-named copy by default and reports what was removed, image and sidecars together. 4. **Verify**: The script scans every file it wrote for remaining C2PA/AI signatures. A leftover is reported as `FAILED` and exits `1`, not as a note to skim past. If that happens, do not publish the file. Inspect it with `exiftool -a -G1 -u ` and `strings -a ` and deal with whatever is left by hand before it ships. ## Sidecars Lightroom, Capture One, Bridge and most generation UIs write provenance into a file *beside* the image: `photo.jpg` plus `photo.xmp`, or `photo.png` plus `photo.png.json`. A spotless JPEG shipped next to a sidecar naming the generator is not a clean result. The script handles both naming conventions (`name.ext.xmp` and `name.xmp`, either case) automatically whenever it processes an image, and it accepts a sidecar as a direct argument. - **XMP**: AI provenance is removed property by property. Anything in a `c2pa`/`contentauth` namespace goes, as do properties and attributes whose value names a generator (`xmp:CreatorTool="ChatGPT"`, `Iptc4xmpExt:DigitalSourceType` set to `trainedAlgorithmicMedia`, a `dc:description` that says "Generated with DALL-E 3"). A property left empty by that removal is dropped too. Everything else survives, including Lightroom `crs:` develop settings, ratings, keywords and `dc:creator`. - **JSON**: generator keys (`parameters`, `prompt`, `workflow`, `sd_model`, `c2pa` and friends) are dropped, as is any key or string value naming a generator. The rest of the file keeps its structure. - **Output naming**: the sidecar follows the image. `photo.jpg` plus `photo.xmp` become `IMG_20260915_120000.jpg` plus `IMG_20260915_120000.xmp`, so the pair stays matched. With `-i` both are rewritten in place. - **Unparseable sidecar**: if the XML or JSON does not parse, the script refuses. It leaves that file untouched, prints `FAILED sidecar`, names any AI signatures it can still see in the raw bytes, and exits `1`. Delete the sidecar or fix it by hand; do not ship the pair. If the image itself is already clean but a sidecar is not, the script still writes the cleaned pair and says so. ## The JPEG trailer after FFD9 `FFD9` ends the JPEG codestream. Bytes after it are invisible to every decoder, which makes them a convenient hiding place, and a C2PA manifest parked there is still read by the platforms this skill exists to defeat. `exiftool -all=` does not remove it either. The script cleans that region: - A C2PA JUMBF manifest box is removed. - An appended image (MPO/MPF multi-picture, common on phones) carries real pixels, so it is cleaned recursively rather than dropped. - Any other trailer data carrying an AI signature is dropped whole, with its byte count and the signatures found reported. - A trailer with no AI signature is left alone. To confirm by hand that nothing is hiding back there. `rfind` is used because an EXIF thumbnail contains its own `FFD9`, so the first one in the file is usually not the real end of image: ```bash python3 - <<'PY' from pathlib import Path d = Path('image.jpg').read_bytes() i = d.rfind(b'\xFF\xD9') print('bytes after the final EOI:', len(d) - (i + 2)) print(d[i+2:i+200]) PY ``` ## EXIF attribution Structured EXIF is not deleted wholesale, because it carries orientation, colour and the embedded thumbnail. Instead the attribution tags are erased in place: `ImageDescription`, `DocumentName`, `Make`, `Model`, `Software`, `Artist`, `Copyright`, `UserComment`, the Windows `XP*` tags, `CameraOwnerName`, `LensMake` and `LensModel`, in IFD0, the Exif sub-IFD and the thumbnail IFD1. A tag is only erased when its value names a generator, so `Artist: Jane Doe` and a real camera's `Make`/`Model` survive while `Software: DALL-E 3` does not. The value bytes are overwritten with zeros rather than merely unreferenced, so nothing is left for `strings` to find, and no bytes move, so orientation and the thumbnail stay valid. The EXIF block comes out exactly the same length. To audit what is left: ```bash exiftool -a -G1 -u -Software -Artist -ImageDescription -Copyright -UserComment -XP:all image.jpg ``` ## What this does NOT do - It does not remove visible watermarks baked into pixels. - It does not touch EXIF tags outside the attribution list above, so a MakerNote, an ICC profile description or an APP13/APP14 record naming a generator survives. These affect rendering or are vendor-opaque, so they are reported rather than guessed at: the final scan flags them and exits `1`. - It does not re-encode, so file size and image quality are unchanged (except for the removed metadata). - It does not upload anything or call any network service. ## When to re-encode instead If the platform still shows an AI label after stripping, the attribution might be baked into pixels or stored in a non-C2PA format. In that case, use ImageMagick to decode and re-encode: ```bash convert input.png -strip output.png ``` This is lossless for PNG but may cause slight quality loss for JPEG. Note that `-strip` drops orientation too, so check that the result is not rotated.