What EXIF data is
EXIF, short for Exchangeable image file format, is the standard way cameras and phones write information about a photo into the photo file itself. The standard is published by the Camera and Imaging Products Association as CIPA DC-008, developed jointly with JEITA; the current edition is Exif 3.1 from 2026. It defines numbered tags for things like the camera make and model, the date and time the photo was taken, the exposure settings, and a separate block of GPS tags for the location.
Most of this is harmless and even useful: it lets your photo library sort pictures by date and tells you which lens you used. The trouble starts when you share the original file. Whoever receives it can read the same data with any EXIF viewer, including this one.
What a photo can reveal
- Location: latitude, longitude and altitude, sometimes the direction the camera faced and how accurate the fix was. A photo taken at home can give away your address.
- Date and time: when the photo was taken; the standard also has fields for fractions of a second and for your time zone offset.
- Camera and lens: make, model and lens. The standard also has fields for the camera body serial number and the owner name, which link photos back to one device or person.
- Software and author: the app or operating system version that saved the file, plus artist, copyright and comment fields.
- Embedded preview: some files carry a small thumbnail image inside the EXIF block.
Besides EXIF, many files also hold XMP, a metadata format from Adobe that editing apps use, and PNG files can hold free text fields. The viewer shows all of it: a readable summary at the top, then a raw table of every tag with its number, and the XMP text.
How phones store location
On an iPhone, the Camera app adds the place to each photo when it has access to Location Services. Apple's personal safety guide says these coordinates are embedded into each photo and video, and that people you share them with may be able to see where they were taken. To stop it for new photos, go to Settings, Privacy and Security, Location Services, Camera and choose Never. When sharing, you can tap Options in the share sheet and turn off Location for that one share.
On Android, the location is part of the photo's EXIF metadata as well. Apps that target Android 10 or higher need the separate media location permission to read the unredacted EXIF location of your photos. That protects you from apps on your phone, but not from the people you send files to. Google's Google Photos help also notes that a location added by your camera cannot be removed in Google Photos, and that a photo you download and email shows the original location your device saved.
So whatever phone you use, the safest habit is simple: check the file, and remove the metadata before a photo leaves your hands. Keep in mind that the picture itself can still give a place away, for example through a street sign or a landmark. To hide such details, blur or pixelate those parts of the photo.
How the EXIF remover works
Image files are built from separate blocks, and the metadata lives in its own blocks next to the compressed picture. To strip EXIF data, the remover takes the file apart, leaves out the metadata blocks and puts the rest back together unchanged:
- JPG: the EXIF block and the XMP block sit in APP1 segments at the start of the file. They are dropped together with IPTC data, comments, multi-picture indexes and anything stored after the end of the image. The color profile is kept, so colors look the same.
- PNG: the eXIf chunk and the text and time chunks (tEXt, zTXt, iTXt, tIME), described in the PNG specification, are dropped.
- WebP: the EXIF and XMP chunks of the WebP container are dropped and the flags in the file header are updated to match.
- HEIC, HEIF and AVIF: the EXIF and XMP items are overwritten with empty data right where they are, so the file layout and the compressed image stay exactly as they were.
Because the image data is never decoded and saved again, there is no quality loss and no change in file size beyond the removed metadata. After cleaning, each copy is scanned again, and the tool tells you what is left in it.
Why some photos turn sideways
A camera can store the pixels in one direction and write an Orientation tag that says how to turn them for display. Browsers follow that tag by default, as described for the CSS image-orientation property. If a remover deletes the tag, the photo can suddenly show up on its side. That is why the default setting keeps a tiny EXIF block holding only the Orientation tag for rotated photos, which says nothing about you. Choose Rotate pixels to turn the picture itself upright instead: the copy then has no EXIF at all, at the cost of one re-encode for JPG and WebP; PNG stays lossless. HEIC and AVIF files are different. Both are built on the HEIF container, which signals rotation with its own properties named irot and imir, as the AVIF specification describes for AVIF. Their EXIF is therefore blanked completely in both settings.
How to use the EXIF viewer and remover
- 1Drop one or more photos on the box, or tap it to pick photos on your phone. You can also paste an image.
- 2Pick a photo in the list to see its metadata: the privacy check, location, camera, date, exposure and the full tag table.
- 3Press Save clean copy for one photo, or save all clean copies at once as a ZIP file. Your originals stay as they are.
Need a different format as well? The HEIC to JPG converter turns iPhone photos into JPG files without metadata, and the image compressor makes photos smaller for email and the web.
Frequently asked questions
Are my photos uploaded?
No. Your browser reads the metadata and writes the clean copies on your own device. The photos never leave your computer or phone, and no map or other service is contacted unless you click one of the map links yourself.
Does removing EXIF data lower the photo quality?
No. JPG, PNG and WebP files are cleaned by cutting the metadata blocks out of the file, and HEIC files by blanking them in place. The compressed image data is copied byte for byte, so the picture is identical. Only the optional Rotate pixels setting re-encodes rotated JPG and WebP photos, and the tool says so next to each file.
Why does my clean copy still have an orientation tag?
Some photos are stored sideways with an Orientation tag that tells viewers how to turn them. Without it the clean copy would show up rotated. So by default the clean copy keeps a tiny EXIF block with only that tag and nothing else. Choose Rotate pixels if you want no EXIF at all; the photo is then turned upright and saved again.
Does my phone remove the location when I share a photo?
Not always. On an iPhone you can tap Options in the share sheet and turn off Location for that share, according to Apple. Google says a photo you download from Google Photos and email still carries the original location your device saved. Checking the file here before you send it is the safe way to know.
How do I see where a photo was taken?
Drop the photo here. If it has GPS data, the Location card shows the latitude, longitude and altitude, and the links open the spot in OpenStreetMap or Google Maps in a new tab. Nothing is loaded until you click, and only then does the map site receive those coordinates.
Which file types work?
JPG and JPEG, HEIC and HEIF from iPhones, AVIF, PNG and WebP. Each clean copy keeps its format, so a HEIC photo stays HEIC. If you need a JPG, the HEIC to JPG converter on this site also leaves the metadata out.
Can the removed metadata be restored?
Not from the clean copy, because the data is no longer in that file. Your original file is not changed, so keep it if you want the date and location for your own photo library.