PDF Metadata Editor

How to edit or strip PDF metadata

1. Drop your PDF onto the upload area; the tool reads its metadata into the form.
2. Edit individual fields, or click Strip all metadata to clear every value at once.
3. Click Save and download to get a copy of the PDF with the updated metadata.
4. Use the Change file link to load another PDF.

Common uses

• Removing the author name from a PDF's properties, XMP metadata, and comments before publishing it on the web, and shrinking the file in the same pass.
• Giving a document a proper title and author after you combine several PDFs into one, since the merged file starts with empty document properties.
• Adding keywords to a PDF so it is easier to find in a desktop search index.
• Removing the modification date stamp before circulating a long-shared document.

Technical specification

• Algorithm or formula: Read and write of the PDF Document Information Dictionary (ISO 32000-1 §14.3.3). Edit writes only the fields you changed, removes cleared ones, and removes the catalog's XMP copy of them. Strip (every field blank) empties the dictionary including custom keys, removes XMP from the catalog, pages, images, and fonts, removes PieceInfo and comment authors, dates, and IDs, and replaces the file ID with a random one.
• Browser API or library: pdf-lib, through the site's pdf-ops helper, which saves only the objects the document still uses, so leftovers of earlier saves are not written back. No PDF.js needed because metadata access does not require page rendering.
• Input limits: PDF up to 100 MB.
• Output: A new PDF with the same page content and the modified Info Dictionary fields. Stored under the original filename with a -metadata suffix.
• Known limitations: Only the eight standard fields can be edited; XMP and custom properties can only be removed. Comment text, form values, attachments, and hidden-layer content are not removed. Removing the XMP metadata breaks PDF/A, PDF/UA, and Factur-X claims, so the tool warns before saving such a file. Encrypted PDFs must be unlocked before this tool can read or write them.

Frequently asked questions

What metadata is stored in a PDF?

Most PDFs include a Document Information Dictionary with eight fields: title, author, subject, keywords, creator (the authoring app), producer (the writing library), creation date, and modification date.

Why edit or strip PDF metadata?

Before sharing a PDF, the metadata may include your full username, the name of the device, or the version of the software that produced the file. Editing lets you replace those values; stripping clears them entirely.

Does this tool work on every PDF?

It works on standard, non-encrypted PDFs that pdf-lib can parse. Password-protected PDFs need to be unlocked first.

Is my PDF uploaded anywhere?

All processing runs in your browser using pdf-lib. Our servers are not involved at any point.