The claim we test

Free AI Wiper makes a deliberately narrow claim: for a supported file, it reports selected metadata it can detect, removes the selected supported items, and inspects the output again. A clean result is scoped to those items. It is not a certificate of authorship or a claim that no other tool could find another signal.

The same three checks for each format

  1. Before: inspect the original file and record the supported findings and file type.
  2. Change: remove only the categories selected by the user. If nothing selected is present, leave an already-clean file unchanged.
  3. After: inspect the output for the selected findings and reject a result if the verification fails.

The cleaner's automated checks use fixtures for supported images, PDF, Office files, video and text. Those fixtures include files with metadata and files without it. The examples below are from the checked-in fixture tests, which passed on 29 September 2026. They do not cover every possible metadata carrier or third-party export.

Two reproducible examples

PNG with an AI marker. The source PNG is an MIT-licensed example asset. Our fixture is 2,130,441 bytes with SHA-256 7cd57b4a33f05e4ce7f63de18751f59f4b3ea8c55c281204e0cd6d1f621e466f. Inspection reports one supported AI finding before cleaning and zero afterward when AI metadata is selected. The test also verifies that the output passes the image preservation check.

DOCX with ordinary properties. The source DOCX is MIT-licensed. Our fixture is 2,154 bytes with SHA-256 42e9a68990b3077fea10737c08e1e971e36967646e4a42795100f9f397727b31. Inspection reports three supported personal-property findings before cleaning and zero afterward when those properties are selected. The test checks that the document's word/document.xml part is unchanged.

The counts describe supported findings reported by this checker, not an independent proof that a file contains no other metadata. Download the linked originals to repeat the inspection in the cleaner; keep a copy before editing.

  • JPEG, PNG, WebP: supported C2PA, JUMBF, XMP, generator and optional private metadata. Visible marks and pixel-domain signals are outside this check.
  • PDF: supported document-information fields and catalog XMP. Signed or encrypted PDFs and page-level visible marks are outside this workflow.
  • DOCX, PPTX, XLSX: supported standard document-property parts. Document prose, comments and revision history are outside this check.
  • MP4, MOV: supported provenance, XMP and metadata boxes. Video frames, audio and platform records are outside this check.
  • Text: five classes of hidden Unicode characters. Statistical watermarks and authorship are outside this check.

How to reproduce a result yourself

Keep a copy of a supported original file. Run an inspection, save the list of findings, clean only the categories you intend, then inspect the downloaded file again. The result should agree with the cleaner's after-report. For image files, compare the visible output as well; the cleaner preserves the encoded image payload for supported formats.

The format pages give the input limits and exclusions. If a file contains an unsupported carrier, a missing finding is a limitation of this checker, not evidence that the carrier does not exist. We will add more public cases when they have a clear license, stable source and independently checked result.