How can PHP developers account for differences in image metadata (EXIF, IPTC) when comparing images using hashing functions?

When comparing images using hashing functions, PHP developers can account for differences in image metadata (EXIF, IPTC) by stripping this metadata before hashing the images. This ensures that only the actual pixel data is considered in the hashing process, making the comparison more accurate.

function get_image_hash($image_path) {
    $image = imagecreatefromstring(file_get_contents($image_path));
    ob_start();
    imagejpeg($image);
    $image_data = ob_get_clean();
    imagedestroy($image);

    $hash = md5($image_data);
    return $hash;
}