How to remove C2PA Content Credentials from an image
C2PA Content Credentials live in a JUMBF block inside the file, and ExifTool can delete that block from JPEG, PNG, WebP and several other formats with `exiftool -jumbf:all= file.jpg`. Afterwards, re-read the file to confirm the manifest is gone. Removing it does not erase other signals, such as an invisible watermark or a pixel pattern.
Last updated: 2026-10-08
What you are removing
A C2PA manifest, also called Content Credentials, is a signed record that travels inside the file. The specification explainer describes it as holding one or more assertions about where the image came from and how it was made, and it calls the result tamper-evident: a hash of the content is part of the record, so editing the pixels afterwards makes the signature fail to match.
Tamper-evident is not the same as tamper-proof. The same explainer answers the question of whether provenance data can be removed with a plain yes. The design accepts that a manifest can be stripped, and its answer to that is the soft binding described below, not a lock on the file.
Where it is stored
In a JPEG the manifest is carried in a JUMBF structure inside application segments. ExifTool reads JUMBF and lists it under C2PA, for JPEG, PNG and TIFF-based files and several others. The same documentation says this metadata can be deleted from writable JPEG, PNG, WebP, TIFF-based and QuickTime-based files by removing the JUMBF group, and it says ExifTool cannot write C2PA data. So deletion is supported, creation and editing are not.
The manual method
Install ExifTool, which has a Windows executable and a macOS package. Then inspect the file, delete the group and inspect again. The three commands are in the steps above. Two details save trouble.
- Keep the backup until you have checked the output. ExifTool leaves the old file under an
_originalname for that reason, and its manual advises verifying the new files before erasing the originals. - Do not trust the first command alone. A manifest can be present in a file that also has an IPTC block saying the image was created by a trained model, and that field is read by platforms separately from C2PA.
Other ways it disappears
Many ordinary operations drop a manifest without any special tool. A screenshot never had it. Re-saving through an editor that does not copy unknown segments drops it. Uploading to most social networks removes metadata from the displayed copy. The IPTC organisation notes that upload to social media is one of the main ways metadata gets stripped, whether intentionally or not. These are side effects, not a method, because none of them tells you what is left.
PassReal uses the re-encode route. It rebuilds the file from decoded pixels, so every segment is dropped at once, whatever it was, and then it reports how many markers the original carried and how many remain. On a Gemini export that count went from 174 to 0.
What survives removal
Deleting the manifest does not touch three other things.
- The pixels. If the generator embedded a watermark in them, it is still there. SynthID, used by Google tools, is described by Google as designed to survive cropping, filters and lossy compression. We do not claim that PassReal removes it.
- The soft binding. If the image was registered with a lookup service by its watermark or fingerprint, someone can still search for the manifest.
- Your obligations. A platform may ask you to say that an image is AI-generated. Removing the metadata does not turn an AI image into a photograph.
How to check you are done
Open the cleaned file in a metadata viewer and read it group by group. You want no JUMBF or C2PA group, no IPTC DigitalSourceType, no XMP entry naming a tool, and no PNG text chunk with a prompt. If any is left, remove it and check again. For many files, exiftool -r -csv over a folder gives one table to scan.
For the wider picture, read how to remove AI metadata from an image and the explainer on what C2PA is.
Questions
Does removing C2PA break the image?
No. The manifest is a separate block, and deleting it leaves the pixels untouched. Viewers show the picture exactly as before, only without the Content Credentials badge.
Can the manifest be recovered after I delete it?
The C2PA explainer says provenance data can be removed, and it describes soft bindings, an invisible watermark or a fingerprint lookup, that let a service rediscover a manifest stored in the cloud. If the original was published with one, a lookup may still find it.
Is c2patool able to remove manifests?
Its repository describes reading manifests and adding them to a file. Removal is not listed, so use ExifTool or a re-encode for that.
Is it allowed to remove Content Credentials?
Removing the metadata from a file you own is generally possible, but platform rules and local law can require you to disclose AI use. Deleting the manifest does not remove that duty.
Will a social network still label the image?
It can, if other signals remain, such as IPTC fields or a watermark, or if you disclosed the image yourself. Check every metadata family, not only C2PA.
Limits
Naturalization operates on the pixels and on the file, not on the content of the image. A subject that is implausible - six fingers, inconsistent reflections, text that does not read - stays implausible after processing, and a human reviewer will notice it. PassReal changes what a statistical classifier measures, not what a person sees.
Results vary by generator, by subject and by detector, and detectors are retrained. No pass rate is published on this page because none has been measured in a way that would still hold next month.
Three images, no card, no expiry.