How to Remove Specific Metadata in FFmpeg

This article explains how to delete specific metadata keys from a media file using FFmpeg without re-encoding the original streams. You will learn the exact commands to target and clear individual global tags, strip metadata from specific audio or video streams, and remove multiple selected tags simultaneously in a single command.

Clearing a Specific Global Metadata Key

To remove a specific metadata key (such as title, artist, or comment) from a file, you set that key to an empty value using the -metadata option. By pairing this with -c copy, FFmpeg will modify the metadata instantly without re-encoding the video or audio streams.

Use the following command structure:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -metadata title="" -c copy output.mp4

In this example, the title metadata key is cleared, while all other metadata and stream data remain intact.

Clearing Multiple Specific Metadata Keys

You can clear multiple metadata keys at the same time by repeating the -metadata flag for each key you want to remove.

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -metadata title="" -metadata artist="" -metadata date="" -c copy output.mp4

This command removes the title, artist, and date tags from the output file in a single pass.

Clearing Metadata from Specific Streams

Metadata can exist globally or within specific streams (such as a specific audio track or subtitle track). To clear a metadata key from a specific stream, use a stream specifier with the -metadata option:

For example, to remove the title tag from only the first audio stream:

ffmpeg -i input.mkv -metadata:s:a:0 title="" -c copy output.mkv

To remove the language tag from the first subtitle stream:

ffmpeg -i input.mkv -metadata:s:s:0 language="" -c copy output.mkv

Note: Clearing Specific vs. All Metadata

If your goal is to delete all metadata rather than specific keys, you should use the -map_metadata -1 flag instead:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -map_metadata -1 -c copy output.mp4

However, to keep most of your metadata and only target specific unwanted fields, sticking to the -metadata key="" method is the correct approach.