> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.wipe.me/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Attachment metadata and privacy

> How Wipe.me removes supported file metadata locally before encryption.

Supported attachment metadata cleanup happens automatically and locally before
encryption, whether you use the Wipe.me website or the `wipeme` CLI. Your original
files are never modified.

In the browser, `File` fields such as `lastModified` and relative paths are never
serialized into the Wipe.me attachment descriptor. Cleanup runs when an attachment
is added and again immediately before encryption as a defense-in-depth measure.

The CLI stages a protected temporary copy only when cleanup changes a supported
attachment, encrypts that copy locally, and leaves the source file unchanged.

## Supported cleanup

* **JPEG/JPG:** removes APP1 EXIF/XMP, APP13 IPTC/Photoshop metadata, and JPEG
  comments without re-encoding the compressed pixel scan. JFIF and ICC/color data
  remain so rendering and color are preserved.
* **PNG/APNG:** removes `eXIf`, `iTXt`, `tEXt`, `zTXt`, `tIME`, and `pHYs` chunks.
  Pixel and animation data and ICC/color chunks remain.
* **WebP:** removes EXIF and XMP chunks and clears their VP8X feature flags while
  preserving pixel data, ICC, alpha, and animation.
* **MP3:** removes ID3v2 and ID3v1 tags while preserving audio frames.

On the website, images that you explicitly compress are re-encoded locally as JPEG,
so private metadata from the source is not carried over. The browser may write a
generic color profile to the new JPEG. The CLI does not compress images.

## Unsupported formats

Unsupported formats are currently sent byte-for-byte inside the encrypted envelope.
Wipe.me does not generically rewrite PDFs, Office documents, archives, video
containers, or audio formats other than MP3: without a format-specific parser,
rewriting can corrupt content or invalidate signatures.

If metadata in one of those formats is a concern, sanitize the file before attaching
it.

<Note>
  No attachment bytes or metadata are sent to a third-party processing service.
  Cleanup and encryption happen locally. Optional image compression is a browser
  feature and also happens locally.
</Note>

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Command-line interface" icon="terminal" href="/developer-tools/command-line-interface">
    Create private links with automatic local cleanup for supported attachment metadata.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Image compression and the 3 MiB limit" icon="image" href="/basics/image-compression-and-the-3-mib-limit">
    Learn how the website estimates the complete envelope and safely compresses compatible images.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>