How it works
CleanImage is a five-step pipeline: upload, analyze, clean, verify, download. Every step runs on the server, and the page never guesses about what happened — the cleaned file is always read back.
Upload
Drop a JPG, PNG or WebP image onto the upload area, or choose a file from your device. Files up to 20 MB are accepted, and you can select several at once to clean them as a batch. No account is needed.
Analyze
The server inspects the image structure and reads its metadata: EXIF blocks (camera, GPS, date, software), IPTC fields (author, copyright, keywords), XMP blocks, and any C2PA / Content Credentials manifest. You see exactly what was found — nothing is hidden. Analysis on its own does not modify the file.
Clean
The image is decoded and re-encoded from scratch. Re-encoding writes only pixel data to the output file, so removable metadata is not copied over. The output keeps the original dimensions and uses the same format. If the EXIF block carried a rotation flag, that rotation is applied to the pixels first so the image is not left sideways.
Verify
The cleaned file is analysed again with the same reader. That second pass is what produces the report: every category is marked removed or not removed based on the actual result. If a Content Credentials manifest could not be stripped, the report says so plainly instead of claiming success.
Download
Download the cleaned copy under a new filename such as clean-image-20260901-143000.jpg. The download link is single use and expires after 15 minutes, and the temporary file is deleted once it has been collected.
What happens to your files
Uploaded images are written to an isolated temporary directory with random filenames. After processing, the original upload is deleted immediately, and the cleaned copy is deleted once you download it — or when its 15-minute download window expires. A background sweep additionally removes any file older than an hour. Images are never stored in a database, never used for training, and never shared.
Supported formats and limits
JPG/JPEG, PNG and WebP are supported, up to 20 MB per file. Cleaning keeps the original format and dimensions. Batch mode processes up to 20 files at a time, a few at a time rather than all at once.
What is not removed
Information embedded in the pixels themselves — such as invisible AI watermarks — is not metadata and is not affected by cleaning. CleanImage also cannot control how a third-party platform treats an image after you upload it.