How CleanCopy works

What CleanCopy does with a photo, PDF or video, and what it leaves alone. Your original is never changed.

What CleanCopy does

• Reads the photo you choose and lists the metadata it finds: location, camera and date tags, embedded previews, descriptions and edit history, and C2PA manifests. It cleans JPEG, HEIC, PNG, WebP, AVIF, GIF and TIFF photos, including animated GIFs.
• Makes a new copy of the photo without that metadata, except a C2PA manifest if you choose to keep it. Your original is never changed.
• Checks the copy and lists only the checks that ran. If a check could not run, the report says so.
• A camera RAW photo cannot be cleaned without changing its image data. If CleanCopy can read it, you can save a clean JPEG copy instead. That copy is converted, not your original RAW file. Some RAW types are not supported yet.
• Optionally, a cleaned photo can also be saved as a sized copy: a new JPEG padded to a set shape. It is not offered if you chose to keep a C2PA manifest, because drawing the picture again would drop it.
• Optionally, with CleanCopy Pro, the Library tab finds duplicate, similar and blurry photos on this device and lets you delete the ones you select. Nothing is deleted unless you select it and confirm.

PDF files

• Use Inspect a PDF on the start screen. CleanCopy lists what the PDF carries, such as the author, the program that made it, dates, comments, attachments and signatures. Your original is not changed.
• After you look, you can save a cleaned copy as a new file. The Title, comment authors, attachments and a signature are removed only if you choose.
• This is not redaction. It does not read or judge what the pages say, and it does not black out any text.
• Photos inside a PDF are reported, not removed, in this version.

Videos

• Video cleaning is for MOV, MP4 and M4V files, one video at a time. Looking at what a video carries is free: the location (rounded to three decimals), the creation time and the camera or app name the file records, and whether it has a C2PA manifest. CleanCopy does not keep them.
• Cleaning is part of CleanCopy Pro. It writes a copy the same size as the original: the picture, sound and timing are copied unchanged, and the location, creation and modification times, camera and app names and other tags in the file's header are blanked. If you choose, the C2PA manifest is removed from the copy too.
• The report lists the checks that ran. A video with a C2PA manifest is cleaned only if you choose to remove the manifest; otherwise it is left unchanged and nothing is written.
• The share sheet takes one video at a time. Looking at what it carries is free; cleaning it is part of CleanCopy Pro.
• Not covered: a Live Photo's video, HDR, Dolby Vision, Cinematic, spatial or slow-motion video. A video split into fragments, a protected (encrypted) video, a damaged or incomplete one, and one the check cannot compare are refused with a plain reason and nothing is written.

What this does not remove

• The picture itself, including anything built into its pixels such as invisible watermarks.
• Anything a platform learns another way or detects from the picture.
• The video part of a Live Photo. CleanCopy cleans the still image only, and the copy has no video. Your original Live Photo, with its video, is not changed.
• A sized copy is drawn again at a new size and saved as a JPEG, so its pixels are not the same as your original's. It does not carry a Live Photo's video or the HDR (gain map) information of a HEIC photo, and flattens any transparency onto the pad colour. From an animated GIF it uses the first frame only.
• What can be seen in the picture, such as faces, places, text and reflections.
• Files CleanCopy can't clean safely are left untouched and reported. Today that includes JPEGs with extra embedded images (some HDR photos), animated PNG and WebP files, HEIC and AVIF image sequences, and damaged files.
• HEIC photos that carry HDR (gain map) data keep it so they still display correctly. CleanCopy does not count it as metadata it removed.
• If you choose to keep a C2PA manifest, it no longer validates after the copy is made, and it may carry its own copy of details such as location or device.
• Platforms may still require you to disclose AI-generated content. See the hidden note explained.

Your data

Photos, PDFs and videos are processed on your device. For everything about what is stored, what is not, and what the purchase service receives, read the privacy policy. Questions? See support.