View all the metadata in a PDF
PDFs carry far more than title and author. There is the Info dictionary, one or more XMP packets, per-page and per-image metadata, a file identifier, private application data and sometimes embedded files — most of which ordinary viewers never show.
metavanish lays all of it out in one place, decoded and readable, so you can see exactly what a document reveals about itself.
Open the free tool →Everything a PDF can carry
A single document can expose all of the following at once:
- The /Info dictionary — title, author, subject, keywords, producer, creator and creation/modification dates.
- The XMP packet — the same fields in XML, plus tool-specific properties and document/instance IDs.
- Nested XMP — separate metadata attached to individual pages or images.
- The trailer /ID, /PieceInfo private application data, and any embedded files.
Decoded, not raw
Values stored as UTF-16, hex strings or PDF date syntax are decoded into plain text, so you read the real content instead of escaped bytes. A full object dump is available too when you want to inspect the raw graph directly.
See what others would see
Before you send a document, it is worth knowing what it tells the recipient — the software that made it, the machine name sometimes left in a path, the dates, the earlier filenames. Viewing is the first step; editing and removal are one click away in the same tool.
How to use it
- Open metavanish and drop in your PDF.
- Browse the Info dictionary and XMP panels for the standard and custom fields.
- Open Raw scan to inspect nested XMP, /ID, /PieceInfo, embedded files and the full object graph.
FAQ
What metadata can a PDF contain?
The Info dictionary, XMP (document-level and nested in pages/images), the trailer /ID, private /PieceInfo application data and embedded files — metavanish shows all of them.
Do I need to install software?
No. It runs in the browser. The file is processed in your session and discarded immediately, with nothing stored.
Can I edit or remove what I find?
Yes. Any field can be edited or deleted, and on save the file is rebuilt so removed data is actually gone, not just hidden.