Metadata-free

Describes a digital file or piece of data that does not contain any associated metadata. Metadata includes information about the file, such as its author, creation date, location of origin, software used to create it, or other descriptive data. metadata-free files, by design, contain only the essential content without additional contextual details, preserving privacy, reducing file size, or enabling secure anonymization. These files present raw content, ready for processing or direct use without inherent provenance or descriptive data.

Metadata-free meaning with examples

• A confidential report was provided in a metadata-free format to ensure complete anonymity of the author. This meant removing all tracking information and hidden data. This helped to prevent any leak of the source's identity.
• The website requested images for the contest submissions to be uploaded as metadata-free JPEGs. This was done so that no personal info could be attached to the images such as GPS tags from cameras or editing software and allowed equal evaluation of the photos.
• Before sharing the financial spreadsheet containing sensitive information, the data analysts scrubbed the file and created a metadata-free version. This minimized the risk of inadvertently disclosing confidential details contained in hidden cells or tracked edits.
• During a forensics investigation, the forensic experts examine hard drives and other storage media for metadata-free data, seeking to recover the original source of the file with the raw data, as the presence of metadata can be a clue.