How to use the Remove Image Metadata
- Drop one or more photos onto the box, or click to choose them.
- Read the report for each photo: camera, date taken, GPS location, software and any text fields are listed and highlighted.
- Leave Keep color profile and Keep orientation on unless you want absolutely everything removed.
- Download each cleaned photo, or click Download all for a ZIP. Each file has been re-checked to confirm the metadata is gone.
Features
- Shows camera, lens, settings, date taken and GPS position
- Lossless cleaning for JPG, PNG and WebP: image data is not re-compressed
- Removes EXIF, XMP, IPTC, comments, text chunks and embedded thumbnails
- Optionally keeps the color profile and orientation
- Re-parses every output to verify it is clean
- Batch processing with ZIP download, all on your device
What hidden data is in a photo?
Most photos carry more than pixels. Cameras and phones write EXIF data, a standard defined by the Japanese camera industry, which can include the make, model and serial number of the device, lens details, exposure settings, the exact date and time, a small preview thumbnail and, if location services were on, GPS coordinates precise enough to identify a house. Editing software adds XMP (an XML format from Adobe) with editing history and author names, and news tools add IPTC captions, credits and keywords. PNG files can store free-form text such as the software that created them, and some AI image generators store the full prompt and settings there.
Why remove it?
- Location privacy. A photo of your child, your car or your new sofa can reveal your home address to anyone who downloads the original file.
- Device tracking. Serial numbers and unique camera details can link photos you post under different names.
- Time and routine. Timestamps show when you were somewhere.
- Professional tidiness. Client deliveries and marketplace listings look cleaner without editing history or personal names.
Some large social networks strip metadata when you upload, but plenty of channels do not: email attachments, cloud-storage share links, forums, file-transfer services and messaging apps when you send a photo as a document. Cleaning the file yourself is the only way to be sure.
How the lossless cleaning works
Many tools remove metadata by decoding and re-saving the whole image, which re-compresses a JPG and loses quality. This tool edits the file structure instead:
| Format | Removed | Kept untouched |
|---|---|---|
| JPG | APP1 (EXIF, XMP), APP13 (IPTC/Photoshop), other APP segments, comments, trailing data after the image | Compressed image data, quantization and Huffman tables, JFIF and Adobe color segments, ICC profile (optional) |
| PNG | tEXt, iTXt, zTXt, eXIf and tIME chunks, plus provenance and signature chunks | Image data chunks, palette, transparency, gamma and color chunks, ICC profile (optional) |
| WebP | EXIF and XMP chunks (container flags updated) | Image data, animation, alpha, ICC profile (optional) |
Because the compressed picture is copied byte for byte, the cleaned photo is identical to the original pixel for pixel. Other formats, such as GIF or BMP, cannot be cleaned this way here, so their pixels are copied into a new PNG that carries no metadata at all.
What the two options do
Keep color profile preserves the ICC profile that tells apps how to show the colors. It identifies a color space such as sRGB or Display P3, not you, and removing it can make wide-gamut photos look dull. Keep orientation matters because many cameras store photos sideways and rely on an EXIF tag to rotate them. Removing that tag would make portrait photos appear on their side, so the tool writes a tiny new EXIF block containing only the orientation and nothing else.
Verified, not assumed
After cleaning, each output file is parsed again from scratch. The green check means the new file contains no camera, date, GPS, author, XMP, IPTC or text metadata, apart from whatever you chose to keep. If anything were left, you would see it listed in red.
Everything happens in your browser, so the photos you are protecting never leave your device. Before sharing, you might also resize or watermark your pictures.
Frequently asked questions
Does removing metadata reduce photo quality?
No. For JPG, PNG and WebP, only the metadata blocks are removed and the compressed image data is copied byte for byte, so the picture is identical.
How do I remove the GPS location from a photo?
Drop the photo here. If it contains GPS coordinates they are shown in a warning, and the cleaned copy you download has no location data.
Why is my photo sideways after removing EXIF data with other tools?
The rotation was stored in an EXIF orientation tag that got deleted. Keep the orientation option on here and only that one harmless tag is preserved.
What is the ICC color profile, and should I keep it?
It tells apps which color space the photo uses. It contains no personal information, and keeping it ensures colors look right, so it is kept by default.
Are my photos uploaded to a server?
No. Reading, cleaning and verifying all happen in your browser. Your photos never leave your device.