Remove metadata from an image
Strip the location, camera details and other hidden data before you share a photo.
- Private by defaultDeleted within an hour
- Super FastProcess in seconds
- No Sign-upStart instantly
How it works
Add your images
Drag and drop, paste, or pick files. They upload over an encrypted connection.
Pick a quality or a target size
Use the quality slider, or tell it exactly how many KB or MB you need.
Download
Save each file, or grab them all at once as a ZIP.
A photo file carries more than the picture. Cameras and phones write the date and time, the make and model of the device, the lens and exposure settings and, when location services are on, the exact coordinates where the photo was taken. Editing software adds its own notes. None of this is visible in the image, but anyone who receives the file can read it.
By default this tool removes all of it: EXIF, GPS, XMP and IPTC blocks and embedded colour profiles. Three other choices are in the Advanced tab. Keep, without location removes the coordinates and maker notes but leaves the camera and date. Colour profile only keeps accurate colours for photos in a wide-gamut colour space. Keep all leaves everything as it is.
Open Image details under the picture to see what a file contains before and after; a location is flagged with its coordinates. The image is saved again in its original format at a high quality setting, and PNG stays lossless. The orientation flag is applied to the pixels first, so the picture does not turn sideways when the flag goes. Files travel over an encrypted connection, are processed on our own servers and are deleted within one hour.
What one photo can give away
The location is the obvious risk. A phone records coordinates to within a few metres, enough to find a front door. A handful of photos tagged at one spot in the evenings and another on weekday mornings shows where someone lives and where they work. The timestamp adds a routine to the map.
Less well known is what else comes along. Many cameras write their serial number into the file, which ties every picture from that camera together, including ones posted under different names. Editing programs record their name and version. And a JPEG usually contains a small preview picture for galleries; some software has left that preview unchanged after a crop, so the preview still showed what had been cut out. Removing the metadata block removes all of these at once.
When it is right to keep some of it
Clearing everything is the safe default for pictures going to strangers: classified ads, forums, dating profiles, anything sent to someone you have not met. Other situations call for a lighter touch. Photographers want their name and copyright line to travel with the file, and picture agencies require those fields. An archive is worth more with capture dates than without. The middle option, Keep without location, serves these cases: the camera, the date and the author stay, and the coordinates and the maker notes go.
The colour profile is a separate matter. It has nothing to do with privacy and a lot to do with how the picture looks, so keep it for wide-gamut photos that will be printed or viewed on good screens.
Clean a folder before you publish it
Metadata is rarely a problem in one file; it becomes one in fifty. Before uploading a gallery to a website or sharing a folder with a client, drop the whole set here, leave the setting on Remove all and download the ZIP. Every file comes back with the same picture and nothing attached. The images are saved again at a high quality in their own formats, so a JPEG stays a JPEG and a PNG a PNG, and the file names carry over with a short suffix.
Frequently asked questions
What is EXIF data?
Information the camera stores inside the photo file: date, device, settings and often the location.
Does removing metadata change how the photo looks?
No. The picture is the same. Removing a wide-gamut colour profile can shift colours slightly, which is why you can choose to keep it.
How can I check that the location is gone?
Download the result, add it again and open Image details. Hidden data will show None found.
Do social networks remove metadata for me?
Many strip it on upload, but email, messaging apps and file sharing often send the file untouched.
Is the hidden preview picture removed too?
Yes. The embedded preview is stored in the same block as the camera data, and it goes when that block does.
Why does the file still show a date on my computer?
That date belongs to your file system, not to the picture. It shows when the file was saved to your disk, which for a download is the moment you downloaded it.