How to remove EXIF and GPS data from a photo
Find the hidden fields first. Then make a clean copy that you can check before it leaves your device.
Free toolImage Metadata / EXIF CleanerInspect camera, date and GPS fields, then save a verified clean copy without re-encoding the image.Clean your photo metadataThe short answer
Open the original photo in a metadata viewer, look for GPS, camera, date and software fields, then export a copy with those fields removed. To avoid recompression, choose a cleaner that changes the container around the encoded image.
- Keep the original file in your photo library.
- Inspect the copy you plan to share, especially the GPS section.
- Remove the fields you do not want to send.
- Open the cleaned copy in a second viewer and check the visible image.
What EXIF data can reveal
EXIF is a family of fields stored beside the image data. Phones and cameras commonly add the model, lens, exposure, capture date and sometimes a precise location.
| Field | What it can reveal | Why check it |
|---|---|---|
| GPS latitude and longitude | The place where the camera recorded the image. | It can point to a home, workplace or private meeting place. |
| Camera, lens and serial data | The device and shooting setup. | A group of photos can be tied to one camera. |
| Capture and modification dates | When a photo was made or edited. | Dates can expose a routine or contradict a story. |
| Software, comments and XMP | The editor, author notes or an embedded description. | These fields can carry a name, project or internal workflow. |
Metadata can also live outside the EXIF block. JPEG comments, IPTC records, XMP packets, PNG text chunks and WebP metadata chunks all need their own handling.
Choose a method
A local browser cleaner is the quickest route when you want to inspect a few photos without installing software. A phone or desktop method can be better when cleaning is already part of a larger photo workflow.
| Method | Good fit | Limit to understand |
|---|---|---|
| Browser cleaner | One photo or a small batch before an upload or message. | It only handles the formats and metadata structures it can validate. |
| iPhone and iPad | Share a photo with Location turned off in the share options. | The original in Photos still keeps its location, and the choice mainly covers that share. |
| Windows | Right-click a file, open Properties and use Remove Properties and Personal Information. | The wording and fields depend on the file format and Windows version. |
| macOS Preview | Inspect location information before and after cleaning with a browser tool or ExifTool. | The location inspector is narrower than a complete EXIF, XMP and comment check. |
| ExifTool | Repeatable, scripted cleanup across many formats. | It is a command-line tool. You must choose an allowlist and check the output. |
What a browser test showed
On 18 and 19 October 2026 we used the same synthetic 906-byte JPEG for five public tools. It carried a camera make and model, a capture date, GPS coordinates and a JPEG comment. The fixture contained no personal photo content. The table records what the visible interface reported, not a claim about every file those services accept.
| Tool | Observed behaviour | Processing model |
|---|---|---|
| floi | Kept the JPEG image payload and returned a 625-byte copy. The current parser also reports the EXIF container separately from its readable fields. | Local. Orientation and colour profile are explicit choices. |
| Online EXIF Viewer | Accepted one photo, offered Keep photo rotation and Keep color profile, then reported EXIF, JFIF metadata and comments removed. | Local according to the page and its visible result. |
| TinyPNGNow | Listed ten metadata fields and flagged GPS, camera and date fields as Sensitive. The clean download control appeared. | Local according to the page. The download byte output was not independently inspected. |
| EXIF Remover | Read ten tags in a searchable table. Remove EXIF changed the result to “10 tags removed” and enabled Save. | Local according to the page. |
| Metadata2Go | Uploaded the 906-byte file, processed it for a few seconds and returned a 695-byte JPG result. | Server upload. The page publishes a 75 MB free per-file limit. |
| Jimpl | Uploaded the photo, displayed its camera and location, and offered a cleaned 607-byte JPG. | Server upload. The result page displayed a 24-hour deletion countdown. |
The useful difference is visible before the download: a local cleaner can show the private fields without sending the file to a third party. A file that contains a real home location deserves that distinction.
Keep the photo upright without keeping every EXIF field
Many phone cameras store pixels in sensor order and add an orientation value. Removing the whole EXIF block can make an older viewer show those pixels sideways. A careful cleaner can write a minimal orientation record, or it can remove the tag and ask you to check the result in the software that will receive it.
Colour profiles are a separate choice. An ICC profile can improve colour matching, but it can contain descriptive text too. Keep it for a managed print or design workflow. Remove it when the strongest privacy result is the priority, and expect a viewer to use its default colour space.
What stays after a clean
A metadata cleaner does not change the visible scene. It cannot control the timestamps your operating system assigns to a downloaded copy. floi uses a neutral output name by default.
- Visible people, faces, signs and landmarks remain.
- The original file in Photos, Finder or File Explorer remains untouched.
- Filesystem dates and names are controlled by the device you save to.
- Unsupported critical structures and malformed containers should be refused. Unknown optional metadata can be discarded.
Check the copy before sharing
Open the result in a second metadata viewer. Check the GPS section first, then camera, date, software, comments, XMP and any thumbnail or preview area. Finally inspect the image itself for visible location clues.
Keep the original somewhere private if you may need the camera data later. A clean copy is for sharing. It is not a replacement for the source file or a promise of anonymity.
What our file checks verified
On 19 October 2026 we cleaned 13 supported synthetic codec fixtures with the default display options. The encoded image payload stayed identical. We decoded each original and result independently with libvips through sharp 0.35.5, then inspected the output using ExifTool 13.59. We also checked the built-in sample's image-data bytes.
| Fixture | Input → output | Verified result |
|---|---|---|
| Baseline JPEG, orientation 6, invented metadata | 9,025 → 8,605 bytes | Identical decoded pixels. GPS, camera, author, comments and XMP absent. Only the direction tag was rebuilt. |
| Progressive JPEG, orientation 6 | 8,995 → 8,575 bytes | All scans preserved. Identical decoded pixels, with private fields absent. |
| Greyscale JPEG, orientation 6 | 8,649 → 8,229 bytes | Identical decoded pixels. Private fields absent. |
| Safe sample PNG with EXIF, text and timestamp | 4,960 → 4,461 bytes | Image-data chunks unchanged. All optional metadata blocks removed. |
| PNG palette, transparency, 16-bit and interlace | Four fixtures | Encoded image data and decoded pixels identical. |
| WebP lossy, lossless and alpha | Three fixtures | Image and alpha payloads identical. Additional EXIF/XMP cases passed automated removal tests. |
| Display P3 profiles in JPEG, PNG and WebP | Three fixtures | Profiles retained by default. Decoded pixels matched. Removing the profile is a separate tested option. |
Separate automated cases cover all eight EXIF orientations, both byte orders and malformed-container refusals. These are generated fixtures, not a survey of every camera or an eight-orientation test in every browser. CMYK, HDR gain maps and animation remain outside this release.
Use ExifTool for a wider format workflow
ExifTool is a better fit for scripted jobs and formats this browser cleaner does not support. Inspect the original first, then write a separate copy.
exiftool -a -G1 -s photo.jpg
exiftool -all= -o photo-clean.jpg photo.jpgThe second command removes writable metadata, including the orientation and colour profile. Check the result before sending it. Metadata removal does not erase a visible watermark or transfer copyright.
Sources and method
The PNG specification, WebP container specification and ExifTool JPEG inventory describe the structures these formats can hold. ExifTool documentation explains its removal and output options.
Apple documents iPhone sharing options and viewing location information in Preview. Device menu names can change. The device methods above were not measured in our file tests.
The competitor fixture was generated locally and contained no personal photo content. Rival results were observed in Chrome on 18 and 19 October 2026. Their published privacy and deletion promises were not independently audited.