Overview
Introduction
This tool strips every textual metadata chunk out of a PNG file, right in your browser, without touching the image itself.
It's a targeted cleanup step for when you specifically want to drop author names, comments, or other text fields before sharing a file.
What Is PNG Text Remover?
A byte-level PNG chunk editor that walks the file's chunk stream, drops any tEXt, zTXt, or iTXt chunk it finds, and copies every other chunk through unchanged.
It only concerns itself with the file format's own textual metadata fields — it never touches or reinterprets the compressed pixel data in IDAT chunks.
How PNG Text Remover Works
The uploaded bytes are parsed chunk by chunk after the 8-byte PNG signature; each chunk's 4-byte type code is checked against the set of text chunk types (tEXt, zTXt, iTXt).
Matching chunks are simply omitted from the rebuilt output; every other chunk (IHDR, PLTE, tRNS, IDAT, IEND, and any other ancillary chunk) is copied byte-for-byte, so the resulting file decodes to the exact same image.
When To Use PNG Text Remover
Use it before sharing or publishing a PNG that might carry an author name, editing-tool comment, or other text you'd rather not distribute.
It's also useful as a lightweight privacy step when you want to keep other metadata (like color profile or physical DPI) but specifically drop free-text fields.
Often used alongside PNG Text Extractor, PNG Metadata Eraser and PNG Metadata Changer.
Features
Advantages
- Runs entirely client-side; the uploaded file is never sent to a server.
- Leaves the rendered image completely unchanged — only text chunks are removed.
- Preserves every other chunk type, unlike a full metadata strip.
Limitations
- This cannot remove text that's rendered into the image's pixels (a caption or watermark baked into a photo) — only the file format's own tEXt/zTXt/iTXt metadata chunks.
- If you need to strip all ancillary metadata (timestamps, color profiles, EXIF) rather than just text, use PNG Metadata Eraser instead.
Examples
Best Practices & Notes
Best Practices
- Run PNG Text Extractor first if you want to see exactly what will be removed before you do it.
- Use this instead of PNG Metadata Eraser when you want to keep non-text metadata like color profiles intact.
Developer Notes
The lib function is a pure chunk-stream rewriter operating on a Uint8Array: it walks each chunk's declared length, type-checks it against a small Set of text chunk type names, and either appends it to the output byte array unchanged or skips it while incrementing a removed-chunk counter.
PNG Text Remover Use Cases
- Stripping author/comment metadata before publishing a PNG publicly
- Cleaning up screenshots or exports that accumulated editing-tool comments
- Preparing a file for a workflow that rejects PNGs containing metadata
Common Mistakes
- Expecting this to remove a watermark or caption visible in the picture — that's pixel data, not a text chunk.
- Using this when you actually want all metadata gone; it only targets text chunks, not timestamps or color profiles.
Tips
- Check the "Removed N text chunk(s)" status after processing to confirm something was actually found and removed.
- Combine with PNG Metadata Eraser for a more thorough metadata cleanup pass.