szTheory Release Notes

ExifCleaner 4.2.1

ExifCleaner 4.2.1 makes the supported-format promise match what the bundled metadata engine can safely process.

Format support

M4A is now supported. Audio metadata is removed through the same staged, verified publication path used by other media files.

MKV is no longer accepted. ExifTool can read Matroska metadata but cannot write MKV files, so rejecting the format before processing is the truthful behavior.

The README now lists the app's exact intake allowlist instead of ExifTool's much broader catalog, and CI prevents that list from drifting from source.

DOCX remains unsupported.

The patch includes a metadata-bearing M4A fixture, explicit MKV rejection coverage, and installed-artifact M4A smoke coverage.

Known limitations in 4.2.1

No executable release-blocking known gaps are approved for this release; documented format constraints follow below.

Format constraints

RAF: cleaning is refused and the source is left unchanged because a safe cleaned RAF artifact cannot currently be guaranteed.

PDF: ExifTool uses reversible updates, so prior metadata may remain recoverable.

MKV: unsupported because ExifTool does not expose a writable removal path.

TIFF and AVIF: user-reported partial-removal behavior remains under investigation.

Downloads

Platform

File

Windows portable (recommended)

ExifCleaner.4.2.1.exe

Windows installer

ExifCleaner.Setup.4.2.1.exe

macOS (Apple Silicon)

ExifCleaner-4.2.1-arm64.dmg

macOS (Intel)

ExifCleaner-4.2.1.dmg

Linux (AppImage)

ExifCleaner-4.2.1.AppImage

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)

exifcleaner_4.2.1_amd64.deb

Linux (Fedora/RHEL)

exifcleaner-4.2.1.x86_64.rpm

Verify downloads against the release's SHASUMS256.txt file.

Opening unsigned builds

ExifCleaner remains unsigned. Signing would require publishing the maintainer's verified legal identity; no signed build is being promised.

macOS 14 and earlier: right-click or Control-click the app, choose Open, then choose Open again.

macOS 15 and later: open the app once, then use System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway.

Windows: if SmartScreen appears, choose More info → Run anyway after verifying the checksum.

Linux: make the AppImage executable with chmod +x ExifCleaner-4.2.1.AppImage; .deb and .rpm packages install normally.

Every artifact is built publicly from tagged source by GitHub Actions. ExifCleaner makes no network requests during normal use.

Only download ExifCleaner from the GitHub releases page.

Full changelog: v4.2.0...v4.2.1

Original source

ExifCleaner 4.2.0

ExifCleaner 4.2.0 makes the first run calmer and keeps the packaged privacy toolchain current without adding background network activity.

A clearer first run

The empty intake is now centered as one responsive composition instead of feeling split between copy and controls.

Choose files is the clear primary action, with Choose folder available beside it and drag and drop unchanged.

The intake explains whether ExifCleaner will save cleaned copies or modify originals, using the current setting rather than a generic promise.

Nested folder intake reports unsupported files and folders it could not read instead of silently losing that summary.

Help now includes New Releases, which opens the GitHub Releases page only when you click it. ExifCleaner does not poll for updates.

Localization with provenance

Romanian is now fully supported. The 70 strings contributed in PR #297 are preserved exactly and credited to their contributor.

Every supported locale covers the first-run and New Releases vocabulary.

Translation records now distinguish existing community work from assisted drafts, track the English source each string translates, and expose stale or missing work without silently overwriting it.

Runtime and release maintenance

The bundled ExifTool is updated from 13.50 to 13.59 for Unix and 32-bit-compatible Windows packages, with pinned upstream SHA-256 verification.

Packaged Electron disables RunAsNode, NODE_OPTIONS, and Node CLI inspection. Cookie encryption remains disabled because ExifCleaner does not need cookie storage.

Release automation treats a verified already-published version as a quiet no-op while retaining the full evidence gates for a new release.

Known limitations in 4.2.0

No executable release-blocking known gaps are approved for this release; documented format constraints follow below.

Format constraints

RAF: cleaning is refused and the source is left unchanged because a safe cleaned RAF artifact cannot currently be guaranteed.

PDF: ExifTool uses reversible updates, so prior metadata may remain recoverable.

MKV: ExifTool does not expose a complete writable removal path.

TIFF and AVIF: user-reported partial-removal behavior remains under investigation.

Downloads

Platform File Windows portable (recommended) ExifCleaner.4.2.0.exe Windows installer ExifCleaner.Setup.4.2.0.exe macOS (Apple Silicon) ExifCleaner-4.2.0-arm64.dmg macOS (Intel) ExifCleaner-4.2.0.dmg Linux (AppImage) ExifCleaner-4.2.0.AppImage Linux (Debian/Ubuntu) exifcleaner_4.2.0_amd64.deb Linux (Fedora/RHEL) exifcleaner-4.2.0.x86_64.rpm

Verify downloads against the release's SHASUMS256.txt file.

Opening unsigned builds

ExifCleaner remains unsigned. Signing would require publishing the maintainer's verified legal identity; no signed build is being promised.

macOS 14 and earlier: right-click or Control-click the app, choose Open, then choose Open again.

macOS 15 and later: open the app once, then use System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway.

Windows: if SmartScreen appears, choose More info → Run anyway after verifying the checksum.

Linux: make the AppImage executable with chmod +x ExifCleaner-4.2.0.AppImage; .deb and .rpm packages install normally.

Every artifact is built publicly from tagged source by GitHub Actions. ExifCleaner makes no network requests during normal use.

Only download ExifCleaner from the GitHub releases page.

Full changelog: v4.1.0...v4.2.0

Original source

ExifCleaner 4.1.0

ExifCleaner 4.1.0 makes batch cleaning safer to understand and harder to misread.

Clearer results

Each file now reports what actually happened: metadata removed, already clean, unchanged, or refused.

Metadata details open with removed fields visible immediately. Fields that remain are kept in one secondary disclosure.

Files can be sorted by name, type, source size, and before/after metadata counts while folder groups stay intact.

The size column shows the original and resulting sizes instead of implying they are the same value.

Safer processing

New installs default to Save as copy. Existing preferences are preserved during migration.

RAF files are refused without writing because ExifTool cannot safely produce the requested cleaned RAF artifact. The rest of the batch continues.

Already-clean files avoid an unnecessary rewrite. When macOS attribute removal is requested, only that requested operation runs.

MP4 and MOV processing now explicitly clears movie, track, and media create/modify dates and verifies the generated artifact before success.

File paths containing carriage returns or line feeds are rejected at both the IPC and ExifTool boundaries.

Easier intake and navigation

Native Choose files and Choose folder actions complement drag and drop.

Unsupported files are summarized once instead of disappearing silently.

The drop area shows whether output will be written as cleaned copies or in place.

Filenames and paths display safely in right-to-left locales, and Vietnamese now uses the standard vi locale code.

Engineering and contributor experience

Electron, Vite, Vitest, Playwright, and electron-builder were upgraded within the supported Node 22 toolchain.

CI and release workflows use pinned actions, explicit permissions and timeouts, deterministic runners, and a fixed seven-artifact release inventory.

The Homebrew workflow is now read-only; third-party tap updates remain an explicit maintainer action.

Architecture, code-walkthrough, subsystem, translation, and contribution guides are now maintained in the repository with automated drift checks.

Known limitations in 4.1.0

No executable release-blocking known gaps are approved for this release; documented format constraints follow below.

Format constraints

RAF: cleaning is refused and the source is left unchanged because a safe cleaned RAF artifact cannot currently be guaranteed.

PDF: ExifTool uses reversible updates, so prior metadata may remain recoverable.

MKV: ExifTool does not expose a complete writable removal path.

TIFF and AVIF: user-reported partial-removal behavior remains under investigation.

Downloads

Platform File Windows portable (recommended) ExifCleaner.4.1.0.exe Windows installer ExifCleaner.Setup.4.1.0.exe macOS (Apple Silicon) ExifCleaner-4.1.0-arm64.dmg macOS (Intel) ExifCleaner-4.1.0.dmg Linux (AppImage) ExifCleaner-4.1.0.AppImage Linux (Debian/Ubuntu) exifcleaner_4.1.0_amd64.deb Linux (Fedora/RHEL) exifcleaner-4.1.0.x86_64.rpm

Verify downloads against the release's SHASUMS256.txt file.

Opening unsigned builds

ExifCleaner remains unsigned. Signing would require publishing the maintainer's verified legal identity; no signed build is being promised.

macOS 14 and earlier: right-click or Control-click the app, choose Open, then choose Open again.

macOS 15 and later: open the app once, then use System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway.

Windows: if SmartScreen appears, choose More info → Run anyway after verifying the checksum.

Linux: make the AppImage executable with chmod +x ExifCleaner-4.1.0.AppImage; .deb and .rpm packages install normally.

Every artifact is built publicly from tagged source by GitHub Actions. ExifCleaner makes no network requests during normal use.

Only download ExifCleaner from the GitHub releases page.

Full changelog: v4.0.1...v4.1.0

Original source

ExifCleaner 4.0.1

ExifCleaner 4.0.1 is a focused data-safety and release-reliability update.

Data safety

Save as copy now preserves the original. The app writes to the actual collision-safe _cleaned path and Reveal follows that returned path.

RAW files always use a copy. Supported RAW formats never overwrite the submitted original, even when Save as copy is disabled.

RAW and video output is verified before success. Failed generated output is removed instead of being reported as complete.

Privacy

Remove macOS attributes is now connected to the processing path. When enabled, it clears extended attributes from the artifact that was actually written.

The macOS attribute command now passes filenames as fixed arguments rather than through a shell.

Release reliability

Installed builds now exercise the save-as-copy and advertised-format contracts on macOS, Windows, and Linux before release artifacts are accepted.

Release notes must match the package version, known gaps must remain machine-readable, and two-part internal tags are rejected from the public release namespace.

The release also includes the previously unreleased SIZE display, settings icon, PDF fixture, per-launch test-profile, and release-gate fixes from #300, #301, #305, #306, and #292.

Known limitations in 4.0.1

Impact: A cleaned MP4 may still include original create-date metadata values.

Scope: MP4 files with QuickTime CreateDate, TrackCreateDate, or MediaCreateDate values processed through ExifCleaner 4.0.0 or 4.0.1

Workaround: For sensitive MP4s, run ExifTool manually with -CreateDate= -TrackCreateDate= -MediaCreateDate= after cleaning, then verify those tags are absent.

Target fix: 4.1.0.

Issue: #240

See the README's known limitations by format before relying on irreversible removal from PDF or MKV files.

Downloads

Platform File Windows portable (recommended) ExifCleaner.4.0.1.exe Windows installer ExifCleaner.Setup.4.0.1.exe macOS (Apple Silicon) ExifCleaner-4.0.1-arm64.dmg macOS (Intel) ExifCleaner-4.0.1.dmg Linux (AppImage) ExifCleaner-4.0.1.AppImage Linux (Debian/Ubuntu) exifcleaner_4.0.1_amd64.deb Linux (Fedora/RHEL) exifcleaner-4.0.1.x86_64.rpm

Verify downloads against the release's SHASUMS256.txt file.

Windows security checks

Windows portable (recommended): ExifCleaner.4.0.1.exe — SHA-256 7375676a911fccefd4d2731621bf9d815932153750d7b900e6e8ecec48028f12; VirusTotal report; submitted to Microsoft for malware analysis on 2026-08-02.

Windows installer: ExifCleaner.Setup.4.0.1.exe — SHA-256 ad77fe49f2e58d6df153e1a841ad784e15cef2d6a7bc38b771b89fb0d0a7bac4; VirusTotal report; submitted to Microsoft for malware analysis on 2026-08-02.

These unsigned artifacts may still trigger reputation-based warnings. The links above identify the exact release bytes; they are not a promise that every scanner reports zero detections.

Opening unsigned builds

ExifCleaner remains unsigned. Signing would require publishing the maintainer's verified legal identity; no signed build is being promised.

macOS

macOS 14 (Sonoma) and earlier: right-click or Control-click the app, choose Open, then choose Open again.

macOS 15 (Sequoia) and later: open the app once, then use System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway.

Windows

The portable build is the primary Windows download. If SmartScreen displays “Windows protected your PC,” choose More info → Run anyway after verifying the checksum.

Linux

Make the AppImage executable with chmod +x ExifCleaner-4.0.1.AppImage. The .deb and .rpm packages install normally.

Verification

Every artifact is built publicly from tagged source by GitHub Actions.

CI installs and exercises the native DMG, NSIS installer, and AppImage before assembling the draft.

SHASUMS256.txt identifies the exact bytes published with this release.

No automatic-update manifests are published; ExifCleaner continues to make zero network requests during normal use.

Only download ExifCleaner from the GitHub releases page.

Full changelog: v4.0.0...v4.0.1

Original source

The first major release in 5 years — a complete rebuild from the ground up. Same privacy-first philosophy, everything else modernized.

Highlights

New Privacy Controls

• Preserve photo orientation — Photos stay upright after cleaning (enabled by default)
• Save as copy — Create a _cleaned copy instead of overwriting the original
• Preserve timestamps — Keep original file dates intact
• Preserve color profile — Retain ICC color data for accurate colors
• Remove macOS extended attributes — Strip quarantine and Spotlight metadata (macOS only)

All toggleable from the new Settings panel.

Folder Support

Drop an entire folder and ExifCleaner processes every supported file inside, recursively.

Metadata Inspector

Click any processed file to see exactly which metadata tags were removed — a full before/after diff.

25 Languages

Now available in 25 languages with in-app language switching — no need to change your system locale.

New since v3.6.0: Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Hungarian, Malayalam, Persian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Slovak, Swedish, Turkish, Vietnamese

Redesigned Interface

Modern React-based UI with a clean design system

Dark mode that follows your system preference (or override manually)

Settings drawer with all options in one place

Status bar showing progress, file counts, and tags removed

Under the Hood

Electron 35 (up from 11) — 5 years of Chromium security patches

Sandboxed renderer — the UI process has zero access to your filesystem or system

IPC validation — all internal communication validated with schemas

Smaller bundle — ~35 MB on macOS

Automated CI/CD — every commit tested across macOS, Windows, and Linux

SHA-256 checksums included for all downloads

What hasn't changed

Zero network traffic — no telemetry, no auto-update, no phone home. Ever.

Fast — hundreds of files processed in seconds

Open source — MIT license

Downloads

Platform

File

macOS (Apple Silicon)

ExifCleaner-4.0.0-arm64.dmg

macOS (Intel)

ExifCleaner-4.0.0.dmg

Windows (installer)

ExifCleaner.Setup.4.0.0.exe

Windows (portable)

ExifCleaner.4.0.0.exe

Linux (AppImage)

ExifCleaner-4.0.0.AppImage

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)

exifcleaner_4.0.0_amd64.deb

Linux (Fedora/RHEL)

exifcleaner-4.0.0.x86_64.rpm

Verify your download: check SHASUMS256.txt against the file you downloaded.

Opening unsigned builds

ExifCleaner is not code-signed. Your OS will warn you on first launch. This is expected and is a one-time step per platform.

macOS

macOS 14 (Sonoma) and earlier: right-click (or Control-click) the app → Open → click Open in the dialog.

macOS 15 (Sequoia) and later: right-click → Open no longer works. Double-click the app once and let it be blocked, then open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down, and click Open Anyway next to the ExifCleaner message.

Windows

Windows Defender SmartScreen shows "Windows protected your PC". Click More info → Run anyway.

Linux

No gatekeeping. Make the AppImage executable with chmod +x ExifCleaner-4.0.0.AppImage.

.deb and .rpm install normally:

sudo apt install ./exifcleaner_4.0.0_amd64.deb # Debian/Ubuntu

sudo dnf install ./exifcleaner-4.0.0.x86_64.rpm # Fedora/RHEL

Why isn't it signed?

macOS signing requires an Apple Developer certificate at $99/year, and that certificate embeds the holder's legal name, which macOS displays in the Gatekeeper dialog.

Windows requires a separate EV certificate at $200–600/year tied to a verified legal identity. For a privacy tool maintained anonymously, that isn't a tradeoff this project is willing to make.

What you get instead:

SHA-256 checksums for every artifact in SHASUMS256.txt — verifies your download is byte-for-byte what CI built.

Builds happen in public via GitHub Actions from tagged source you can read.

CI installs and runs the real artifact before this release could be published — it mounts the DMG / runs the installer / extracts the AppImage, launches the installed app, and strips metadata from a test image. macOS additionally runs a Gatekeeper regression check. A build that doesn't actually work never reaches this page.

Only download ExifCleaner from the GitHub releases page.

Builds distributed through any other channel are not ours and are not verified.

Contributors

Thank you to everyone who contributed translations and code:

@bsonmez (Turkish), @milotype (Croatian), @icetee (Hungarian), @sastofficial (Swedish), @theunknownKiran (Malayalam), @tomz00 (Czech), @tensingnightco (Vietnamese), @PolpOnline (code quality)

Full Changelog: v3.6.0...v4.0.0

Original source

Security

Fix for XSS and Electron reverse shell vulnerabilities by sanitizing exiftool HTML output in the UI. To take advantage of this, an attacker would have had to write image metadata containing malicious script code to a file that you then download and run through ExifCleaner. Proofs of concept:

XSS:

exiftool -Comment='<img src=x onerror=alert("ok") /><b>OverJT</b>' -PixelUnits='meters' image.png

Electron reverse shell:

exiftool -Comment='<img src=x onerror=window.require("child_process").exec("/usr/bin/firefox") /><b>OverJT</b>' -PixelUnits='meters' image.png

Original source

If you are running a previous version of ExifCleaner, update immediately due to a security vulnerability found in exiftool (the command-line tool that ExifCleaner uses under the hood). Thank you to all contributors for this release. As always, credits are listed in the README.

Security

Update exiftool to 12.25 to mitigate CVE-2021-22204 arbitrary code execution

Features

Add translations for Slovak, Russian, Ukranian, Danish, Arabic, Italian, Chinese (Mandarin)

Add support for the new Mac M1 ARM processors

Infrastructure

Upgrade to Electron 11

Update some NPM dependencies

Start maintaining a CHANGELOG file in source control

Fixes

Translation fixes for Portuguese (Brazil) and French

Update Linux AppImage category to fix exit status 1 issue

Original source

Summary of changes since v3.3.1

Features

• Huge speed increase for file processing, especially when batch processing many files with multiple CPUs (more efficient process pool algorithm, better integration with exiftool process keep-alive)
• Multilingual support with translations for French, Polish, Japanese, Spanish (Spain), German, and Portuguese (Brazil)
• Mac/Windows: show progress in dock when batch processing files
• Linux: fix app icon in dock
• Linux: dark mode works with Ubuntu

Bug Fixes

• Linux: fix issue where icon.png was not found on startup with .deb installs

Infrastructure

• Upgrade to Electron 10
• Upgrade to exiftool 12.08
• Add update_exiftool.pl Perl script to automate pulling down latest ExifTool binaries and verifying their checksums
• Remove a bunch of NPM dependencies

Original source

Summary

Change from JavaScript to TypeScript for improved stability of compiler static analysis.

Fix Windows UTF-8 filename bug.

Remove several NPM dependencies to simplify code.

Upgrade to Electron 9.

Minor UI polish.

Commit messages

• Upgrade release instructions 281bd1d
• fix yarn lint command for typescript d532b09
• update release instructions a6d69eb
• Merge pull request #62 from szTheory/hotfix/windows-utf8-filename-bug-take2 44b241f
• Fix Windows UTF-8 filename bug (tested) b28f57e
• Attempt to fix ExifTools UTF-8 Windows bug with the argfile workaround mentioned at https://exiftool.org/exiftool_pod.html\#WINDOWS-UNICODE-FILE-NAMES 3553160
• remove xo dev dep a9cd8fb
• remove xo dev dep c4760fa
• remove electron-context-menu dep and do lightweight context menus directly 0ed165a
• remove electron-util dep 1afbf38
• re-add electron-util for now, can't get rid of it quite yet. remove unused ys-yaml dep 8f7340d
• remove electron-util NPM dep 2b428d2
• move source-map-support dep to depDependencies to reduce production deps 87e24bc
• one file wasn't formatted with prettier 2ebc6d0
• remove unused electron-log dep to reduce NPM dependencies 5e4ce6e
• remove unused electron-debug dep to reduce NPM dependencies 5883e26
• remove unused electron-store dep to reduce NPM dependencies 39472bb
• electron 9 d94414c
• electron UI polish. typescript upgrade 244d96f
• convert remaining CommonJS modules to ES module syntax e629a54
• Fix TypeScript errors, add return types for function declarations (done converting to TypeScript) 673cbd0
• TypeScript Enum refactor 2299308
• Convert project to TypeScript including type declarations for node-exiftool (first pass) 60f71e7
• Add TypeScript and get project passing static analysis with noImplicitAny: false. Convert a couple of files to .ts dba10ce
• electron upgrade to v8 b6a31dc
• upgrade Electron to 7.2.3 f4feaff
• README https link 65105b4
• README.md lint e0005ea
• v3.2.0...v3.3.1

Original source