The Best EXIF Metadata Remover for Mac in 2026

ExifCleaner is a desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux. Its own page says you drag files or folders onto the window and that it handles batches of tens, hundreds or even thousands of files. It lists JPEG, PNG, WebP, TIFF, GIF, MP4, MOV, M4A and PDF, and says there is no network access and no telemetry, with the source linked so you can check.

It earns the top spot because it is free, local, and needs no Terminal. Its project page is also unusually frank about limits: it says it cannot securely erase PDF metadata, that TIFF removal may be partial, that it refuses RAF files, and that metadata removal is not guaranteed to be complete. That honesty is worth something when privacy is the point.

Practical notes from the project page: it needs macOS 12 or later, and the app is not code-signed, which its maintainers explain by the cost of Apple certificates. Version 4.0 is the first release since v3.6.0 in May 2021. Pick it if you want a free app and your files are photos or video, not PDFs.

ExifTool is a Perl library with a command-line application. Its page lists version 13.59, dated May 27, 2026, and says it deletes metadata individually, in groups or altogether, and never makes an internet connection. On a Mac you install the .pkg from its download page, then run exiftool -all= photo.jpg.

This is where it beats every app here: it is the only one that also edits metadata. Fix a wrong timestamp, write a copyright line, remove only GPS, keep the color profile. Our Terminal guide has the exact commands. It is also fast on folders. In our measurement, one ExifTool process cleared 50 JPEGs in 465 ms, while a shell loop over the same files took 4,874 ms (source and conditions).

The cost is that you must be comfortable in Terminal, and that a careless command leaves location fields behind: removing only GPS tags left place names in the IPTC and XMP blocks in that same test. Pick it if you will type a command, or if you need to edit rather than delete.

Smol is our app. It has a strip-metadata operation that is separate from compression: it removes EXIF, GPS, IPTC and XMP from images without re-encoding them, and clears document properties from PDFs. By default it writes a copy beside the original, so the original stays untouched. Drag in files or whole folders, or use the Finder Quick Action or a watched folder. Nothing is uploaded and there is no account.

Where it is not the best: on a folder of 50 geotagged JPEGs, our own measurement had Smol taking 5,281 ms against 465 ms for ExifTool. You are paying for the drop target, not a faster stripper (details). It cannot edit metadata, and a stripped PDF can be restored by a free tool unless the file is rewritten afterward (PDF guide).

It earns a place if you also compress or convert the same files, or if teammates will not install Homebrew. Image compression strips metadata by default, so one pass can do both. There is no free trial and purchases are not refundable. Pricing: Solo $29 once for one Mac. Requires macOS 13 or later on Apple Silicon, or macOS 14 or later on Intel.

Open the photo in Preview and choose Tools › Show Location Info. Apple’s guide says the menu item appears in gray if the image has no location information. For a geotagged photo our guide documents a Remove Location Info button in the inspector.

The important word is location. In our earlier guide, that button was scoped to GPS data: on the test photo, the camera body serial number, capture time and three IPTC fields naming the neighborhood and city all remained (details).

That makes it the right tool for a photo you are texting to a friend, and the wrong one for a photo going on a public page. It is also one file at a time. Pick it when location is your only worry and you want nothing to install.

In Photos, File › Export is Apple’s documented route to a copy outside your library. Our guide found three metadata checkboxes in the export dialog, including Location Information, and unchecking it keeps the coordinates out of the exported file.

Two limits matter. You are cleaning an exported copy, not your library. And the other metadata is not the point of this checkbox, so treat it as a location filter, not a full cleaner. Our GPS guide covers the iPhone setting that stops location at the source.

Pick it when your photos already live in the library, you are sharing a handful, and location is the concern. Skip it for folders of files that never went through Photos.

ImageOptim is free and open source and needs macOS 11 or later. Its page says it removes EXIF metadata, such as GPS position and the camera’s serial number, and that there is an option to keep the metadata. Lossless is the default, and the page says it exactly preserves image quality; lossy compression is optional.

Metadata removal here is a side effect of optimizing, and you can switch it off. The page does not list exactly which fields go in each format, so use it when you want smaller files and a cleaner header, not when you need a documented guarantee about specific tags.

Its measured strength is lossless optimizing; our ImageOptim head-to-head and the benchmark hold the conditions. It handles images, not PDFs or video. Pick it if you already use it for web images and want one less step.