EXIF Viewer and Remover

EXIF Viewer and Remover: Privacy Cleanup for Shooting Parameters and GPS Location

Photos taken with phones and cameras contain more than the image itself. They can also contain EXIF metadata with the capture time, camera and lens model, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and even the exact shooting location as latitude and longitude. When an original image is posted online, this information may be visible to others. This tool lets you read the information and remove it as needed. All processing is performed locally in the browser, and images are not uploaded to the server.

What Information Can Be Read

The tool displays results by group: basic information (file format, dimensions, EXIF version, orientation and resolution), camera and lens (manufacturer, model, lens model and processing software), shooting parameters (exposure time, aperture, ISO, focal length, 35mm-equivalent focal length, exposure compensation, exposure program, metering mode, flash, white balance, color space and scene type), date and time (capture time, digitization time and modification time), location information (latitude, longitude, altitude, GPS date and time), copyright and author (author, copyright, image description, user comment and camera owner), plus other metadata.

Privacy Risk Detection

The top of the page provides a privacy check result. If GPS location information is found, a high-risk warning explains that the photo location may be exposed. If other metadata is found, the count is shown and you are advised to remove or confirm it before publishing. If no privacy-related metadata is found, the page indicates that the image can be published with confidence. Six badges show whether the current file contains GPS location, EXIF, XMP, IPTC, an embedded thumbnail and other text metadata. GPS information is displayed separately in a card with latitude, longitude, altitude and GPS time. Coordinates can be copied with one click, or OpenStreetMap can be opened to view the specific location.

How to Remove Metadata

There are two cleanup methods. One-click cleanup removes EXIF, GPS location, XMP, IPTC, embedded thumbnails and other text metadata at once. Custom cleanup lets you select individual items to remove, including EXIF information, GPS location information, XMP information, IPTC information, embedded thumbnails and other text metadata. One detail is important: when EXIF information is selected, GPS location and embedded thumbnails are also removed, and the page explains this. If an image has nothing removable or no item has been selected, the tool shows a message instead of generating an empty result.

Supported Formats

JPEG, PNG and WebP can all be read and cleaned. JPEG EXIF and comment segments are read; PNG eXIf and text chunks are read, and chunk checksums are recalculated after rewriting to keep the image decodable; WebP EXIF and XMP chunks are read, and container flags are updated during removal to avoid invalid declarations. All three formats support full cleanup as well as removal of individual categories, such as GPS only or thumbnails only.

Why Image Quality Is Not Lost

A common way to remove EXIF is to redraw the image onto a canvas and export it again, which causes the image to be recompressed. JPG images in particular may show signs of a second compression. This tool uses byte-level processing: only the file segments containing metadata are removed, while the image data remains unchanged. Pixels, dimensions and image quality therefore remain exactly the same, and only the file size decreases. After cleanup, the result is parsed again and compared using the number of metadata items before and after cleanup. The six metadata categories are displayed individually, and any remaining metadata that the current format cannot remove is listed.

Use Cases

• Social media publishing: remove GPS and shooting parameters to avoid exposing home addresses or frequently visited places.
• Second-hand sales and forum posts: remove device models and capture times to reduce personally linkable information.
• External delivery of materials: remove location information while retaining copyright fields.
• Pre-publication checks: review the privacy result first, then decide which items to remove.

Common Questions and Privacy

Can metadata be restored after removal? No. Once metadata has been deleted, it cannot be restored, so back up the original image first.
Why does this image have no EXIF? Platforms such as WeChat and Weibo automatically strip metadata when images are uploaded, and images processed by compression tools often contain no EXIF either. The page explains this clearly.
Are PNG and WebP supported? Yes. They can be read and cleaned, including selective removal rather than only full cleanup.
Are images uploaded? No. Reading, removal and re-verification all take place locally in the browser, and images are not uploaded to the server.