diff --git a/TODO b/TODO
index 2c235732..3acf42ab 100644
--- a/TODO
+++ b/TODO
@@ -1,18 +1,5 @@
 - test with libwebp 0.3, the earliest that supports libwebpmux
 
-  test with ubuntu ... seems to have libwebpmux2
-
-  test webp metadata read and write
-
-  webpsave should support strip
-
-  update docs
-
-  need to check for >4gb overflow ... use guint64 for all size calculations
-
-  webpsave needs hooking up to exif.c
-
-
 
 - not sure about utf8 error messages on win
 
diff --git a/libvips/foreign/pforeign.h b/libvips/foreign/pforeign.h
index d3c87b18..78fbf480 100644
--- a/libvips/foreign/pforeign.h
+++ b/libvips/foreign/pforeign.h
@@ -220,11 +220,13 @@ int vips__webp_read_buffer( const void *buf, size_t len,
 int vips__webp_write_file( VipsImage *out, const char *filename, 
 	int Q, gboolean lossless, VipsForeignWebpPreset preset,
 	gboolean smart_subsample, gboolean near_lossless,
-	int alpha_q );
+	int alpha_q,
+	gboolean strip );
 int vips__webp_write_buffer( VipsImage *out, void **buf, size_t *len, 
 	int Q, gboolean lossless, VipsForeignWebpPreset preset,
 	gboolean smart_subsample, gboolean near_lossless,
-	int alpha_q );
+	int alpha_q,
+	gboolean strip );
 
 int vips__openslide_isslide( const char *filename );
 int vips__openslide_read_header( const char *filename, VipsImage *out, 
diff --git a/libvips/foreign/vips2webp.c b/libvips/foreign/vips2webp.c
index 04f590c2..f8d9bfdb 100644
--- a/libvips/foreign/vips2webp.c
+++ b/libvips/foreign/vips2webp.c
@@ -89,8 +89,12 @@ get_preset( VipsForeignWebpPreset preset )
 
 typedef struct {
 	uint8_t *mem;
-	size_t size;
-	size_t max_size;
+
+	/* We want to be able to detect >4gb even on machines that have size_t
+	 * as uint32.
+	 */
+	guint64 size;
+	guint64 max_size;
 } VipsWebPWriter;
 
 static void
@@ -103,21 +107,33 @@ vips_webp_writer_init( VipsWebPWriter *writer )
 
 static int
 vips_webp_writer_append( VipsWebPWriter *writer, 
-	const uint8_t *data, size_t data_size )
+	const uint8_t *data, guint64 data_size )
 {
-	size_t next_size;
+	guint64 next_size;
 
 	next_size = writer->size + data_size;
 
 	if( next_size > writer->max_size ) {
 		uint8_t *new_mem;
-		const size_t next_max_size =
+		const guint64 next_max_size =
 			VIPS_MAX( 8192, VIPS_MAX( next_size, 
 				writer->max_size * 2 ) );
 
-		if( !(new_mem = (uint8_t *) 
-			g_try_realloc( writer->mem, next_max_size )) ) 
+		/* We should let it creep up to 4gb rather than just
+		 * blocking when max goes over, but no one will make a >2gb
+		 * webp image.
+		 */
+		if( next_max_size > UINT_MAX ) {
+			vips_error( "webp", 
+				"%s", _( "output webp image too large" ) );
 			return( 0 );
+		}
+
+		if( !(new_mem = (uint8_t *) 
+			g_try_realloc( writer->mem, next_max_size )) ) {
+			vips_error( "webp", "%s", _( "out of memory" ) );
+			return( 0 );
+		}
 
 		writer->mem = new_mem;
 		writer->max_size = next_max_size;
@@ -167,7 +183,7 @@ vips_webp_writer_appendcc( VipsWebPWriter *writer, const char buf[4] )
 
 static gboolean
 vips_webp_writer_appendc( VipsWebPWriter *writer, 
-	const char fourcc[4], const uint8_t *data, size_t data_size )
+	const char fourcc[4], const uint8_t *data, guint64 data_size )
 {
 	const int zero = 0;
 	gboolean need_padding = (data_size & 1) != 0;
@@ -284,7 +300,7 @@ static int
 vips_webp_add_chunk( VipsWebPWriter *writer, VipsImage *image, 
 	const char *vips, const char webp[4] )
 {
-	if( vips_image_get_typeof( image, vips) ) {
+	if( vips_image_get_typeof( image, vips ) ) {
 		void *data;
 		size_t length;
 
@@ -345,6 +361,11 @@ vips_webp_add_metadata( VipsWebPWriter *writer, VipsImage *image )
 	guint64 new_size;
 	VipsWebPWriter new;
 
+	/* Rebuild the EXIF block, if any, ready for writing. 
+	 */
+	if( vips__exif_update( image ) )
+		return( -1 ); 
+
 	/* We have to find the size of the block we will write before we can
 	 * start to write it.
 	 */
@@ -474,7 +495,7 @@ int
 vips__webp_write_file( VipsImage *in, const char *filename, 
 	int Q, gboolean lossless, VipsForeignWebpPreset preset,
 	gboolean smart_subsample, gboolean near_lossless,
-	int alpha_q )
+	int alpha_q, gboolean strip )
 {
 	WebPPicture pic;
 	VipsWebPWriter writer;
@@ -499,7 +520,8 @@ vips__webp_write_file( VipsImage *in, const char *filename,
 
 	WebPPictureFree( &pic );
 
-	if( vips_webp_add_metadata( &writer, in ) ) {
+	if( !strip &&
+		vips_webp_add_metadata( &writer, in ) ) {
 		vips_webp_writer_unset( &writer );
 		return( -1 );
 	}
@@ -525,7 +547,7 @@ int
 vips__webp_write_buffer( VipsImage *in, void **obuf, size_t *olen, 
 	int Q, gboolean lossless, VipsForeignWebpPreset preset,
 	gboolean smart_subsample, gboolean near_lossless,
-	int alpha_q )
+	int alpha_q, gboolean strip )
 {
 	WebPPicture pic;
 	VipsWebPWriter writer;
@@ -549,7 +571,8 @@ vips__webp_write_buffer( VipsImage *in, void **obuf, size_t *olen,
 
 	WebPPictureFree( &pic );
 
-	if( vips_webp_add_metadata( &writer, in ) ) {
+	if( !strip &&
+		vips_webp_add_metadata( &writer, in ) ) {
 		vips_webp_writer_unset( &writer );
 		return( -1 );
 	}
diff --git a/libvips/foreign/webp2vips.c b/libvips/foreign/webp2vips.c
index 1d061a7a..22e652c5 100644
--- a/libvips/foreign/webp2vips.c
+++ b/libvips/foreign/webp2vips.c
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ read_header( Read *read, VipsImage *out )
 	WebPMux *mux;
 	int i;
 
-	/* We have to parse the whole file again to get the ICC profile out.
+	/* We have to parse the whole file again to get the metadata out.
 	 */
 	bitstream.bytes = read->data;
 	bitstream.size = read->length;
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ read_header( Read *read, VipsImage *out )
 		return( -1 ); 
 	}
 
-	for( i = 0; i < VIPS_NUMBER( vips__webp_names ); i++ ) { 
+	for( i = 0; i < vips__n_webp_names; i++ ) { 
 		const char *vips = vips__webp_names[i].vips;
 		const char *webp = vips__webp_names[i].webp;
 
diff --git a/libvips/foreign/webpload.c b/libvips/foreign/webpload.c
index a17385e9..c27a01ba 100644
--- a/libvips/foreign/webpload.c
+++ b/libvips/foreign/webpload.c
@@ -293,6 +293,9 @@ vips_foreign_load_webp_buffer_init( VipsForeignLoadWebpBuffer *buffer )
  *
  * Use @shrink to specify a shrink-on-load factor.
  *
+ * If libwebpmux is available, image metadata is also read. The loader supports 
+ * ICC, EXIF and XMP metadata. 
+ *
  * See also: vips_image_new_from_file().
  *
  * Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error.
diff --git a/libvips/foreign/webpsave.c b/libvips/foreign/webpsave.c
index 8ee91350..be370f49 100644
--- a/libvips/foreign/webpsave.c
+++ b/libvips/foreign/webpsave.c
@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ vips_foreign_save_webp_file_build( VipsObject *object )
 	if( vips__webp_write_file( save->ready, file->filename, 
 		webp->Q, webp->lossless, webp->preset,
 		webp->smart_subsample, webp->near_lossless,
-		webp->alpha_q ) )
+		webp->alpha_q, save->strip ) )
 		return( -1 );
 
 	return( 0 );
@@ -255,7 +255,7 @@ vips_foreign_save_webp_buffer_build( VipsObject *object )
 	if( vips__webp_write_buffer( save->ready, &obuf, &olen, 
 		webp->Q, webp->lossless, webp->preset,
 		webp->smart_subsample, webp->near_lossless,
-		webp->alpha_q ) )
+		webp->alpha_q, save->strip ) )
 		return( -1 );
 
 	/* obuf is a g_free() buffer, not vips_free().
@@ -320,7 +320,7 @@ vips_foreign_save_webp_mime_build( VipsObject *object )
 	if( vips__webp_write_buffer( save->ready, &obuf, &olen, 
 		webp->Q, webp->lossless, webp->preset,
 		webp->smart_subsample, webp->near_lossless,
-		webp->alpha_q ) )
+		webp->alpha_q, save->strip ) )
 		return( -1 );
 
 	printf( "Content-length: %zu\r\n", olen );
@@ -363,12 +363,13 @@ vips_foreign_save_webp_mime_init( VipsForeignSaveWebpMime *mime )
  *
  * Optional arguments:
  *
- * * @Q: %gint quality factor
- * * @lossless: %gboolean enables lossless compression
- * * @preset: #VipsForeignWebpPreset choose lossy compression preset
- * * @smart_subsample: %gboolean enables high quality chroma subsampling
- * * @near_lossless: %gboolean preprocess in lossless mode (controlled by Q)
- * * @alpha_q: %gint set alpha quality in lossless mode
+ * * @Q: %gint, quality factor
+ * * @lossless: %gboolean, enables lossless compression
+ * * @preset: #VipsForeignWebpPreset, choose lossy compression preset
+ * * @smart_subsample: %gboolean, enables high quality chroma subsampling
+ * * @near_lossless: %gboolean, preprocess in lossless mode (controlled by Q)
+ * * @alpha_q: %gint, set alpha quality in lossless mode
+ * * @strip: %gboolean, remove all metadata from image
  *
  * Write an image to a file in WebP format. 
  *
@@ -386,6 +387,9 @@ vips_foreign_save_webp_mime_init( VipsForeignSaveWebpMime *mime )
  * with @Q 80, 60, 40 or 20 to apply increasing amounts of preprocessing
  * which improves the near-lossless compression ratio by up to 50%.
  *
+ * The writer will attach ICC, EXIF and XMP metadata, unless @strip is set to
+ * %TRUE. 
+ *
  * See also: vips_webpload(), vips_image_write_to_file().
  *
  * Returns: 0 on success, -1 on error.
@@ -412,12 +416,13 @@ vips_webpsave( VipsImage *in, const char *filename, ... )
  *
  * Optional arguments:
  *
- * * @Q: %gint quality factor
- * * @lossless: %gboolean enables lossless compression
- * * @preset: #VipsForeignWebpPreset choose lossy compression preset
- * * @smart_subsample: %gboolean enables high quality chroma subsampling
- * * @near_lossless: %gboolean preprocess in lossless mode (controlled by Q)
- * * @alpha_q: %gint set alpha quality in lossless mode
+ * * @Q: %gint, quality factor
+ * * @lossless: %gboolean, enables lossless compression
+ * * @preset: #VipsForeignWebpPreset, choose lossy compression preset
+ * * @smart_subsample: %gboolean, enables high quality chroma subsampling
+ * * @near_lossless: %gboolean, preprocess in lossless mode (controlled by Q)
+ * * @alpha_q: %gint, set alpha quality in lossless mode
+ * * @strip: %gboolean, remove all metadata from image
  *
  * As vips_webpsave(), but save to a memory buffer.
  *
@@ -464,12 +469,13 @@ vips_webpsave_buffer( VipsImage *in, void **buf, size_t *len, ... )
  *
  * Optional arguments:
  *
- * * @Q: %gint quality factor
- * * @lossless: %gboolean enables lossless compression
- * * @preset: #VipsForeignWebpPreset choose lossy compression preset
- * * @smart_subsample: %gboolean enables high quality chroma subsampling
- * * @near_lossless: %gboolean preprocess in lossless mode (controlled by Q)
- * * @alpha_q: %gint set alpha quality in lossless mode
+ * * @Q: %gint, quality factor
+ * * @lossless: %gboolean, enables lossless compression
+ * * @preset: #VipsForeignWebpPreset, choose lossy compression preset
+ * * @smart_subsample: %gboolean, enables high quality chroma subsampling
+ * * @near_lossless: %gboolean, preprocess in lossless mode (controlled by Q)
+ * * @alpha_q: %gint, set alpha quality in lossless mode
+ * * @strip: %gboolean, remove all metadata from image
  *
  * As vips_webpsave(), but save as a mime webp on stdout.
  *
diff --git a/test/test_formats.sh b/test/test_formats.sh
index 5cf471de..9fd711bd 100755
--- a/test/test_formats.sh
+++ b/test/test_formats.sh
@@ -49,7 +49,8 @@ save_load() {
 	fi
 
 	if ! $vips copy $tmp/t1.$format $tmp/back.v ; then
-		echo "read from $out failed"
+		echo "read from $tmp/t1.format failed"
+		echo "  (was written by $vips copy $in $tmp/t1.$format$mode)"
 		exit 1
 	fi
 }