How to Remove Description from a File

The "description" field is one of many pieces of metadata embedded inside a file — invisible information that gets stored alongside the actual content. When you share a photo, PDF, video, or document, its description field can travel with it, sometimes revealing information you didn't intend to share. Here's how to remove it from every common file type.

What Is the Description Field in a File?

Most file formats support metadata — structured information embedded inside the file itself. The Description field specifically is used to store a text summary or caption. Depending on the file type, it lives in different metadata standards:

• Images (JPEG, TIFF, RAW) — stored in EXIF, IPTC, or XMP. In EXIF it's the ImageDescription tag. In XMP it's dc:description.
• PDFs — stored in the document's XMP metadata stream or the older Document Information dictionary. Visible in Acrobat under File — Properties — Description.
• Audio (MP3, FLAC, AAC) — stored in ID3 tags (MP3) or Vorbis comments (FLAC/OGG). The relevant tag is usually COMMENT or DESCRIPTION.
• Video (MP4, MKV, MOV) — stored in container-level metadata. In MP4, it's the ?des or desc atom.
• Word/Office documents — stored in the document's core properties XML (docProps/core.xml). Visible in File — Info — Properties.
• Windows files (general) — some formats expose metadata through Windows Explorer's Properties — Details tab, where you can see and edit the Description field directly.

Method 1: Windows Explorer (Quick, No Software Needed)

For most common file types on Windows (images, Office documents, PDFs viewed as files), Windows Explorer can remove metadata directly:

1. Right-click the file — Properties
2. Click the Details tab
3. Scroll to find the Description field
4. Click the value next to Description to edit it — clear it and press Enter, or
5. At the bottom of the Details tab, click "Remove Properties and Personal Information"
6. Select "Remove the following properties from this file"
7. Check Description (and any others you want removed)
8. Click OK

This is the fastest method for one-off files. Limitation: Not all file types are fully supported — deep EXIF metadata in some camera RAW formats may not be removable this way.

Method 2: ExifTool (All File Types, Command Line)

ExifTool by Phil Harvey is the gold standard for metadata manipulation. It's free, open-source, and handles virtually every file format.

Install ExifTool

• Windows: Download the Windows executable from exiftool.org, rename to exiftool.exe, place in a folder on your PATH (or just run from its folder).
• Mac: brew install exiftool or download the macOS package
• Linux: sudo apt install libimage-exiftool-perl

Remove Just the Description Field

# Remove EXIF ImageDescription from a JPEG
exiftool -ImageDescription= photo.jpg

# Remove XMP description
exiftool -XMP:Description= photo.jpg

# Remove IPTC caption (another common description field)
exiftool -IPTC:Caption-Abstract= photo.jpg

# Remove ALL description-like fields at once
exiftool -Description= -ImageDescription= -Caption-Abstract= -Comment= photo.jpg

Remove All Metadata (Nuclear Option)

# Remove ALL metadata from a file
exiftool -all= photo.jpg

# Remove all metadata from all JPEGs in a folder
exiftool -all= *.jpg

# Remove all metadata, overwrite original (no backup)
exiftool -all= -overwrite_original photo.jpg

Note: By default ExifTool keeps a backup file with _original appended. Use -overwrite_original to skip the backup.

For Specific File Types

# PDF - remove description
exiftool -Description= document.pdf

# MP3 - remove comment/description tags
exiftool -Comment= -Description= audio.mp3

# MP4 video - remove description
exiftool -Description= -Comment= video.mp4

# Word document (.docx) - remove description
exiftool -Description= document.docx

Method 3: Remove Description from a PDF

PDFs store metadata in a Document Information dictionary and optionally in XMP. You can remove the description field using several approaches:

Adobe Acrobat (Paid)

1. File — Properties (or Ctrl+D)
2. Click the Description tab
3. Clear the Description field
4. Click OK — Save

Adobe Acrobat — Full Metadata Sanitization

1. Tools — Redact — Sanitize Document
2. This removes all metadata, hidden content, and embedded scripts

Free Alternative: PDF24 or Smallpdf

Online tools like PDF24.org and Smallpdf offer metadata removal features for free. Upload your PDF, remove metadata, download the clean file.

Command Line: Ghostscript

gs -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=pdfwrite \
   -dFastWebView=true \
   -sOutputFile=clean.pdf input.pdf

Warning: Ghostscript re-renders the PDF, which can subtly alter fonts and visual output in some documents. Check the result before deleting the original.

Method 4: Remove Description from JPEG Images

JPEG files can carry description text in three different embedded metadata systems — EXIF, IPTC, and XMP. A description in your JPEG may be in any or all three.

Windows Photos App

The built-in Photos app doesn't offer metadata editing. Use Windows Explorer's Properties — Details method above instead.

GIMP (Free)

1. Open image in GIMP
2. Image — Metadata — Edit Metadata
3. Find and clear the Description/Caption field
4. Export the image (File — Export As)
5. In the JPEG export dialog, click Advanced Options — uncheck metadata to include, or use Save Metadata options to exclude description

Apple Photos / macOS (Mac)

1. Select a photo — Get Info (Cmd+I)
2. Find the Description field and clear it
3. Press Enter to save

For full EXIF stripping on Mac: use exiftool -all= photo.jpg in Terminal.

Method 5: Remove Description from Video Files (MP4, MKV, MOV)

HandBrake (Free, Re-encodes)

HandBrake can strip metadata when re-encoding video. Go to Title — uncheck "Copy chapter markers" and don't preserve metadata. Downside: This re-encodes the video (generation loss).

FFmpeg (Command Line, Lossless Stream Copy)

# Remove all metadata, copy streams without re-encoding
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -map_metadata -1 -c copy output.mp4

# Remove just the description
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -metadata description="" -c copy output.mp4

The -c copy flag copies the audio and video streams without re-encoding — no quality loss. This is the best approach for video metadata removal.

Method 6: Remove Description from MP3 / Audio Files

Mp3tag (Windows — Free)

1. Open the file(s) in Mp3tag
2. Right-click — Remove Tag to strip all ID3 metadata, or
3. Find the Comment field in the Tag Panel and clear it

MusicBrainz Picard (Cross-Platform — Free)

Open file — select the tag fields you want to remove — delete them — save.

FFmpeg (Command Line)

# Remove all ID3/metadata from MP3 (no re-encode)
ffmpeg -i input.mp3 -map_metadata -1 -c copy output.mp3

Method 7: Remove Description from Word / Excel / PowerPoint

Document Inspector (Recommended)

1. File — Info
2. Click "Check for Issues" — "Inspect Document"
3. Make sure "Document Properties and Personal Information" is checked
4. Click Inspect
5. Click "Remove All" next to Document Properties
6. Save the document

Manual (Properties Panel)

1. File — Info
2. On the right side, find Properties
3. Click Show All Properties
4. Find Comments or Subject (these often contain what appears as "Description") — click and clear
5. Save

Use FileShot's Metadata Scrubber (Free, No Install Required)

If you don't want to install software or use the command line, FileShot's free Metadata Scrubber tool removes metadata — including description fields — from files directly in your browser. The scrubbing happens client-side: the file never leaves your device.

Supported: JPEG, PNG, PDF, MP3, and more. No account required.

Why Remove the Description Field Before Sharing?

The description field often contains information you didn't consciously write. Software that created or processed the file may auto-populate it. Examples:

• Camera apps that set the description to the camera model, location, or internal project name
• Design tools that embed the designer's name or client brief in the description
• Business documents where the description includes internal project codes or client names
• Medical images with patient information embedded in the description
• Screenshots from software that includes licensing info in metadata

Before sharing any file with someone outside your organization, it's good practice to check what's in the metadata and remove what you don't want disclosed.

Conclusion

Removing the description from a file is straightforward once you know which tool to use. For Windows users, the built-in Properties — Details panel handles most cases. For bulk work or uncommon formats, ExifTool is the most capable free solution. For video, FFmpeg's -map_metadata -1 -c copy removes metadata without re-encoding. And for a no-install web-based option, FileShot's Metadata Scrubber handles it in seconds, entirely in your browser.

Try FileShot's free Metadata Scrubber ?  |  Full metadata removal guide  |  Share files privately