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Posted on Mar 29

WordPress MU Plugin that will automatically strip image metadata from uploaded images

#wordpress #exif #iptc #privacy

We're excited to introduce Clean Image Metadata, a lightweight and powerful must-use plugin for WordPress that automatically removes all embedded metadata from images as they are uploaded to your site.

No configuration. No UI. Just clean, metadata-free images—by default.

What It Does

Clean Image Metadata automatically strips sensitive and unnecessary metadata from images during upload. This includes:

EXIF data (e.g., camera make/model, GPS coordinates, timestamp)
IPTC data (e.g., copyright info, keywords, captions)
XMP data (e.g., AI generation markers, editing history)
Any other embedded metadata commonly stored in image files

All this happens silently in the background, with no user action needed.

Why install it on your WordPress website?

We've listed some reasons below that may warrant the use of a MU plugin like this:

Privacy

Removes GPS location data
Strips device/software identifiers
Eliminates potentially identifying timestamps

Reducing Bias

Removes AI attribution data to prevent content discrimination
Helps ensure content is judged purely on merit—not metadata

Technical Benefits

Smaller file sizes in some cases
Reduced risk of metadata-based vulnerabilities
Cleaner, leaner media library for developers and editors

How to Install

As a must-use (MU) plugin, installation is simple:

Upload the clean-image-meta.php file to your WordPress site's: /wp-content/mu-plugins/ folder
That’s it. The plugin activates automatically.

If the mu-plugins folder doesn't exist, just create it.

How It Works

Hooks into WordPress’s image upload process
Uses PHP’s GD library to strip metadata
Falls back to ImageMagick if needed
Preserves image quality and works with: -- JPEG -- PNG -- WebP -- GIF
Applies to both original uploads and generated thumbnails/sizes

🧪 Troubleshooting Tips

Make sure GD or ImageMagick is installed on your server

How to Download

This is a free release. Please visit our product page here for information on how to download: Clean Image Metadata

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