Ubuntu – How to remove all metadata from a quicktime movie file

bashcommand linequicktimesoftware-recommendationvideo

My camera takes .mov files as movies. How can I remove all metadata from them so I can feel confident sharing them on youtube without accidentally sharing when/where they were filmed, what type of camera I have, etc. A command line one-liner is nice, but if it's too confusing, a GUI program would be better.

Best Answer

Well, I have a command-line answer:

Note: This only works with the ffmpeg included in Ubuntu by default: it will have a version similar to 0.8.1-4:0.8.1-0ubuntu1; it WILL NOT work with any ffmpeg binaries you have installed from a third-party PPA or compiled yourself. Your mileage may vary.

  • Install these: sudo apt-get install ffmpeg libimage-exiftool-perl
  • Then navigate to where your source .mov file is, we'll call it test.mov

  • And run:

    ffmpeg -i test.mov -map_metadata -1 -vcodec copy -acodec copy test-nometadata.mov

  • You can then use exiftool to check that it worked; exiftool test.mov and exiftool test-nometadata.mov should show you the difference.

  • Here are my sample outputs from an old Nikon .mov with tons of metadata (pastebin'd):

    1. before - 80 metadata lines
    2. after - 52 metadata lines (even the create, modify etc.times have been nulled)

(note that the order in ffmpeg above is essential -- the input and output files must be specified at the very end)

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