Remove EXIF and Metadata from PNG Online

Protecting digital privacy in PNG screenshots and artwork

Many users assume that privacy risks associated with embedded metadata only affect JPEG camera photographs. However, Portable Network Graphics (PNG) files frequently harbor sensitive background information. Digital illustration applications, graphic design software, and desktop operating systems routinely append hidden metadata into PNG structures whenever you save an artwork or capture a desktop screenshot.

Text and EXIF chunks can contain author details, comments, software names, timestamps, or other information added by an editor. Using our remove EXIF tool, you can strip supported EXIF and text metadata from PNG assets losslessly inside your browser.

What hidden metadata lives inside a PNG file?

A standard PNG file consists of a standardized 8-byte signature followed by a series of structured chunks. While critical chunks like IHDR and IDAT store image dimensions and compressed pixel payloads, ancillary chunks store auxiliary information that is invisible during ordinary viewing:

• eXIf chunks: Introduced in recent PNG extensions to store standard digital camera EXIF blocks, including orientation, camera model, and exposure data.
• tEXt, zTXt, and iTXt chunks: Textual key-value pairs that store author names, copyright statements, software titles (such as Photoshop, GIMP, or Figma build tags), creation dates, and original project directory paths.
• tIME chunks: Precise timestamps recording the exact second the graphic was last altered or exported on your machine.
• pHYs and cHRM chunks: Physical pixel dimensions and chromaticity calibration headers that may disclose device display configurations.

Before stripping, if you want to inspect what information is currently embedded in your files, you can examine headers with our view EXIF data tool. If you are processing camera photography in other formats, visit our remove EXIF from JPG tool.

Bit-for-bit lossless chunk sanitization

Unlike inferior online tools that decode images onto a canvas and re-encode them—inevitably altering pixel hashes or degrading transparency masks—our engine performs precision byte-level chunk filtering:

1. Binary signature verification: The cleaner verifies the valid 8-byte PNG header (\x89PNG\r\n\x1a\n).
2. Chunk traversal: The parser steps sequentially through the chunk sequence, reading chunk lengths, 4-character type codes, and CRC checksums.
3. Metadata chunk stripping: Metadata chunks (eXIf, tEXt, zTXt, and iTXt) are cleanly omitted from the output buffer.
4. Zero pixel alteration: Image headers (IHDR), palette data (PLTE), transparency definitions (tRNS), and pixel data streams (IDAT) are copied verbatim without re-encoding.

Because the visual pixel data is never modified or resampled, your graphics remain completely lossless with 100% color accuracy. After cleaning, you can also reduce raw file weight with our compress PNG tool.

Complete client-side confidentiality for digital artists

Digital illustrators, software engineers, and privacy-focused professionals often share screenshots and graphic deliverables on public forums, client repositories, and social channels. Uploading proprietary project files to third-party web tools to remove metadata creates an ironic privacy breach by exposing the very assets you wish to protect.

Glowpixel Labs performs metadata extraction and PNG chunk filtering entirely in client-side JavaScript within your browser sandbox. The image is not uploaded or retained on a server. Review our complete security standards in our official privacy policy.