Remove Content Credentials from a Photo

Q: How do I remove C2PA metadata from a photo?

Open the photo in ScrubPhoto , check what it carries, and tap Scrub. The tool removes the C2PA manifest along with XMP, IPTC and EXIF, then lets you share or download the clean copy. For JPEG, PNG and WebP the pixels are byte-for-byte identical.

To remove Content Credentials, you delete the C2PA manifest block from the file: APP11 segments in a JPEG, a caBX chunk in a PNG, a C2PA chunk in a WebP. ScrubPhoto does that in your browser and leaves every pixel as it was, and the checker shows you what the file carried first. The cost is that the scrubbed copy can no longer prove where it came from or how it was edited.

Check and scrub your file here

It runs in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, and the result is lossless.

Choose photos or videos

Drop files here or paste an image. Photo on your phone? Open scrubphoto.com there.

No upload. Works offline once the page loads.
Lossless. Every pixel kept, byte for byte.
Free. No sign-up, no limits.

No photo handy?

What Content Credentials are, in one line

Adobe's Lightroom help page describes them as secure metadata attached to content that records who created it and how it was created or edited, built on the open C2PA standard. For the longer version, read what C2PA Content Credentials are.

They turn up in more files than people expect. Adobe's generative AI labeling FAQ says its apps attach C2PA metadata automatically whenever a qualifying generative AI tool creates or modifies content. Google Photos adds them when you save an AI edit, and Google said in November 2025 that Nano Banana Pro images from the Gemini app carry them too.

How to verify Content Credentials before you remove anything

Look before you cut. There are a few ways to see what a photo carries.

The ScrubPhoto checker reads the file on your device. It shows whether C2PA is present and which app signed it, the IPTC digital source type, and whether Instagram, TikTok or Facebook will likely react.
The Content Authenticity Initiative's Verify site, which is where contentcredentials.org/verify now sends you. You drag a file in to inspect its credentials in detail and see how it changed over time. It lists JPEG, PNG, WebP, HEIC, MP4 and MOV among its supported formats.
Adobe Inspect, which Adobe's help pages point to for checking credentials published from its apps.
Google Photos on a phone. Its help page says to open the photo, tap More, then About, and scroll to "How this was made".

If the checker finds no C2PA, there is nothing to remove here. The label you are chasing may come from IPTC data, a disclosure, or something outside the file.

How to remove Content Credentials from an image without losing quality

The lossless route is to lift out the manifest and copy everything else exactly. That works because the credentials sit in their own container, apart from the compressed image data.

Format	Where the credentials sit	What ScrubPhoto does
JPEG	APP11 segments (JUMBF)	Removes them, pixels identical
PNG	caBX chunk	Removes it, pixels identical
WebP	C2PA chunk	Removes it, pixels identical
MP4, MOV	uuid box	Neutralizes it in place, same size
HEIC	Inside the HEIF file	Re-saves as JPEG in Safari, not lossless

In the same pass the tool removes XMP, where the IPTC digital source type lives, along with the IPTC block and EXIF. That matters because Meta reads IPTC as well as C2PA. Removing only the manifest can leave the AI info label (Instagram has also shown it as AI content, and first called it Made with AI) with something to read.

It keeps the ICC color profile and the orientation. After the scrub, each file lists what was removed in KB, what was kept, and "Pixels identical". For a deeper look at the C2PA side, the C2PA remover page covers which apps and cameras write it. For video, use the video metadata page.

Remove Content Credentials in Photoshop at export

If you control the export, the cleanest fix is not adding optional credentials in the first place. Adobe's page on exporting with Content Credentials in Photoshop gives these steps:

Choose File > Export > Export As.
Pick JPG or PNG. Adobe says these are the only formats that currently support Content Credentials.
In the Content Credentials (Beta) section, choose None to leave them out of that export. The other choices are Attach to file and Publish to Content Credentials cloud.

There is a catch. Adobe's labeling FAQ says that when qualifying generative AI tools are used, C2PA metadata is attached automatically and cannot be disabled. So an export set to None may still carry a record if you used one of Adobe's generative AI tools, which is why it pays to run the exported file through the checker. The Photoshop page has more on this.

Content Credentials settings in Lightroom and Lightroom Classic

In Lightroom on desktop, Adobe's help says the Apply Content Credentials option appears in the export settings, and defaults live in Preferences under Export. The storage choices are Publish to Content Credentials cloud, Attach to files, and Attach and publish to cloud. Adobe adds that you can choose not to include Content Credentials at all.

In Lightroom Classic, Adobe's help page puts the setting under File > Export, in a Content Credentials section you expand. The same storage choices appear there. The Lightroom page explains what a typical export carries.

The trade-off: a photo without credentials cannot prove its history

Content Credentials are signed, which is the point of them. Once you remove them, the copy no longer carries a record of who made it, which tools touched it, or whether AI was involved. A verifier that reads the file will find nothing in it.

Credentials published to the cloud are another matter. Adobe says cloud-published credentials are persistent and recoverable, and that Adobe Inspect may show them as possible matches for content that looks like yours. Scrubbing your copy does not delete that record.

Think about who benefits from the record. A photographer who wants credit should keep a credentialed original and share that. Someone whose export lists their name and linked social accounts (both options in Adobe's export settings) may reasonably want a clean copy for a public post.

When removing Content Credentials makes sense

The good reasons are about privacy and accuracy. A real photo that was only retouched can pick up an AI label because the editor wrote an AI note into the file. Meta says AI-edited content shows the label in the post menu rather than on the post itself. A scrubbed copy of that real photo says nothing it should not.

The bad reason is passing off AI work as real. Platform rules may still require disclosure for photorealistic AI video and realistic audio, and Meta says it may apply penalties when people do not disclose. ScrubPhoto removes data and never invents it, so it will not add fake camera details to make an AI image look like a photo. The Instagram page covers when Meta labels and why.

Questions about removing Content Credentials

How do I remove C2PA metadata from a photo?

Open the photo in ScrubPhoto, check what it carries, and tap Scrub. The tool removes the C2PA manifest along with XMP, IPTC and EXIF, then lets you share or download the clean copy. For JPEG, PNG and WebP the pixels are byte-for-byte identical.

How do I remove Content Credentials in Photoshop?

Adobe's help says to use File > Export > Export As and choose None in the Content Credentials (Beta) section. If you used a qualifying generative AI tool, Adobe says C2PA metadata is attached anyway, so check the export afterwards.

Can Content Credentials come back after I remove them?

The embedded copy is gone from your file. If the original was published to Adobe's Content Credentials cloud, Adobe says those credentials are recoverable and may be matched to similar-looking content through Adobe Inspect.

Does removing C2PA remove the AI info label from an Instagram post?

Not from a post that is already live; the label sits on that post. A new upload of a scrubbed copy removes the C2PA and IPTC trigger, but self-disclosure, watermarks and Meta's own systems stay outside any file tool. The guide on removing AI info after posting covers live posts.

Where can I verify Content Credentials?

Use the checker on this site, the Verify site at verify.contentauthenticity.org, Adobe Inspect, or the "How this was made" section in Google Photos. They read the same standard but present it differently.

Sources

Official pages this page was checked against in October 2026: