Strip Metadata
Use the strip_metadata transformation to control whether delivered image variants preserve or remove metadata.
Overview
Imgwire strips metadata by default for optimized web delivery. Set strip_metadata=false when your workflow needs output metadata preserved, such as density metadata, copyright-related metadata, or downstream processing fields.
Syntax
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Canonical parameter | strip_metadata |
| Alias | sm |
| Accepted values | Boolean |
| Default behavior | true when omitted |
Example
https://cdn.imgwire.dev/{organization_id}/{environment_id}/{image_id}?format=jpg&strip_metadata=false
image.url({
format: 'jpg',
strip_metadata: false,
quality: 'auto',
});
imgwire images url img_123 --format jpg --strip-metadata false --quality auto
Best practices
- Keep metadata stripping enabled for most public web delivery.
- Preserve metadata only when a product workflow needs it.
- Review privacy implications before preserving metadata from user uploads.
Common mistakes
- Preserving metadata globally without considering file size or privacy.
- Expecting stripped metadata to be recoverable from the transformed variant.
- Using metadata preservation when a separate database field would be a better source of truth.
Related pages
Last updated at: May 9, 2026