How to Remove Hidden Data & Metadata from WAV Files


WAV audio files can contain a wealth of hidden data & metadata. While hidden data & metadata are useful for finding files, they pose privacy and confidentiality risks when the files are shared. The hidden data often contains private and sensitive information, that if unintentionally exposed can cause the file creator and his organization embarrassment with possible financial and legal implications.

WAV /BWF audio files might contain a large number of various metadata elements. The hidden data & metadata could be in the form of INFO metadata, Exif data, Broadcast Audio Extension, axml chunk, (including ISRC) iXML metadata, XMP metadata, ID3 tag, cart chunk, and other hidden data.

"Remove Properties and Personal Information" doesn't supports WAV

Windows® has a very limited built-in metadata remover - the "Remove Properties and Personal Information" feature. This feature supports nine notable file formats, but WAV is not one of them! If the user will attempt to remove properties from a WAV file with this feature by selecting "Create a copy with all possible properties removed", it will create a completely identical copy of the original file, without warning the user that nothing in fact has been removed from it.

The Windows File Properties Viewer can only show a small number of INFO properties in WAV files. It doesn't supports any of the many other types of hidden data & metadata that WAV files may contain, and therefore one should not rely on this viewer to asses the risk involved in sharing WAV files, and should clean every file before sharing it with others using a relible hidden data & metadata remover that supports WAV.

Removing hidden data & metadata from multiple WAV files at once

To remove hidden data & metadata from WAV files, one must use a software that was designed specifically for this purpose. BatchPurifier™ can permanently remove hidden data & metadata from multiple files at once. It supports multiple types of document, image, and media file formats, including WAV files. It's an offline privacy-oriented desktop application for Windows®, and has a broad-spectrum of supported hidden data types.

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