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An image metadata remover deletes the hidden information stored inside a picture file: the GPS position where it was taken, the phone or camera model, the date and time, the software that touched it and, for AI images, the prompt. None of it is visible in the picture, but anyone who receives the original file can read it. Drop your photos in the box above, check the report of what was inside, and download copies without it. The pixels are not re-encoded and nothing is uploaded.
What is hidden inside a photo
A JPG, PNG or WebP file is a wrapper around the pixel data. Cameras, phones and editing apps tuck several blocks of extra information next to it, and each block answers a different question about you.
| Block | Typical contents | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| EXIF | Camera make and model, lens, exposure settings, date and time, orientation | Identifies your device and shows when you were there |
| GPS (inside EXIF) | Latitude, longitude, altitude, sometimes speed and compass direction | Can point to a home, school or workplace within a few metres |
| Maker notes | Manufacturer-specific data, often including camera and lens serial numbers | Links photos to one physical camera |
| XMP | Editing history, creator tool, ratings, keywords, sometimes an author name | Shows which software and edits produced the file |
| IPTC | Caption, credit line, copyright, contact details, keywords | Often filled in by photographers and agencies, and can hold a real name, phone number or email |
| Thumbnail | A small preview picture stored inside the file | In some editors it is not updated when you crop, so it can still show the original framing |
| Comments and trailers | JPEG comments, vendor data appended after the picture | Motion-photo video and similar extras hide here |
| AI records | Prompts, seeds, workflow graphs, Content Credentials | Describe how an image was made; see the AI section below |
Why it matters
In 2012 a magazine published a photo of a man who was being sought by the authorities, with its GPS tags intact. Readers pulled the coordinates out of the file and told the world where he was. The same thing happens at a smaller scale every day.
- Selling or giving things away online. A photo of a bicycle taken in your garage can carry your home coordinates.
- Photos of children sent to schools, clubs and group chats.
- Dating and social profiles. A picture taken at home shows where you live and when you were there.
- Rental, real estate and classified listings that tie a phone number to a precise location.
- Journalists, activists and their sources, for whom a device identifier or a location can be dangerous.
- Any site that serves the original file instead of a re-saved copy: forums, image libraries on a CMS, email, cloud links.
What the image metadata remover takes out
The remover works on the file structure, so it knows exactly which blocks to cut. For each format:
- JPG: EXIF (including GPS and maker notes), XMP, IPTC, comments, embedded thumbnails, extra pictures stored for multi-picture files, and any data after the end of the image.
- PNG: text chunks, the EXIF chunk, the last-modified time and Content Credentials. Anything else that is not needed to draw the picture is dropped too.
- WebP: the EXIF, XMP and C2PA chunks, and the flags that announce them.
- AVIF: the picture is redrawn in your browser and saved again, which leaves none of the original metadata behind.
What stays is what the picture needs to look right: the pixel data, the colour profile so colours do not shift, and, for JPEGs, a tiny block that holds only the rotation. Phone photos are usually stored sideways with a rotation flag, and without that flag they would come out turned.
Why quality does not suffer
Opening a JPEG and saving it again re-compresses the picture, and every pass loses a little detail. Removing metadata does not need that. A JPEG is a list of segments, each starting with a marker and a length. The remover walks that list, copies the segments the picture needs, skips the rest, and never decodes the compressed image data at all.
- The compressed pixel data is copied byte for byte, so decoded pixels are identical. We check this in our own tests by comparing the decoded output of original and cleaned files.
- Progressive JPEGs, which store the picture in several scans, and files with restart markers are handled as they are.
- Animated WebP and animated PNG keep every frame.
- The clean file is the same picture in fewer bytes, so it is never padded or enlarged.
If you do want a smaller file, choose a different output format or turn off “Preserve original quality”, and the image is deliberately re-encoded.
Remove EXIF data in four steps
- Add your photos. Drag them anywhere on the page, choose files, or paste from the clipboard.
- Press Clean. Each file is processed in your browser, so a large batch does not wait on an upload.
- Read the report. It lists every field that was found, with GPS, device, owner and AI fields highlighted, and a second scan confirms how many are left. A file is marked verified clean only when that count is zero.
- Download. Save files one by one or as a single .zip, and rename them first if you like.
Built-in ways to remove location
For a single photo and only the location, your devices can do it without any website. They are worth knowing, and they have limits.
- iPhone: in the Photos share sheet tap Options and switch Location off. To stop recording it, go to Settings, Privacy & Security, Location Services, Camera, and choose Never.
- Android: turn off location tagging in the camera app’s settings. Samsung’s Gallery offers “Remove location data” when you share.
- Windows: right-click the file, choose Properties, then Details, then “Remove Properties and Personal Information”.
- Mac: open the picture in Preview, choose Tools, Show Inspector, open the GPS tab and click “Remove Location Info”.
These handle location well. They do not show you the rest of what is inside, they are slow for a folder of photos, and they do not know about AI generation records or Content Credentials. If you want to see everything and be sure it is gone, use the report.
Which sites strip metadata and which do not
Large social networks usually remove location and most EXIF from the copy they show other people, but they still receive your original, and plenty of places pass the original along untouched.
| Where you share | What usually happens | Safe to skip cleaning? |
|---|---|---|
| Big social networks such as Instagram, Facebook and X | The public copy is re-saved without location and most EXIF. The platform still receives the original. | Mostly, if you trust the platform |
| Messaging apps, sent as a photo | The picture is usually recompressed and most metadata dropped. | Often, but it varies by app |
| Messaging apps, sent as a file or document | The original file is delivered as it is. | No |
| Email attachments, cloud share links, USB drives | The original file travels untouched. | No |
| Forums, blogs, classifieds, CMS uploads | Many store and serve the original file. | No |
A short checklist before you post a photo
- Clean the file and read the report, especially the location and device lines.
- Look at the picture the way a stranger would. Street signs, house numbers, number plates, a view from your window, post on a table and reflections in glasses or screens can all give away a place or a name.
- Rename the file. A name such as
kitchen-flat-12-main-street.jpgcarries information of its own. - Keep the original in a private folder, so you still have the date, the location and any Content Credentials for your own records.
- Check the result once it is live: download your own post and open it in a metadata viewer.
Common situations, and what to do
| Situation | What works |
|---|---|
| Listing something for sale | Clean and rename the photos, then post. Whatever location you give in the listing text is then your choice, not the file’s. |
| Sending photos to a contest, journal or stock library | Read their rules first. Some require capture date and camera details, others forbid identifying data. Keep the original so you can supply it on request. |
| Publishing on your own website | Clean before you upload. Metadata adds weight and hands every visitor your location and camera details. |
| Handing files to a client | Agree what the client should receive. A clean copy for delivery plus an archived original is the usual answer. |
| Sharing a family photo in a group chat | Send it as a photo rather than a file, or clean it first if the group includes people you do not know well. |
Supported formats
| Format | How it is cleaned | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| JPG / JPEG | Lossless strip | Baseline and progressive files. Rotation is kept. |
| PNG | Lossless strip | Removes text chunks such as AI prompts, EXIF, time stamps and Content Credentials. Animated PNG is kept. |
| WebP | Lossless strip | Removes EXIF, XMP and C2PA chunks. Animated WebP is kept. |
| AVIF | Redrawn and re-encoded | All metadata is gone, but the file is not bit-identical. |
| HEIC / HEIF | Not supported | Export as JPEG first. On iPhone, Settings, Camera, Formats, Most Compatible saves new photos as JPEG. |
| GIF, TIFF, BMP | Not supported here | Camera TIFF and RAW files go through the RAW tool. |
Check the result yourself
The built-in report uses its own scanner, so it is good practice to confirm with a different one. Our EXIF viewer runs in your browser as well, and ExifTool is the reference tool on a desktop:
exiftool -a -G1 -s photo-clean.jpgMany photos, or every week
Guests clean 1 file at a time, up to 25 MB each and 50 images or PDFs a day. A free account allows 5 at a time, 25 MB each and 500 a day. Starter, Pro and Business remove the daily limit and raise the batch to 25, 100 and 500 files. For folders and scheduled jobs, the API and the MCP server clean images without opening a browser, and our guide to cleaning many files at once shows which route fits which job.
Images made with AI
AI images carry everything above plus records of how they were made: a prompt and settings stored as text, an XMP field naming the generator, or a signed Content Credentials manifest. The same lossless remover handles all of it, and the report names those fields so you can see them. The AI image metadata remover guide goes through each generator, and the AI metadata cleaner overview explains the bigger picture.
Frequently asked questions
Does removing EXIF data reduce image quality?
Not here. For JPG, PNG and WebP the compressed pixel data is copied unchanged, so quality is identical. Only AVIF files, and files you convert to another format on purpose, are re-encoded.
Is my photo uploaded to your server?
No. Images are processed entirely in your browser, and you can confirm that in your browser’s network panel while you clean a file.
Does it remove GPS and location data?
Yes. GPS latitude, longitude, altitude, speed and direction are all part of the EXIF block that is removed. The report highlights location fields so you can see them go.
Will my photo still be the right way up?
Yes. JPEGs keep a small block that stores only the rotation, so portrait photos stay upright. PNG and WebP files with a rotation flag are redrawn so they keep their orientation.
Do social networks remove EXIF data by themselves?
Many remove location from the copy they display, but they still receive the original, and plenty of other places, such as email, messaging apps in file mode, forums and cloud links, deliver the file untouched. Cleaning before you share is safer.
Does it remove the date the photo was taken?
Yes, EXIF, XMP and IPTC dates are removed. The file system also keeps its own created and modified dates, and the cleaned copy gets today’s, so rename the file if its name contains a date.
Will it delete my copyright notice?
Yes, copyright and creator fields are metadata and are removed with the rest. If you want to keep authorship visible, put a credit in the caption or a watermark on the picture, or add the notice again in your editor after cleaning.
What about HEIC photos from an iPhone?
HEIC is not supported. Share the photo as JPEG, export it from Photos, or switch the camera to Most Compatible, then clean the JPEG.
Can someone still work out where my photo was taken?
From the file, no. From the picture, possibly: landmarks, street signs, reflections and the view from a window all give a place away, and reverse image search can match a photo to its source. Metadata removal covers the hidden part only.
What is the difference between EXIF, IPTC and XMP?
EXIF is written by the camera and holds technical data and GPS. IPTC is a set of descriptive fields such as caption, credit and copyright, filled in by people and agencies. XMP is Adobe’s flexible XML format that can hold both plus editing history. All three are removed.