Generative edits versus ordinary Photoshop metadata
A file that was only cropped, colored, or healed with the classic tools still tends to carry XMP that names Photoshop, plus whatever camera EXIF you chose to keep. That is not the same as an AI content credential. Platforms looking for C2PA will not treat “creator tool: Photoshop” as a Firefly manifest.
Generative Fill and Generative Expand are different. Current Photoshop can embed Content Credentials for those edits when that setting is enabled, which it is for generative AI features in recent versions. The IPTC digital source type used for a photo that still contains a generated region is the composite-with-trained-algorithmic-media value, not the value used for a fully synthetic Firefly frame. The Firefly page covers the fully generated case.
The PSD is not what you upload to Instagram. Export As, Save a Copy, and Quick Export each have their own metadata checkboxes. A setting that strips metadata will drop the credential before this tool ever sees the file. A setting that keeps all metadata will keep it. Inspect the exported JPEG or PNG, not the layered document. This site does not open PSD files.
Clean the export, not the PSD
- 1
Export a flat image
Save a JPEG, PNG, or WebP with the metadata options you think you used. If you are unsure, export twice and check both.
- 2
Read C2PA and XMP separately
On the checker, a Photoshop creator-tool tag is XMP. A Generative Fill credential is C2PA. You can have one, the other, or both.
- 3
Strip the upload copy
The remover deletes both, plus GPS and IPTC. JPG and PNG pixels are not recompressed. Keep the PSD as your master.
- 4
Do not expect a pixel watermark to move
If the source photo carried SynthID or another pixel mark, Generative Fill does not make this tool able to erase it.
Export settings matter more than the layer name
Naming a layer “AI” does nothing to the file a platform reads. The exported container does. If the checker is empty, the export already dropped the credential, or the edit never wrote one.
Questions
Does every Photoshop file trigger an AI label?
No. Ordinary edits write XMP and maybe EXIF. Generative Fill and Generative Expand can add a C2PA credential when Content Credentials are on and the export keeps metadata.
Can I drop a PSD here?
No. Export a JPG, PNG, or WebP first. Those are the formats the tool cleans.
Will Generative Fill pixels change?
The remover does not rerun Generative Fill and does not recompress JPG or PNG data. It only removes metadata.
Should I keep the credential for a client?
If the client or the law wants provenance, keep a master with the credential. Clean only the copy you are allowed to publish without it. See the disclaimer.