What this removes
- The whole EXIF block, including GPS, camera and lens details, serial numbers and all dates
- XMP and IPTC blocks added by editing software, with any edit history
- The hidden thumbnail, which can still show the picture as it was before a crop
- Comments, Photoshop data, and anything stored after the end of the picture, such as a Motion Photo clip
What it keeps
The picture, its colour profile and, when needed, its orientation. After cleaning, the tool reads the new file again and shows you what is left and why.
What it can’t remove
Whatever the camera saw. A number plate, a badge or a street name is part of the picture, not of the EXIF data. Use Redact image for those.
A worked example
A seller photographs a bicycle in their hallway and lists it online. The JPG holds the position of the hallway to within a few metres, the phone model, and the time, which shows when they are home. Cleaned, the listing photo looks identical and says none of it.
Questions
- What is EXIF data?
- Notes the camera writes into every photo file, such as the make and model, the lens, the exposure, the date and, on phones, the GPS position. Editing apps add more, in blocks called XMP and IPTC. This tool removes all of them.
- Will my photo lose quality?
- No. For JPG, PNG, WebP and GIF the picture data is copied byte for byte and only the notes are left out. HEIC photos are the exception and are saved as JPG.
- Why is one EXIF field still there afterwards?
- If the photo was taken with the phone held sideways, the orientation is kept, because without it the picture would show on its side. Nothing else is kept from the EXIF block.
- Can I keep my copyright line?
- Yes. Choose "Keep copyright" and the artist and copyright fields stay while everything else goes.
Your file stays on this device
The tool above runs in a sealed frame that cannot send your file anywhere. It works with airplane mode on, and the counter above it stays at 0. Here is how you can check that yourself.
Related tools
- Remove location from a photo Take the GPS position out of a photo and keep everything else.
- Remove metadata Strip location, device and hidden previews from photos and documents.
- Convert image Change between JPG, PNG, WebP and AVIF, and shrink the size.
- Remove metadata from a PDF Remove the author, software, dates and earlier versions from a PDF.
- Remove metadata from a Word document Remove author names, comments' authors, tracked-change names and template paths from Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.
- Remove GPS from a video Take location, device and dates out of a phone or action-camera video without re-encoding it.
- View EXIF data See the location, camera and dates stored in a photo before you share it.
- Redact PDF Black out names, emails and numbers so they are gone for good.
- Redact image Cover parts of a screenshot or photo with solid boxes.
- Find hidden content Check a PDF or Office file for hidden text, sheets, comments and tracked changes.