How to remove MT from XLIFF files
Remove machine translation (MT) metadata from XLIFF files safely, without touching human translations or TM matches.
Machine translation metadata inside XLIFF files can create problems in professional localization workflows. CAT tools such as Trados Studio and memoQ often insert machine translation (MT) markers into bilingual files when MT suggestions are accepted or pre-translated.
These markers can remain embedded in the file even after human post-editing.
Why remove MT metadata?
Removing MT metadata is useful when:
- clients request human-only deliverables
- you want to avoid exposing MT usage
- you want cleaner bilingual archives
- you need standardized translation memories
What MT metadata looks like
MT metadata can include:
- origin="mt"
- tool-id attributes
- proprietary CAT tool markers
- match-quality markers
Manual removal
Manual cleanup usually requires:
- Opening the XLIFF file in a text editor
- Identifying MT-specific tags
- Removing attributes carefully
- Validating XML structure
This is risky. A single malformed tag can break the file.
Automated removal with CleanXLIFF
CleanXLIFF automatically detects machine translation metadata and removes only MT/AT-related markers.
It preserves:
- human translations
- translation memory matches
- segmentation
- structural integrity
Upload your file, clean it, and download it in seconds.