> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.apiany.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Remove image metadata

> Remove embedded metadata from a static JPEG, PNG or WebP and download a cleaned PNG.

Send one image to `POST /api/free/remove-image-metadata` using your APIAny API key.
The response is a downloadable PNG, not a metadata JSON report.

```bash theme={null}
curl --fail-with-body -X POST "https://apiany.ai/api/free/remove-image-metadata" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIANY_API_KEY" \
  -F "image=@photo.jpg" \
  --output cleaned-photo.png
```

## Input and output

* Required multipart field: `image`.
* Input: one static JPEG, PNG or WebP; up to 30 MiB and 8192 pixels per side.
* Output: `image/png`, `Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="cleaned-photo.png"`.
* Output files are limited to 64 MiB. Unsupported, animated, damaged or oversized files are rejected.
* EXIF orientation is applied before metadata is discarded. Colors are normalized to sRGB, transparency is retained, and the image is not resized.
* PNG encoding is lossless, but color normalization and orientation can change pixel representation. The file is not guaranteed to be byte-identical or pixel-identical to every source color space. PNG output can be substantially larger than the source.

Source EXIF (including embedded GPS), XMP, IPTC and text metadata are not copied to the new PNG. Necessary PNG image structure remains. This is not a visible watermark remover, a forensic eraser, or a promise about AI detector results. Keep original files when you need authorship, licensing or provenance records.

The `X-Input-Metadata` response header contains JSON with safe source properties only:
`format`, `width`, `height`, `space`, `channels`, `hasAlpha`, `orientation`, and `pages`.
Private tag values are not included. This header describes the input; it is not an exhaustive inventory of removed fields.

## Browser tool and existing readers

The [online metadata remover](https://apiany.ai/free-api/remove-image-metadata) uses the same operation without asking for an API key. Selecting a file previews it locally; running the tool uploads it for server processing. The original file on your device is not overwritten.

The existing [image metadata reader](https://apiany.ai/free-api/image-metadata) and [batch metadata inspector](https://apiany.ai/free-api/batch-image-metadata) continue to return technical properties as JSON. They do not clean files. Batch removal is not provided by this endpoint.

## Errors and access

Programmatic calls require an active APIAny API key. The shared Free API account limits apply. Online requests use the website's shared online limits.

* `400`: missing, unsupported, animated, damaged or oversized input, or output above the size limit.
* `401`: missing or invalid API key.
* `429`: shared request limit exceeded; respect `Retry-After` when present.

Check the HTTP status and `Content-Type` before saving a response as an image. Failed requests return an API error rather than a cleaned PNG.


This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.