That photo you just sent may contain your home coordinates โ check and remove EXIF data for free
What is EXIF?
When a phone or camera takes a picture it writes the date and time, device model, lens and exposure settings โ and often the GPS coordinates into the file. That block is called EXIF. Send the original file and the recipient can drop a pin on a map of exactly where you were. Instagram and most chat apps strip it on upload, but email attachments, marketplace listings, blogs and cloud share links usually pass the original through untouched.
How to use it
- Choose a photo on the first screen or drag it in; a copied image can be pasted with Ctrl+V. You check one photo at a time, and Another photo loads the next one.
- The left card shows a preview with the file name, size and format; the right card lists what this photo contains. If a shooting location is present, a red warning box with a view on map link appears above the table and the location rows are highlighted in red.
- The line under the table tells you how the photo will be saved: for a JPG, the metadata is cut out and the image data left untouched; for PNG and WebP, the image is redrawn; if there is nothing to remove, it says so.
- Press Save without metadata and a file with _clean added to its name (for example "name_clean.jpg") is downloaded, with the before and after sizes shown briefly. On a phone, the Share button sends the clean copy straight to a messaging app.
What this tool does
- View โ reads and displays the location (with a map link), timestamp, device and lens, exposure and ISO. If GPS data is present you get a red warning.
- Remove โ for JPGs it cuts out only the metadata segments and leaves the image data as is, so the photo is saved with zero quality loss (and a slightly smaller file). PNG and WebP are redrawn instead: metadata disappears, PNG stays lossless, WebP is re-encoded.
- Everything runs in your browser โ the photo is never uploaded to a server.
What is read from the file
| Location | Latitude and longitude to six decimal places, plus the altitude in metres when recorded, with a link that opens the spot in Google Maps. |
|---|---|
| GPS time | The date and time recorded from the satellite signal, in UTC. Unlike the device clock it is hard to fake, so it reveals when you were there. |
| Taken | The original capture time recorded by the camera. |
| Device and lens | Manufacturer and model (for example Apple iPhone 15 Pro) and the lens model. |
| Exposure | Shutter speed, aperture (f-number), ISO and focal length in mm. |
| Software | The app or OS version that last saved the photo. |
| Original size and orientation | The recorded pixel dimensions and, when it is not the default, the Orientation value. |
| Metadata | Which kinds of metadata the file carries (EXIF, XMP, IPTC) and their combined size โ roughly the amount by which the file shrinks after saving. |
How the removal works
A JPG file is a series of segments placed in front of the compressed image data. This tool cuts out the APP1 segments that hold EXIF and XMP, the APP13 segment that holds IPTC, other application-specific segments and comment (COM) segments, then joins the rest back together without changing a single byte of the image data. There is no re-encoding, so the picture quality is exactly as before. The JFIF header and the ICC colour profile, which are needed for accurate colour display, are kept, so colours do not shift after saving. PNG and WebP have a different structure, so they are redrawn on the browser canvas instead, which drops every piece of metadata.
Stop recording location in the first place
iPhone: Settings โ Privacy & Security โ Location Services โ Camera โ "Never". You can also turn off "Location" under Options in the share sheet. Android: open the camera app settings and switch off location tags. For photos you already took, run them through this tool. Related: blur faces in photos and the image compressor (which also drops EXIF on conversion).
Frequently asked questions
I added a PNG and it says no metadata was found.
Reading is supported for JPG only. PNG and WebP are not listed in the table, but saving redraws them, so whatever metadata they carried is removed anyway. Photos from phone cameras are almost always JPG and are read in full.
Photos I received through chat apps show no information. Why?
Messaging apps and social networks re-compress photos on the way through and drop most of the EXIF. Photos you receive that way are usually already clean; the risk lies with channels that pass the original file through โ email, cloud share links and marketplace attachments.
The saved photo appears sideways.
When the table shows an Orientation row, the pixels are stored the way the sensor captured them and a tag tells viewers to rotate the image. Remove the tag and some viewers show it unrotated. If you want the rotation baked in, run the original through the image compressor instead: it applies the orientation and drops EXIF too, at the cost of a re-encode that changes the quality very slightly.
Where does the map link go?
It puts the latitude and longitude read from the photo into a Google Maps search address and opens it in a new tab. The coordinates travel from your browser to the map site only and never pass through our server.
Can I clean several photos at once?
This tool checks and cleans one photo at a time. To clean a batch, add the photos to the image compressor and save them at original size and quality 100 โ EXIF is removed along the way, though the images are re-encoded.
Related tools
- Photo Blur & Pixelate โ after removing the location, hide faces and license plates as well.
- Image Compressor & Converter โ batch convert and resize; EXIF is removed at the same time.
- HEIC to JPG Converter โ convert iPhone HEIC originals to JPG, which also clears their metadata.
- Background Remover (Magic Wand) โ make the background transparent for product or profile pictures.