What is hidden in an AI video file? Tags, credentials and SynthID explained

2026-10-20 · 4 min read

A video file carries more than pictures and sound. Some of it is visible, some sits in the file, and some is hidden inside the picture itself. These are different things and they are handled differently.

1. A visible mark

The small sparkle in the corner of Gemini and Veo videos. You can see it, and it is part of the pictures. Image Cleaner removes it from every frame of a video (up to 60 seconds and 1080p).

2. File tags (metadata)

Text stored next to the video, not in the picture: a title, comments, the tool or encoder that made the file, the creation time, and sometimes more. You do not see them while playing, but anyone can read them with a free tool.

Why it matters: a creation time or a comment can say more than you want to share. See what image metadata is for the same idea on pictures.
What Image Cleaner does: the tags and chapters are dropped when the cleaned video is saved.

3. Content credentials

Some tools attach a signed record (often called C2PA or content credentials) that says how a file was made. It is stored in the file like a tag. Because it is data in the file and not in the picture, it is not carried over into the cleaned video.

4. Invisible watermarks such as SynthID

SynthID is a watermark placed inside the pictures themselves, made so that it survives editing. It is part of the video, not a tag.

Image Cleaner does not remove SynthID, and it never will.
That is why we ask users to tell their clients and audience when a video is AI-generated.

Quick table

What	Where it lives	Image Cleaner
Corner sparkle	In the pictures	Removed
Title, comment, creation time	In the file	Removed
Content credentials	In the file	Not carried over
SynthID	Inside the pictures	Not touched

See how a video is cleaned.