Remove EXIF Data From a Photo

Cut the camera details, date and GPS location out of a JPEG or PNG. The picture itself is copied byte for byte, and the file stays on your device.

Runs in your browserFree, no sign-upLast reviewed October 13, 2026

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Quick answers

How do I remove EXIF data from a photo?: Choose the JPEG or PNG above and download the clean copy. The tool cuts the EXIF, XMP, IPTC and comment blocks out of the file and copies the image data through untouched. Nothing is uploaded.
Does removing EXIF data reduce image quality?: Not when it is done at the byte level, as it is here. The compressed image data is copied exactly, so every pixel is identical. Quality is only lost by tools that redraw and re-save the picture to get rid of its metadata.
Does removing EXIF remove the GPS location?: Yes. GPS coordinates are stored inside the EXIF block, and the whole block is removed. XMP, which can hold a second copy of the location, is removed too. The report states whether a GPS location was present.
What information is stored in EXIF data?: Typically the camera or phone make and model, the date and time the photo was taken, exposure settings, the editing software, a small thumbnail and, if location was on, GPS coordinates. Phones record most of these by default.
Will my photo turn sideways after removing EXIF?: It can, because rotation is stored as an EXIF value. To prevent that, this tool keeps that single Orientation value by default and removes everything else. Untick the rotation option to remove it as well.
Is the photo uploaded to remove its metadata?: No. The file is opened, cleaned and saved by your own browser. It is not sent to a server, so the location you are trying to remove is never shared with one.

What Remove EXIF Data does

This tool deletes the metadata blocks from a JPEG or PNG and leaves the picture alone. EXIF, which holds the camera model, the date and time and any GPS coordinates, is removed along with XMP, IPTC and Photoshop data, embedded thumbnails and comments. Because metadata sits in its own labelled blocks beside the compressed image, it can be cut out without decoding anything, so the result is not re-compressed and looks exactly as it did. A report lists every block that was taken out and how many bytes it held. The file is read and rewritten by your browser and is not uploaded, which is the point of a privacy tool.

What is removed from JPEG and PNG files, and what is kept

Removal is by block type. Anything needed to decode or colour the picture correctly stays.

Block	Format	Contains	Action
APP1 Exif	JPEG	Camera, date and time, GPS, settings, thumbnail	Removed
APP1 XMP and extended XMP	JPEG	Editing history, ratings, creator, location	Removed
APP13	JPEG	IPTC captions and keywords, Photoshop data	Removed
COM	JPEG	Free-text comment	Removed
APP0 JFXX	JPEG	Embedded thumbnail	Removed
APP2 MPF and other APPn blocks	JPEG	Multi-picture index, maker and app data	Removed
Data after the end-of-image marker	JPEG, PNG	Extra previews, depth or gain maps, motion-photo video	Removed
APP0 JFIF	JPEG	Format header and pixel density	Kept
APP2 ICC profile	JPEG	Colour profile	Kept unless you tick the box
APP14 Adobe	JPEG	Colour transform flag needed for decoding	Kept
Quantisation, Huffman, frame and scan data	JPEG	The image itself	Kept, byte for byte
tEXt, zTXt, iTXt	PNG	Text fields such as Author and Software, and XMP	Removed
eXIf	PNG	EXIF block	Removed
tIME	PNG	Last-modified timestamp	Removed
iCCP	PNG	Colour profile	Kept unless you tick the box
IHDR, PLTE, tRNS, pHYs, gAMA, IDAT and others	PNG	The image and how to display it	Kept, byte for byte

Worked examples: bytes removed from test files

These are results from running the tool on small test files built with known metadata. Real camera photos carry far more, largely because of the embedded thumbnail.

JPEG with EXIF, GPS, XMP and a comment

A 640 x 480 JPEG of 179,470 bytes, rotation option unticked

179,034 bytes. Removed: EXIF 308 bytes, XMP 110 bytes, comment 18 bytes, 436 bytes in total

Opening both files gives identical pixels, and the ICC profile is still there.

The same JPEG, keeping rotation

The same file with Keep the rotation flag ticked. Its Orientation value was 6, rotated 90 degrees clockwise

179,070 bytes. The 308-byte EXIF block is replaced by a 36-byte one that holds only Orientation = 6

Camera, date, software and GPS are gone. The photo still opens upright.

PNG with text fields, XMP and EXIF

A 64 x 48 PNG of 1,048 bytes with an Author text field, an XMP packet, a Software field and an EXIF block, rotation option unticked

569 bytes. Removed: tEXt 27 bytes, XMP 111 bytes, zTXt 31 bytes, eXIf 310 bytes

JPEG with data stored after the image

A 158,577-byte JPEG with 650 bytes appended after its end-of-image marker

157,879 bytes. Removed: EXIF 48 bytes and the 650 trailing bytes

A file that is already clean

A 157,879-byte JPEG with no metadata blocks

157,879 bytes, with the note Nothing to remove. The output is identical to the input

Why the image is not re-compressed

A JPEG is a list of segments. Each starts with a two-byte marker that says what it is, followed by its length. Metadata lives in application segments (APP1 for EXIF and XMP, APP13 for IPTC) and comment segments, while the picture lives in separate table, frame and scan segments. Cleaning the file means writing it out again and skipping the metadata segments. The scan data is never decoded, so there is no second round of lossy compression and no change in sharpness, colour or file size beyond the bytes removed.

PNG works the same way with chunks. Each has a four-letter type, and the text, EXIF and timestamp chunks can be left out while the image chunks are copied with their original checksums.

The common shortcut is different: draw the photo onto a canvas and save it again. That does drop the metadata, but it also re-encodes a JPEG and discards detail in the process. This tool does not take that route.

The rotation flag, and why it is kept by default

Phones and cameras usually store a photo in the sensor's own orientation and add an EXIF value called Orientation that tells software how to turn it. Remove that value and a portrait photo can appear lying on its side.

With Keep the rotation flag ticked, the tool removes the whole EXIF block and, only if the photo was rotated or mirrored, writes back a minimal block containing that one value. It has no camera, date, software or location fields. A photo whose orientation was already normal gets no EXIF block at all.

If you want nothing left, untick the option. The tool then warns you when the photo you cleaned had a rotation value, so you know to check it. Rotating it with the Image Rotator fixes the pixels themselves, though that step does re-save the image.

What removing metadata does not protect

Stripping metadata hides what the file says about itself. It does not change what the picture shows.

Anything visible in the photo: street signs, house numbers, landmarks, screens, name badges and reflections.
The file name. The download is named after your original with -no-exif added, so rename it if the name itself is revealing.
Visible watermarks and anything else drawn into the pixels.
Formats other than JPEG and PNG. HEIC, WebP, TIFF and RAW files are rejected rather than half-cleaned. Convert them to JPEG first.
Unusual private PNG chunks written by some editors. The standard text, EXIF and time chunks are removed; unknown chunk types are left in place so that animated and specialised PNGs keep working.
Extras stored after the main image. Motion-photo video and HDR gain maps are removed with the rest, so such a photo becomes an ordinary still.

Using Remove EXIF Data

1
Choose your file under Photo (JPEG or PNG). Files up to 30 MB are accepted.
2
Leave Keep the rotation flag so the photo stays upright ticked, unless you want every last EXIF value gone.
3
Tick Also remove the ICC colour profile only if you need it removed. It describes colours, not you, and removing it can shift them.
4
Read Removed from the file to see what was found, then download the Clean copy.

Frequently asked questions

How can I check that the metadata is really gone?

The Removed from the file table lists each block that was taken out and its size, and the Clean size is given to the byte. For an independent check, open the downloaded file's properties or details panel on your computer: the camera, date taken and GPS fields will be empty.

How do I remove the location from a photo before sharing it?

Run the photo through this tool and share the clean copy rather than the original. The GPS coordinates sit in the EXIF block, which is removed in full. The report tells you whether a GPS location was present in the first place.

Why is the clean file only slightly smaller?

Because only metadata was removed. On a multi-megabyte photo the EXIF and XMP blocks are a small fraction of the file. A big drop in size would mean the image had been re-compressed, which this tool avoids.

Why keep the ICC colour profile?

It tells screens and printers how to interpret the colour values. It normally identifies a colour space such as sRGB or Display P3 rather than a person or place, and without it wide-gamut photos can look dull. You can remove it with the checkbox.

Can I remove metadata from several photos at once?

Not here. The tool handles one file at a time, so repeat the steps for each photo.

Does this work on iPhone HEIC photos?

No. HEIC stores metadata in a different container that this tool does not edit. Export or convert the photo to JPEG first, then clean the JPEG.

Do social networks and messaging apps remove metadata for me?

Some services strip it when they re-compress an upload, but that depends on the service and on how you send the file. Email attachments, cloud links and files sent as documents normally arrive with metadata intact. Cleaning the photo yourself is the only way to be sure.

What is the difference between EXIF, XMP and IPTC?

EXIF is written by the camera: device, time, settings and location. IPTC is a publishing standard for captions, credits and keywords. XMP is a newer format used by editing software that can carry all of those plus edit history. All three are removed.