Free EXIF Viewer & Metadata Remover Anonymous · No Upload · Private

Remove GPS location, camera info, date and software traces from JPG, PNG, WebP & HEIC photos — runs entirely in your browser, your file never leaves your device.

Your photos never leave your device. No upload · No server · No tracking · No account · Open source code, auditable in your browser
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Drop photos here, click to select, or paste with Ctrl-V

JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC, TIFF, MP4, PDF · Multiple files · Drag from any webpage · Paste from clipboard

No photo handy?

Sample image credit & license

The sample image is based on Cat03.jpg by Alvesgaspar via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0, with synthetic EXIF/GPS metadata added for demonstration purposes. The GPS coordinates point to the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin.

Why we built this — and why it's truly anonymous

We built this tool because most online EXIF removers do exactly what you should avoid: they ask you to upload your private photos to a server you don't control. That's the opposite of privacy. Even when those services promise to delete your file afterwards, you have no way to verify it — and your image already passed through their network, log files, error monitors, and possibly backups.

This tool is different. Your photo never leaves your computer. When you drop a file, the browser opens it locally, parses the metadata locally, removes what you choose locally, and lets you save the cleaned file locally. There is no upload step at any point.

You can verify this yourself: press F12, open the Network tab, and drop a 50 MB photo into the tool. You will see no upload request. The tool only loads its own JavaScript and CSS files once — after that, it works fully offline.

  • No upload — files are read with the browser File API, never sent anywhere
  • No tracking pixels on your file — your image data is not part of any analytics
  • No account, no email, no cookies for the tool — your language preference is stored locally, that's all
  • No GPS lookup — we never query a map service with your coordinates; we only display them as text
  • Auditable — view-source on this page shows exactly what runs
  • Works offline — once the page is loaded, you can disconnect from the internet

What is EXIF data?

EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) is hidden information that cameras and smartphones automatically embed in every photo you take. It can include:

  • GPS coordinates — the exact location where the photo was taken, often accurate to within a few meters
  • Date and time — when the photo was taken, sometimes with timezone
  • Camera model and serial number — the device that took the photo
  • Lens, exposure, ISO, aperture — full technical settings
  • Editing software — the program used to modify the photo, sometimes with version
  • Author / Owner — name or copyright info, if configured in the camera
  • Direction, altitude, speed — on smartphones with motion sensors

This information travels with the photo wherever it goes — by email, messenger, forum, or website upload — unless someone removes it.

Why does this matter?

Most people are unaware that their photos contain this data. Real-world consequences include:

  • Home address exposure — a single photo of your living room reveals where you live
  • Stalking and abuse — fleeing victims have been located through children's photos posted publicly
  • Anonymous sources deanonymized — bloggers, whistleblowers, journalists exposed by metadata
  • Pattern of life — timestamps show when you are home, at work, on vacation
  • Device fingerprinting — camera serial number identifies you across all your photos

The famous case: software pioneer John McAfee was fugitive in 2012. A journalist photographed him with an iPhone and posted it online with intact GPS metadata, revealing his exact hideout in Guatemala within hours of publication.

How to use this tool

  1. Drop your photosDrag one or more files into the upload area, or click to browse. JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC, TIFF are all supported.
  2. Review what's insideFor each file, the tool lists every metadata tag found, grouped by category. GPS coordinates are highlighted at the top.
  3. Choose what to removeClick 'Remove all' for a fully anonymous photo, or use category buttons to keep some metadata (e.g. keep camera info, strip GPS).
  4. Save the cleaned photoThe download contains the same image at the same quality, just without metadata. Use the ZIP download for batches.

Features

100% Private No upload — your photo is processed entirely in your browser using the File API
All major formats JPEG, PNG, WebP, TIFF, HEIC photos plus MP4/MOV video and PDF — covering virtually every file type that carries metadata
GPS detection Latitude and longitude shown in degrees, with optional one-click conversion to decimal
Batch processing Drop multiple files at once, review individually, download all as a single ZIP
Selective stripping Remove only GPS, only date, only software — or everything in one click
Lossless Removing metadata does not re-encode your image — pixels and quality are unchanged
Smaller files Cleaned photos are typically a few kilobytes smaller — useful for email and uploads
Truly free No ads, no tracking, no account, no email, no upload limits, no premium tier
19 languages English, Deutsch, Español, Français, Italiano, Nederlands, Polski, Português, Русский, Українська, Türkçe, العربية, हिन्दी, বাংলা, 中文, 日本語, 한국어, Bahasa Indonesia, Tiếng Việt

How does this compare to other EXIF tools?

Most online EXIF tools fall into two camps: server-based services that ask you to upload your private photos, and browser-based tools with limited features or aggressive monetisation. Here is how this tool stacks up:

This tool Server-based tools Other browser tools
File leaves device ✗ no ✓ yes ✗ no
Source auditable ✓ yes ✗ no usually
Multilingual ✓ 19 languagesEN only EN only
Works offline ✓ yes (PWA) ✗ no rarely
Formats supported ✓ photos + video + PDFmostusually JPG only
Batch processing ✓ ZIP downloadoften paywalledoften missing
Ads / Tracking ✗ none ✓ heavy often present
Account required ✗ none oftenrarely
GPS map call (leak risk) ✗ never often often
Cost free freemiumfree

Auditable means: open the .js files directly in your browser and read what they do. No minification, no obfuscation, no remote code execution.

FAQ

Is my photo really not uploaded?

Correct. Everything runs in your browser. You can verify it by opening the Network tab in your browser's developer tools (F12) and dropping a large photo — you will see no outgoing request that contains your file. After the page loads its own JavaScript and CSS once, the tool can run with the internet disconnected.

What metadata exactly is removed?

For JPEG: all APP1 (EXIF, XMP), APP2 (ICC, MPF), APP13 (Photoshop, IPTC) and APP14 (Adobe) segments. For PNG: tEXt, iTXt, zTXt, eXIf and Adobe XMP chunks. For WebP: the EXIF, XMP and ICCP chunks. The actual pixel data and compression are not touched.

Does removing EXIF reduce image quality?

No. EXIF is a separate metadata block inside the file. Removing it does not re-encode the image — the pixels and the JPEG/PNG/WebP compression are exactly as they were. The file becomes a few kilobytes smaller because the metadata is gone.

Can I keep some metadata and remove the rest?

Yes. Each file card has buttons to remove only specific categories — e.g. "Remove only GPS" keeps everything except location, "Remove only Camera info" keeps everything except make/model/serial. The default "Remove all" wipes the entire metadata block at once.

Do social networks already remove EXIF?

Some do, some don't, and the rules change without notice. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter strip most EXIF on public posts but keep some internally for moderation and analytics. WhatsApp, Telegram (when "send as file"), Discord, email attachments, blogs, forums, eBay listings, classifieds, cloud drives — almost all of these keep EXIF intact. The safe rule is: never assume any service removes EXIF for you.

Why don't you show the GPS location on a map?

Because loading a map tile would send your coordinates to a third-party service (Google, OpenStreetMap, Mapbox), which contradicts the privacy promise of this tool. Instead we show the latitude and longitude as plain text, and you can decide for yourself whether to copy them into a map elsewhere.

What about HEIC photos from iPhones?

EXIF can be read from HEIC files in this tool. Stripping HEIC requires re-encoding the image, which most browsers cannot do natively. For full stripping of HEIC, the safest path is to first convert to JPEG using your operating system or photo app, then strip with this tool.

Is the tool open source?

The code is delivered to your browser as plain JavaScript files and is fully readable. Right-click → View Source, or open the .js files directly. There is no minification or obfuscation that hides what the tool does.

What's the catch? Why is this free?

There is no catch. The tool is provided as a free service by Midgard MUD — a free Norse-mythology online role-playing game. Some visitors discover Midgard through this tool and try the game, but you are not asked to do so and the tool works fully without any account or interaction with the MUD.

Can I use this on my phone?

Yes. The tool works in any modern mobile browser — Safari on iOS, Chrome and Firefox on Android. On iOS you may have to choose "Files" instead of "Photos" in the picker to access HEIC originals.

Why does my photo still show some date/dimension info?

The image dimensions (width × height) and the file size are inherent to the image itself, not metadata — they cannot be hidden without re-encoding. The "Date Modified" timestamp on the downloaded file is set by your operating system at the moment of saving and is unrelated to EXIF. To control that, set the file's modification date manually in your file manager after download.

Are there any limits on file size or number of photos?

There is no hard limit. Practical limits are set only by your device's memory: a typical phone or laptop comfortably handles 50+ photos at 20 MB each. For very large batches (hundreds of files), processing in two or three runs is more responsive than one giant batch.

Does the tool also remove watermarks from photos?

It depends on what kind of watermark you mean.

I am a complete beginner — what is EXIF anyway, in one paragraph?

When you take a photo with a smartphone or camera, the device automatically writes a "data label" inside the photo file alongside the actual image.

I just want to share a photo with friends — do I really need this?

Honest answer: probably yes, especially for photos taken at home.

I am worried about uploading my photo here. How do I know it's safe?

Three independent ways to confirm.