What this tool does
Every photo taken on a modern phone or camera carries an EXIF block with the GPS coordinates where it was taken, the exact device and lens, the capture timestamp, and often a serial number. That metadata survives every normal share: uploading to a social network, emailing a photo, or posting it to a listing strips nothing. This tool re-encodes the image so the metadata block is gone for good.
How it works
EXIF is a structured block embedded alongside the image data in formats that support it, primarily JPEG, WebP, HEIC and some PNG variants. The browser can read it with an image decoder but has no native API to write a modified EXIF block back, so the reliable way to remove it is to decode the pixels and encode a fresh file that simply never contained the metadata.
Re-encoding is lossy, which is the trade-off. The metadata cannot be stripped while keeping the original compressed bytes, because the EXIF block sits inside the same file. Compressing at high quality, or keeping the original format where possible, keeps the visual loss negligible.
This is worth doing before any image goes near the internet, but it is not a substitute for stripping location data at the source. Most phones and cameras let you disable location tagging before capture, which loses no quality at all.
Worked example
A photo taken at home is about to be listed publicly and contains GPS coordinates and a device serial number.
- Decode the image; read the EXIF block to confirm what is present
- Draw the pixels to a fresh canvas with no metadata attached
- Re-encode at the highest quality the browser offers
The output image looks the same but contains no GPS, timestamp, device model, orientation, or serial number. The file is marginally smaller because the metadata block is gone.
Accuracy and limitations
- Removing metadata cannot recover the information once it has been published. Rotate your location on old uploads if it is a concern.
- Re-encoding is slightly lossy. If you need a byte-identical file, metadata cannot be removed without changing the image data.
- This only handles metadata in the image file. It does not remove identifying data from a filename, or information embedded in the pixels themselves such as a house number in a photo.
Frequently asked questions
- Does posting a photo online reveal where I live?
- Very often, yes. A phone photo from a home usually carries GPS coordinates accurate to a few metres, and those coordinates survive being uploaded, messaged, and reposted. Removing them before the first upload is the only reliable fix.
- What exactly is in EXIF data?
- Depends on the device, but commonly GPS coordinates, capture date and time, camera make and model, lens and exposure settings, orientation, and sometimes a unique device serial number or the owner's name. The tool lists what it finds before removing it.
- Will removing metadata lower the image quality?
- Slightly, because the image has to be re-encoded, since metadata lives inside the same file as the pixels. At the quality settings this tool uses by default the difference is not visible. Disabling location tagging on the camera avoids any loss at all.
- Does this work on phone camera rolls?
- Yes, on a phone that can open and download the file. On iOS the file may need saving to Files first so the browser can read it. It also works in any desktop browser.