How to view and remove photo metadata
Click Choose image or drag a photo onto the drop zone. The viewer reads the file locally and immediately shows a preview, a summary (format, dimensions, file size and how many metadata fields it found) and a full table of every field grouped by category — GPS, camera, image and text. If the photo contains GPS coordinates or other identifying data, a coloured banner warns you. When you are ready to share the picture, press Download cleaned copy to save a new file with the metadata removed. The original on your disk is never modified, and nothing is uploaded at any point.
What EXIF metadata actually is
EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) is a standardised block of metadata that cameras, phones and editing apps write into image files. Every time you take a photo, your device records far more than the pixels: the make and model of the camera or phone, the lens, the exposure time, aperture, ISO and focal length, the orientation, the exact date and time down to the second, the editing software, and — if location services were on — the precise GPS coordinates and even altitude where the shot was taken. Professional workflows add more through XMP and IPTC blocks: author name, copyright, captions and keywords. PNG files can carry similar information in tEXt, iTXt and eXIf chunks.
All of this travels inside the file. When you email a photo, post it to a forum, attach it to a bug report or hand it to a designer, every one of those fields goes with it unless you remove them first. Most people never see this data because ordinary image viewers hide it, which is exactly why it is so easy to leak.
The GPS location risk
The single most sensitive field is location. A photo taken at home, then shared publicly, can broadcast your home address to anyone who knows how to read EXIF — and reading it takes seconds. The same applies to pictures of children, of valuables, of a workplace, or of anywhere you would not want a stranger to map. This tool flags embedded coordinates prominently and gives you a one-click link to see the location on OpenStreetMap (which only opens when you choose to click it), so you understand exactly what the file is revealing before you decide to strip it.
Social networks often remove EXIF on upload, but plenty of channels do not: direct messages, email attachments, cloud links, marketplaces, forums and file shares frequently keep the original file intact. The only reliable defence is to strip the data yourself, on your own device, before the file ever leaves it.
How the stripping works
Cleaning is lossless. For a JPEG, the file is a sequence of marker segments; the tool walks them and rebuilds the file keeping the image data (the scan, quantisation and Huffman tables and the JFIF header) while dropping the metadata segments — the EXIF/XMP APP1 block, the other APP blocks, the Photoshop/IPTC block and any comment. For a PNG, the file is a sequence of chunks; the tool copies the critical chunks (header, palette, image data and end marker) and drops the tEXt, iTXt, zTXt, eXIf and tIME chunks that hold metadata. Because the actual compressed pixels are never decoded or re-encoded, there is zero quality loss, and the cleaned file is normally a little smaller than the original. The download button shows you exactly how many bytes of metadata were removed.
Why a local EXIF tool matters
It is deeply ironic to fix a privacy leak by uploading the leaky file to a stranger's server. Many "remove EXIF online" sites do precisely that: your photo — GPS and all — is sent to their backend, processed and held for some window of time you cannot verify. If the point is to stop the picture from revealing where you were, handing it to a third party first defeats the purpose entirely.
This tool is plain JavaScript that runs inside your own browser tab. The image is read with the browser's local FileReader, parsed in memory, and the cleaned copy is assembled and offered as a download — all without a single network request carrying your data. Close the tab and nothing remains. That is the gitime.dev approach across every tool: deterministic, dependency-light utilities that keep your data where it belongs.
- Full metadata table: GPS, camera, lens, timestamps, software, XMP and PNG text.
- Location warning: embedded GPS coordinates flagged with a map link you control.
- Lossless strip: removes metadata without re-encoding the pixels.
- JPEG and PNG: the two formats that carry the most metadata in practice.
- Everything stays on your device — no upload, no logging.
Frequently asked questions
- Is my photo uploaded anywhere?
- No. The image is read and parsed in your browser. The GPS and other metadata it contains never leave your device.
- What is EXIF data and why does it matter?
- Metadata cameras embed in photos — GPS location, date/time, camera and lens, serial numbers, software. It stays in the file when you share it.
- Does removing metadata change the image quality?
- No. Only the metadata is dropped; the compressed pixels are untouched, so there is no quality loss and the file is usually smaller.
- Which file types are supported?
- JPEG and PNG. EXIF/GPS for JPEG, plus text and eXIf chunks for PNG.