How to Remove Metadata From a PDF

Dragging your PDF onto metastrip.ai removes the author name, company, creation dates, revision count, application name, and all embedded XMP metadata in one step — no install, no upload to a server, no account required.

What PDF Metadata Actually Contains

PDF files are not just documents — they are containers with a structured metadata layer that most people never see. There are two locations where this data lives.

The Document Information Dictionary

Every PDF has a standard metadata block inherited from the original PDF specification. It stores:

• Author — the full name of the person who created the document, pulled from the OS account or application profile
• Title — often the document's internal title, which may differ from the filename
• Subject — a description field, sometimes auto-populated
• Keywords — tags added by the creator or application
• Creator — the application used to create the original document (e.g., "Microsoft Word for Microsoft 365")
• Producer — the software that converted it to PDF (e.g., "macOS Version 15.3 Quartz PDFContext")
• CreationDate — when the document was first created, including timezone
• ModDate — the last modification date

XMP Metadata

Modern PDFs also embed XMP (Extensible Metadata Platform) data — an XML block that can duplicate and extend the document information dictionary. XMP metadata often includes:

• Organization or company name
• Document UUID — a unique identifier that can link multiple versions of the same document
• Revision history with timestamps
• Copyright information
• Custom metadata fields added by enterprise document management systems

Together, these two layers can reveal who created a document, at which company, using what software, at what time, and how many times it was revised.

Why This Is a Problem

Legal and Business Documents

A contract, proposal, or report sent as a PDF carries the author's name and company in the metadata. In a negotiation, this can reveal who drafted the document and which party's boilerplate is being used.

Freelancers and Contractors

If you create documents for clients using your own software, the PDF metadata contains your name and your software's name — not the client's. This can expose that a client is outsourcing work they claim to produce internally.

Anonymous Publishing and Whistleblowing

PDFs intended to be shared anonymously — leaked documents, anonymous reports, academic submissions under blind review — frequently reveal their author through metadata. This has caused real-world harm.

Revision Count

The revision count embedded in PDF metadata reveals how much work went into a document. A proposal that shows 47 revisions tells the recipient something about your process. Some document management systems also embed revision diffs.

How to Strip PDF Metadata

MetaStrip handles PDF metadata removal entirely in your browser. Drop the PDF onto the tool, inspect what is present, then download a clean version with all metadata fields cleared. The document content — text, images, formatting, fonts, embedded links — is completely unchanged.

For developers and bulk workflows, the MetaStrip CLI processes PDFs alongside other file types:

metastrip clean ./documents/ --output ./clean/

The --formats pdf flag limits processing to PDFs if you are working with a mixed directory.

Other Methods

Adobe Acrobat Pro includes a Document Properties panel and a Sanitize Document function that removes metadata. It is thorough but requires an Acrobat subscription.

LibreOffice can strip metadata when re-saving a document, though it is inconsistent with XMP fields.

ExifTool reads and writes PDF metadata from the command line:

exiftool -all:all= yourfile.pdf

This strips all metadata but modifies the original file. Use the -o cleanfile.pdf flag to preserve the original.

Before You Send That PDF

Check what your PDFs contain before sharing them. Open any PDF on metastrip.ai and the full metadata inventory appears instantly — author, company, creation software, dates, and XMP data all visible in plain language before you decide what to remove.

See /docs for full documentation on PDF format support.