# How to remove C2PA Content Credentials from an image

Source: https://passreal.com/how-to/remove-c2pa

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.

## 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 `_original` name 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](/guides/remove-ai-metadata) and the
[explainer on what C2PA is](/guides/c2pa).

## 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.

Try it: https://passreal.com/app (three images free)