… for Codecs & Media

Tip #1735: Keep Your Movie Data Secret

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

This setting disables metadata pass-through to compressed files.

(I discovered this tip while researching my recent PowerUP webinar illustrating New Features in Apple Compressor & Final Cut Pro.)

Your movies tell the world a lot about you – in ways you may not expect.

Both Final Cut Pro and Compressor embed metadata (text labels) into your movies that can be easily read by anyone using QuickTime Player – or other media viewing software.

This includes the name of the person creating the file, descriptions, keywords, Event names and much more. This metadata can be customized – for example, I use it to embed a copyright date.

However, sometimes, you may NOT want this information embedded for security, secrecy or personal reasons. Apple Compressor 4.5.3 features a new function that disables embedding metadata and prevents any that is already embedded in the source media from passing through to the compressed file.

NOTE: This only affects compressed files, source files are not modified.

Here’s how:

• Select the compression setting applied to a clip.
• Scroll to the bottom of the General tab.
• Click the Remove all metadata and annotations radio button.

EXTRA CREDIT

This setting can only be applied to individual compression settings.

To set this as a default for a setting, select a compression setting in the Settings panel, then disable metadata from the General Inspector.