Dashcam footage gets shared a lot: with insurers after a crash, with the police, on forums and on YouTube channels built around bad driving. Most dashcams record far more than the picture. Before a clip leaves your hands, it's worth knowing what's in it and which parts you can remove.

What a dashcam records besides the picture

Dashcams differ by brand and model, but a typical GPS-equipped dashcam can store:

  • A burned-in overlay: date, time, speed, sometimes GPS coordinates and a plate or user name, drawn onto the picture itself.
  • A GPS track: your position every second, with speed and heading, stored inside the video file as a separate data or subtitle track, or in a separate file next to it.
  • File metadata: the recording date, the camera model and firmware, sometimes a serial number.
  • Audio from the cabin, if the microphone is on.

The first one matters most, because it works differently from everything else.

The overlay is part of the picture

A date or speed stamp in the corner of the video is not metadata. It's painted into every frame when the video is recorded. No metadata tool can remove it, ours included, because doing so would mean changing the picture.

If you don't want it in future clips, turn it off in the dashcam's settings (look for "date stamp", "speed stamp", "GPS stamp" or "overlay"). For clips you already have, the only options are cropping or blurring that part of the video in an editor, which re-encodes it.

Before you do: for insurance claims and police reports, the stamp is often useful evidence. Think about whether you want it gone.

The GPS track is not part of the picture

The second-by-second GPS track is what most people don't know about. Depending on the model it lives:

  • Inside the video file, as a hidden subtitle or data track, or as a block of data the camera tucks into the file. Video players ignore it, but dashcam viewer apps read it to draw your route on a map.
  • In a separate file with the same name, such as .gps, .nmea or .txt, saved on the memory card next to the video.

A full track shows where you drove, how fast, and where you started and stopped. That can include your home and your workplace, even if the clip itself only shows a motorway.

How to share a clip without the track

  1. Share only the video file, not the whole folder. If your camera writes separate GPS files, leave them behind.
  2. Remove the metadata from the video. Our video metadata remover rebuilds the file with only the video and the audio. Anything else stored inside it (GPS tracks or blocks, subtitles, other data) is left out, along with the dates, device model and other details. The picture and sound are copied across without re-encoding, so the footage stays exactly as it was recorded.
  3. Mute the audio if the cabin conversation is private. That's an edit, done in any video editor.

Our tool supports MP4, MOV, M4V, 3GP, MKV and WebM, which covers most dashcams. Some older dashcams record AVI, which we don't support; convert it to MP4 first.

When to keep the metadata

If the footage is evidence, think carefully before removing anything:

  • Insurers and police may want the original file with its GPS and time data, because it helps show where and when something happened and that the file hasn't been edited.
  • Keep an untouched copy of the original on your computer, whatever you share publicly.

A good pattern: send the original to the insurer or police, and share a cleaned copy anywhere public.

Posting on YouTube or social media

Big platforms usually re-encode uploaded videos, which drops most metadata from the copy viewers download. But:

  • The overlay stays, because it's part of the picture.
  • You can't always be sure what a given platform keeps.
  • Forums, file hosts and cloud links usually serve your file exactly as you uploaded it.

Cleaning the file first means you don't have to rely on the platform.

Frequently asked questions

Can I remove the date and speed stamp from dashcam footage?

Not with a metadata tool. The stamp is drawn into the picture itself. You can crop or blur it in a video editor, which re-encodes the video, or turn the stamp off in the dashcam's settings for future recordings.

Does dashcam video contain GPS data?

Many GPS-equipped dashcams store a GPS track inside the video file, or in a separate file next to it. The track records your position and speed every second. Dashcam viewer apps use it to show your route on a map.

Will removing metadata make dashcam footage useless as evidence?

It removes information that can help as evidence, such as the GPS track and original dates. Keep an untouched original for insurers and police, and share cleaned copies publicly.

Does removing metadata lower the video quality?

No. Our tool copies the video and audio without re-encoding, and checks every frame against the original.

What formats do dashcams use?

Most record MP4 or MOV, which we support. Some older models record AVI, which we don't; convert it to MP4 first.