AI labels

How to remove Content Credentials (C2PA) from a photo you edited

Updated November 13, 2026

Short answer

Content Credentials, the C2PA standard, are a signed record attached to an image that lists the apps and AI tools used on it. Google Photos, Photoshop, Lightroom and ChatGPT add them, and platforms such as X, Instagram and LinkedIn read them. PicDetox removes the C2PA record along with the other metadata. It can't remove watermarks hidden in the pixels, such as SynthID.

What C2PA stores

  • The app that made or edited the image
  • Actions, such as an AI edit or a crop
  • Ingredients: earlier versions the image was made from
  • A signature that shows whether the record was changed

When removing it makes sense

  • Your real photo was labeled AI because of a small edit.
  • You'd rather not share which apps and accounts you use.
  • You're sending a photo to a client who only needs the picture.

When to keep it

If the image was made with AI and a platform or the law asks for disclosure, keep it. Content Credentials can also help show that a photo is yours.

Clean a photo with PicDetox

  1. Select the photos in FinderSelect one photo or as many as you like.
  2. Choose Clean Metadata with PicDetoxRight-click and choose Clean Metadata with PicDetox, under Quick Actions or Services. PicDetox saves a clean copy next to each original and checks it.
  3. Share the clean copyPost or send the file ending in -clean. Its pixels are identical to the original.

Questions

Will people see that the credentials were removed?

Tools that check Content Credentials will show the image has none, like most images online.

Does removing C2PA remove SynthID?

No. SynthID lives in the pixels, and PicDetox only changes metadata.