How to Remove Hidden Data & Metadata from WebP Files


WebP image 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.

WebP image files might contain a large number of various metadata elements. The metadata could be in the form of Exif data or XMP metadata.

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

Windows® has a very limited built-in metadata remover - the "Remove Properties and Personal Information" feature. This feature supports nine notable file formats, but WebP is not one of them! If the user will attempt to remove properties from a WebP 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 doesn't supports WebP either, and therefore one should not rely on this viewer to asses the risk involved in sharing WebP files, and should clean every file before sharing it with others using a relible hidden data & metadata remover that supports WebP.

Removing hidden data & metadata from multiple WebP files at once

To remove hidden data & metadata from WebP files, one must use a software that was designed specifically for this purpose. BatchPurifier™ is such software, and can permanently remove hidden data & metadata from multiple files at once. It supports multiple types of document, image, and media file formats, including WebP 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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