About this tool
Remove Hidden Information from Your PDFs
Every PDF carries hidden metadata: the author name (usually your OS username), the software that made it, the timestamp of when it was created and last modified, sometimes embedded thumbnails or document IDs. Strip it all in one click. The pages themselves stay byte-perfect; only the metadata blocks are removed.
Why use OmegaPix
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Protect your identity : The Author field on a PDF is almost always your operating system username. Stripping it before sharing prevents recipients from learning who saved or edited the file.
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Hide your software stack : Producer + Creator fields reveal exactly which application and version made the PDF (Adobe Acrobat Pro 2024.001, Microsoft Word for Mac 16.85, etc.). Useful information for a forensic analyst. Not for the average recipient.
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Nothing uploads : Most online PDF tools upload your file to their servers. For contracts, scanned IDs, financial documents, or anything confidential, that's the real privacy threat. OmegaPix strips entirely in your browser. Your PDF never leaves your device.
How it works
Drop your PDF
Single file or batch. Up to 50 MB per file on desktop.
See what's hiding
Before you click Strip, the inspector shows you exactly what metadata is in the PDF, the author name, the producing app, the timestamps, the XMP stream.
Download the clean copy
Original pages, zero metadata. Filename gets a -clean suffix so the original isn't overwritten.
Frequently asked questions
What metadata gets removed?
The Document Information Dictionary (Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, Creator, Producer, CreationDate, ModificationDate), the XMP metadata stream (the modern RDF/XML metadata block), and the Document ID pair in the trailer (a fingerprint Acrobat adds to identify the document).
Are the pages themselves modified?
No. Page content, text, images, fonts, vector graphics, annotations, form fields, links, is preserved exactly. Only the metadata blocks at the document level are removed. Visual diff between original and stripped output: identical.
Does the file size shrink?
Slightly. Most of a PDF's size is page content, not metadata, so expect savings in the kilobyte range, not megabytes. The privacy benefit is the headline, not the file-size benefit.
What about encrypted PDFs?
If you have the password (or the PDF is unencrypted), the stripper works. If the PDF is encrypted and you don't have the password, we can still strip its metadata, but the page content stays encrypted. The output will report "Encrypted, metadata stripped, pages still encrypted".
Does anything still identify me after stripping?
Three caveats worth knowing. None of which leak your identity. (1) PDF page content may itself contain identifying information (an embedded image with EXIF GPS, a signature, your name in the text). The metadata remover does not touch page content; for that, extract images and run them through the EXIF Remover. (2) The Producer field is replaced with the generic "pdf-lib" marker, not removed entirely. This is a hard limit of the pdf-lib library. There is no way via its public API to suppress this. Every PDF processed with pdf-lib carries the same marker, so it doesn't reveal anything about your software or setup. (3) The ModDate (modification date) is set to the current time on save, also a pdf-lib limit, also not a privacy leak (it just says "this file was modified recently"). When you re-upload an already-stripped PDF, the OmegaPix inspector filters both of these out, so you'll see a clean report.
Is anything uploaded?
No. Everything happens in your browser via WebAssembly. Your PDF never leaves your device. You can verify by opening DevTools → Network tab while you use the tool, there are no upload requests.
Can I also strip metadata from images inside the PDF?
Not in this version. This tool only handles document-level metadata. For images, use the EXIF / Metadata Remover. A future version may walk embedded images and strip them in place; for now, extract images first (PDF → Images, coming soon) and strip them with the EXIF Remover.
Will this work on scanned PDFs?
Yes. The Document Information Dictionary exists regardless of whether the PDF is text-based or scanned. Whatever scanner / app produced the PDF will have populated the Producer/Creator fields: those get stripped.
When to use this tool
Sharing contracts
Strip the Author field so the recipient can't see whose laptop the contract was finalised on.
Anonymous submissions
Journalists, whistleblowers, double-blind academic review, anywhere the source needs to be anonymised, the PDF's metadata is the most common leak.
Pre-release documents
Press releases, embargoed reports, leaked drafts. The timestamps and Author field can compromise the release schedule or attribution.
When not to use this tool
You want to anonymise page content
Strips document metadata, not what is drawn on each page. If the page text or images themselves identify you, run them through a separate redaction tool first.
Encrypted PDFs you do not have the password for
Locked PDFs need to be unlocked before metadata can be cleanly stripped. Without the password, only the metadata layer (which is sometimes outside the encryption) can be touched.
Form-fillable PDFs you need to preserve interactively
The strip preserves form structure but the act of saving rebuilds the document. If you depend on specific signature placeholders or scripted form behaviour, verify the output before sharing.
Technical details
What gets removed, precisely
Three layers of metadata: (1) the Document Information Dictionary: Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, Creator, Producer, CreationDate, ModificationDate. (2) The XMP metadata stream, Adobe's modern RDF/XML metadata block, often containing edit history, rights statements, and software fingerprints. (3) The Document ID pair in the trailer, a two-part fingerprint Acrobat and Office add to identify documents across edits.
What does NOT get touched
Page content stays byte-perfect: text, fonts, vector graphics, embedded images, annotations, form fields, links, signatures. The visual diff between original and stripped is zero. Only the metadata blocks at the document level change.
The pdf-lib auto-marker caveat
The underlying pdf-lib library, when saving a PDF, replaces the Producer field with its own "pdf-lib" marker and sets the ModificationDate to the current time. These are generic and reveal nothing about your software, but the inspector filters them so re-uploading a stripped PDF reports it as clean.
Privacy threat model
The Author field on a typical PDF is your operating system username. Producer + Creator tell a recipient exactly which app and version produced the file. CreationDate is a timestamp tied to your local clock and timezone. Document ID is a per-file fingerprint that lets recipients track copies across edits. All four are common identity leaks; all four are stripped.
File size impact
Most PDFs are dominated by page content (text streams, embedded images, fonts), metadata is typically under 10 KB. Expect savings in the kilobyte range, not megabytes. The privacy benefit is the headline; the size benefit is incidental.
Your files stay on your device
Metadata stripping runs entirely in your browser via the pdf-lib WASM-compiled library. The PDF is parsed, mutated, and re-serialised locally. Your file never reaches a server. For confidential contracts, scanned IDs, or anonymous submissions, this is the only safe way to strip metadata. Verify in DevTools → Network during a strip: zero outgoing requests carry PDF bytes.