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Remove hidden data (EXIF, GPS) from a photo

Shows you the location, date, and camera model recorded in the photo before deleting them, so you know exactly what was exposed.

Drag one or more images here, or click to choose

JPG, PNG, or WebP, up to 25 MB each

Removal happens by reprocessing the image (re-encoding). For JPG and WebP that means some additional quality loss, depending on the quality chosen above — that's the cost of the method. PNG has no such extra loss, at the cost of a larger final file.

Result

The result appears here after processing the image.

Local processing: your file never leaves your computer.

  • Does:Shows you the location, date, and camera model recorded in the photo before deleting them, so you know exactly what was exposed.
  • Processes:Your image is processed entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded to a server.
  • Doesn't do:Reading metadata uses a third-party library (exifr) running entirely in your browser; when reading fails for a specific file, it's flagged as such and can still be processed normally.

What EXIF metadata actually is

Every photo taken by a digital camera or a phone carries, alongside the image's pixels, a block of technical data called EXIF. That block can include the exact date and time of capture, the make and model of the device, settings like aperture and shutter speed, and, when the device's GPS was on, the exact coordinates of where the photo was taken. None of this shows up in the image itself — it takes a program that reads that block to see what's in there.

There are common reasons to want a copy without that data: posting a photo without revealing where it was taken, sending an image to someone without giving away the date and the device used, or simply standardizing a batch of photos — all metadata-free — before uploading them to a site or system that doesn't need that information. Some marketplaces and community forums explicitly ask sellers to strip GPS data from listing photos taken at home, precisely because that coordinate pair can point straight at a front door — a good example of metadata mattering even when nobody involved thinks of themselves as sharing "sensitive data."

How the removal actually works

The image is redrawn onto a canvas, the same browser API other tools on this site use to resize and convert formats. A canvas only stores pixels: there's no place in it to hold a metadata block, so when the final file is generated from the canvas, that block simply isn't reconstructed. The removal isn't a separate step and doesn't depend on some library specialized in stripping EXIF — it's a direct consequence of how the output file is generated.

What you see before anything is processed

Before anything gets removed, the tool reads each image's metadata and shows a summary: how many fields were found, whether there are GPS coordinates — called out separately, since that's the most sensitive piece of data in an image file — and, when present, the capture date and the camera or phone's make and model. This uses an EXIF-reading library running in your browser; if reading fails for a specific file, it gets flagged as "couldn't read," and it can still be processed normally either way — the reading step is purely informational, not a requirement for the removal to work.

The cost of the method: re-compression

Worth being upfront about this: since the removal happens by redrawing the whole image onto a canvas, the final file goes through re-compression. For JPG and WebP, that means some additional quality loss — usually small at the default quality, but real, and it depends on how compressed the image already was. Choosing PNG as the output avoids that extra loss, since PNG compression is lossless, at the cost of a larger file. None of these formats store metadata, so the final result comes out clean either way.

Processing several images at once

Uploading one image at a time works for a one-off case, but the more common reason to use this tool is having a whole set of photos — from a shoot, an album, a device — that needs to be standardized before going somewhere. Drag them all in at once, or use the picker with multiple selection: they queue up together, and the same output format and quality setting applies to all of them. Processing happens one image at a time, with a progress bar and a cancel button; if reading or processing a specific image fails, only that one gets flagged, and the rest continue normally. At the end, each image can be downloaded individually, or all of them together as a single ZIP file.

What this tool doesn't do

It doesn't alter the image itself: the pixels are redrawn exactly as they were, at the same resolution, with no cropping or color adjustments. It doesn't remove a visible watermark — if text or a logo is part of the image, it stays there, because that's not metadata, it's visual content. And there's no way to recover the metadata once it's removed: once the file passes through the canvas, the original data is no longer part of it. Anyone who wants to keep a copy with the original metadata, for whatever reason, needs to save the source file before processing.

Frequently asked questions

What exactly gets removed?

The entire EXIF metadata block: GPS coordinates, capture date and time, camera or phone make and model, exposure settings, and any other field the original file carried. That happens because the image is redrawn onto a canvas before generating the final file, and a canvas only stores pixels — there's no metadata block to preserve.

Why would I want to remove this from a photo?

Depends on what you're doing with the image. Posting a photo without exposing exactly where it was taken, sending an image without revealing the date or the device used, or simply standardizing a batch of photos before uploading them somewhere are common reasons — none of them require you to know in advance what the image contains, because the tool shows you before processing.

Does the tool change how the image looks?

No. Only the metadata block is affected. The pixels are redrawn exactly as they were, at the same resolution, and the only side effect is the re-encoding inherent to the process — see the question about quality below. A visible watermark, if there is one, stays in the image: the tool doesn't remove anything that's part of the visual content.

Does removing metadata hurt the image's quality?

For JPG and WebP, yes, a little: the removal happens by reprocessing the whole image, which re-compresses the file at the quality you chose — that's the cost of the method, not something hidden. For PNG there's no such additional loss, because the compression is lossless; the cost there is just a larger final file.

Can I recover the metadata after it's removed?

No, and that's true both for the file this tool generates and for any resize or re-encode done in another program. Once the image passes through the canvas, the original data is no longer part of the file. If you want to keep a copy with the original metadata for future reference, save the original file before processing.

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