Terms of Service

1. What Tracemute is

Tracemute is a free tool that removes metadata from photos and videos. All processing happens locally in your web browser. Your files are never uploaded to, received by, or stored on any server we operate — there is no server in the loop for the file itself. The tool requires no account, no payment, and no personal information.

2. Who provides it

Tracemute is an independent project. It is not, at present, operated through a registered company or other legal entity. These terms are a direct agreement between you and the operator of Tracemute ("we", "us"). Nothing here creates a partnership, employment, or agency relationship between us.

3. Your files and content

• · You keep all rights to your files. We claim no ownership of anything you process. We never see it, so we couldn't.
• · You are responsible for what you process. Only use Tracemute on files you own or have permission to handle, and only for lawful purposes.
• · We hold no copy. Because processing is local, we cannot recover, restore, or inspect a file for you. Keep your own originals.

4. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• · use Tracemute to break the law, or to strip metadata from material you have no right to (for example, to conceal the origin of stolen or unlawful content);
• · attack, overload, probe, or attempt to disrupt the site or the people who use it;
• · copy, resell, rebrand, or redistribute the tool as your own, or attempt to reverse-engineer, decompile, or extract its source (it is not open source — see /about);
• · misrepresent Tracemute, or use its name or branding in a way that implies endorsement or affiliation you don't have.

5. Intellectual property

The Tracemute tool, website, source code, name, logo, and design are owned by the operator and protected by intellectual-property law. Using the tool gives you permission to use it as intended — it does not transfer any of those rights to you.

6. Third-party services

Tracemute loads no third-party scripts. The only optional outbound requests are the OpenStreetMap map tile and reverse-geocode lookup, and they fire only if you explicitly click "Reveal on map" on a GPS field. If you use that feature, OpenStreetMap's own terms and privacy policy apply to those requests. See /privacy.

7. No warranty — the tool is provided "as is"

Tracemute is provided free of charge, "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including but not limited to fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, or non-infringement.

In particular: while Tracemute is built to remove metadata thoroughly and losslessly, we do not warrant that it removes every possible field from every possible file, that it will be error-free, or that it will always be available. Metadata formats change and edge cases exist. If a file's privacy genuinely matters, verify the result yourself — the tool shows you what it found before removing it, and you can re-inspect a cleaned file at any time. You use Tracemute at your own risk.

8. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the operator of Tracemute will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, privacy, profits, or goodwill, arising out of or related to your use of (or inability to use) the tool — even if advised of the possibility. Because the tool is provided free of charge, our total liability for any claim relating to it is limited to the amount you paid to use it, which is zero.

Some jurisdictions don't allow certain limitations, so parts of this section may not apply to you. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

9. Changes and availability

We may update, change, suspend, or discontinue any part of Tracemute at any time without notice. We may also update these terms; when we do, we'll change the "Effective" date at the top of this page. Continuing to use the tool after a change means you accept the updated terms.

10. Governing law and your rights

Because Tracemute is not currently operated through a registered legal entity, no company jurisdiction is named here. To the extent a governing law is required, these terms are governed by the law of the operator's place of residence, applied in good faith. This does not take away any mandatory consumer protections or other rights you have under the law of your own country or region — those continue to apply.