How to Remove Metadata From a Video on iPhone or Mac

To remove location from an iPhone video share, open the clip in Photos, tap Share > Options, turn off Location, and check for Location Not Included before sharing. For broader metadata removal, use a tool that supports your video container and inspect the exported file.

Video metadata can include location, device details, recording dates, titles and comments. Which fields exist and which survive sharing depend on the camera, editing app and transfer method.

What to check in a MOV or MP4

A video file contains both media and information needed to play it. Descriptive tags, such as a title or GPS coordinates, are distinct from structural information such as track timing and sample locations. Some files also contain separate data or metadata tracks.

Removing descriptive tags does not necessarily remove every date, track or technical field. A tool should preserve playback and explain the scope of its cleanup. Metadata removal also does not conceal anything visible in the frames or audible in the soundtrack.

Apple’s Photos share sheet can omit location from photos and videos. This is a useful free option when location is the information you want to withhold. It is not a general wipe of device details, dates or other metadata.

Follow Apple’s location metadata instructions, check the share settings, and inspect the delivered copy when the remaining fields matter.

Use Scrubb to inspect and clean supported videos

Scrubb handles supported MOV and MP4 files locally on iPhone, iPad and Mac. It rewrites the container without re-encoding the video and audio payload.

Import the video with Choose Files on iPhone or iPad, or drag the file onto Scrubb on Mac.
Open the inspector and review the metadata it recognizes.
Choose a removal plan and review the fields listed. For video, descriptive metadata can be removed as a block: even Location Only can remove additional descriptive fields, including device details and recording-date tags.
Save a separate copy and review the per-file result. On Mac, Save Beside Original or Save to Folder… preserves the source file.

Scrubb checks the rewritten container and targeted metadata before export. Its video verification checks structure; it is not a full playback test. Structural header timestamps can remain. Play the saved copy and inspect it independently before relying on it, particularly for unusual camera or editing formats.

The inspector is free, and your first five cleaned exports are free. Unlimited cleaning is a one-time $7.99 in the US; the App Store shows your local price.

What about ffmpeg and ExifTool?

Both are useful command-line tools, but a short command is not a guarantee that all video metadata disappears.

FFmpeg’s documentation distinguishes stream copying, stream selection and metadata mapping. -c copy avoids re-encoding the streams it copies. -map_metadata -1 disables automatic global metadata copying; stream metadata, chapters and separate data tracks need their own consideration. Choosing tracks also affects what the output contains. Do not drop a track just to make an error disappear without checking what it holds.

ExifTool’s documentation explains that deleting all metadata is format-dependent. Its -all= option is not a promise to erase every piece of information from every video container. Work on a copy and check the fields that matter to you.

For read-only inspection, run:

exiftool -a -G1 -s "video-cleaned.mov"

Review the reported groups as well as field names. A file-system modification date, a movie header timestamp and a descriptive recording-date tag are different things. Also check playback, sound, duration and any tracks you intended to keep.

Choosing a method

Only location matters for this Photos share: start with Apple’s Location switch.
You want a visual inspector and a local cleaning workflow: try Scrubb on a representative file before a batch.
You need control over individual streams or unusual metadata tracks: consult the command-line tool’s format documentation and verify the output carefully.

For an online tool, check whether it uploads the file or processes it in your browser, which formats and sizes it supports, and whether it re-encodes. Do not infer these properties just from the word “free.” File size alone does not prove whether a video was re-encoded.

For still images, see our guides to photo metadata on Mac, HEIC without JPEG conversion and location in iPhone photos.