It seems that the only data left in the picture is something that we can see with the naked eye, i.e. a human face, buildings in the background and the like. Nothing could be more wrong! When taking a photo, almost every camera leaves additional EXIF data, which informs, e.g. about the matrix used, the name of the equipment and many other things depending on the manufacturer’s intention.
Sample EXIF data may look like this:
Date / time: 28.03.2017 9:50:34
Width: 1080
Height: 1920
Orientation: 90
File size: 2.55 MB
Manufacturer: Samsung
Model: S6
Flash: Without lamp
Focal length: 5.5 mm
White balance: Automatic.
Aperture: 2.67
Exposure time: 1/2
ISO: 533
The data is made up, but that’s about it. There may be more information, maybe less – it is the application that saves such an image. Some information can put us in some danger and reveal our identity, so it’s worth knowing how to delete such information.
How to remove EXIF data from a photo on Linux?
We will use a simple exiv2 tool for this . Install them:
sudo apt-get install exiv2
To view the EXIF data for a given file, type:
exiv2 plik.jpeg
What if I want to delete EXIF data from all files in a given directory?
Nothing simpler:
exiv2 rm *.png
It just works for files with PNG extension, but you can change it as you like.
