What's an easy way to remove metadata from a .mp4 file? [Windows 10]

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.one⁩ to ⁨privacyguides@lemmy.one⁩

When I try using the normal way in Windows 10, it throws an error. I have some videos I uploaded to a YouTube channel a long time ago, and I’d like to share them, but first I need to remove the metadata.

The normal way I do this for images is to right click and select “Remove Properties and Personal Information,” but when I try to do this with an mp4, it doesn’t succeed. I’ve checked the security settings to make sure I have full control over this file, which I do, but it seems impossible to remove this metadata. I’ve tried saving-as using VLC and even tried within different folders, but nothing works.

Surely there must be a tool to remove metadata from a mp4 just as there is with an image, but none of my searches have been helpful. I’d much appreciate it if anyone can help!

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Nawor3565@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Use FFmpeg. You can copy only the audio and video channels (and subtitles) without anything else using a command like:

ffmpeg -i INPUT.mp4 -map_metadata -1 -c:v copy -c:a copy OUTPUT.mp4

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- LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.one ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  I’ve downloaded FFmepg in the past, but I’m too dull and non-techy to understand it. I’m bound to royally fuck up anything in command prompt. Is there a setting I can use in Windows to allow me to remove the metadata by right clicking like I can with documents or images?
  
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  - Nawor3565@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    You can try installing Handbrake, it’s basically a user interface to make using FFmpeg easier. As far as removing all the metadata with a click, I’m not aware of anything that does that.
    
    Honestly though, I think this is a simple enough case that you could figure it out even if you’re non-techy. The basic steps would be:
    
    make a folder somewhere to keep everything in one place
    
    download FFmpeg from here (this is one of the official Windows builds)
    
    extract the 7z file you downloaded, there’s a folder inside called “bin” and inside of that should be three .exe files, one of which is just named “ffmpeg.exe”. Put that .exe into the folder you made earlier
    
    open Notepad, copy/paste the command from my first comment into Notepad, and save it as something like “remove_metadata.bat” to your folder from earlier. In the window where you choose where to save the file, make sure you choose the file type “all files” from the drop down in order to save it as a .bat.
    
    After setting it up, you can just put any .mp4 into the same folder, rename it INPUT.mp4, and run your .bat file by double-clicking it. It should create a new file called OUTPUT.mp4 in the same folder with all of the metadata removed.
    
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kurcatovium@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
I would probably use so.ething like Musicbrainz Pickard or some more feature rich player like Foobar2000.

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- LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.one ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Haven’t heard of either one of these, thanks! Musicbrainz Pickard looks pretty intuitive based on the screenshots, and I like that it’s also available for Linux. I’ll try that one first.
  
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  - MiddledAgedGuy@beehaw.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    My two cents is that it’s a bit unintuitive, but ymmv. It’s not overly difficult though, and a great piece of software. So do try!
    
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  - kurcatovium@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Yeah, I use it on linux too. I’d substitute Foobar for Strawberry player on linux for playbacl and tags editing.
    
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LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.one ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
I figured out I can send it to myself on Molly, and the metadata will be automatically removed, but surely there’s a better way to do this very basic thing?

Later, I’ll have access to my laptop that runs Linux, so I’ll see if it works there to do it in a more civilized manner.

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