Clean Google Imagen metadata

Google Imagen and Gemini image outputs ship with two provenance layers: a C2PA Content Credentials manifest in the JPEG APP11 segment, and an invisible SynthID watermark embedded at pixel level. GhostMeta strips the C2PA layer — what most viewers and platforms read — via canvas re-encode. SynthID is designed to survive re-encoding by Google's research and would require destructive editing or a dedicated remover to defeat. Beyond the APP11 manifest, Imagen and Gemini exports often write an IPTC "Digital Source Type" value set to trainedAlgorithmicMedia into the image's XMP / IPTC photo-metadata — a plain-text AI flag that stock libraries and newsrooms increasingly scan on ingest, independent of C2PA. Because Imagen ships as JPEG, the file also carries a standard EXIF APP1 segment alongside the C2PA APP11 segment, so a clean strip has to clear both. GhostMeta wipes the EXIF, the IPTC AI marker and the C2PA manifest in a single canvas pass; the JPEG is re-encoded at a fixed high quality (92%), and the pixels — and the SynthID baked into them — are left untouched.

FAQ

Does GhostMeta remove SynthID?

No. SynthID is a pixel-level steganographic watermark designed by Google DeepMind to survive standard re-encoding. GhostMeta strips the C2PA metadata layer only.

Are Gemini image outputs flagged the same?

Yes. Gemini's image generator pipes through the same Imagen backend and produces the same C2PA + SynthID combination.

Will my Google account be referenced in metadata?

The C2PA manifest names Google as producer. Account-level identifiers are not stored in clear text but the assertion list may include hashed session refs.

Imagen exports as JPEG — does the quality drop when GhostMeta re-encodes?

GhostMeta decodes the JPEG to a canvas at full resolution, then re-exports at a fixed 92% quality, so any loss is a single generation and visually negligible for web or marketplace use. It is not lossless: each canvas re-encode is one JPEG pass. For a print master, keep your original and strip a working copy.

Which Google surfaces produce these C2PA + IPTC markers?

The same Imagen backend powers Gemini image generation, ImageFX in AI Test Kitchen and the Whisk tool, so their outputs carry the APP11 C2PA manifest and, when present, the IPTC trainedAlgorithmicMedia source-type value. GhostMeta treats them identically — it strips by reading the actual JPEG segments and metadata blocks, not by trusting a generator name.

Will a stock or marketplace ingestion pipeline still see my image as AI after stripping?

The metadata-based signals it reads — the C2PA APP11 manifest and the IPTC AI source-type field — are gone after GhostMeta, so a metadata scan comes back clean. But Google's SynthID lives in the pixels and survives the re-encode, and pixel-based AI classifiers analyze the image content directly. Stripping metadata removes the declared provenance, not the statistical fingerprint of the pixels.