What Is Image Metadata?
Every digital photo carries invisible data embedded alongside the visible pixels. This metadata — stored as EXIF, IPTC, and XMP tags — can include your camera model, GPS coordinates where the photo was taken, the date and time, lens settings, software used for editing, and even your name or copyright information.
This metadata stripper removes location, camera and editing data from JPEG, PNG and WebP images as soon as you add them, right in your browser. It is essential for privacy — stripping GPS coordinates before sharing photos online prevents location tracking — and for reducing file size, since metadata can add 10–100KB per image. No uploads, no server processing. Your files stay on your device.
How to Use This Tool
- Upload your images — Drag and drop or click to select one or more JPEG, PNG or WebP files. Each file is cleaned straight away and lists the blocks it removed and kept.
- Review what was found — Each file lists its metadata blocks by type and size, and flags EXIF that contained a GPS location.
- Choose what to keep — The colour profile and orientation are kept by default; artist and copyright are off. Changing a box re-cleans the files already added. The compressed image data is copied as-is, so nothing is recompressed.
- Download clean images — Download each file or all of them. Names get -clean before the extension.
Tips and Best Practices
- → Always strip metadata before sharing photos online. Social media platforms strip some metadata, but not all do it consistently. Removing it yourself guarantees no GPS coordinates or personal data leak through.
- → Use our EXIF Viewer to inspect metadata first. Before stripping, you might want to see exactly what data your photos carry. Some metadata like copyright info is worth keeping for professional work.
- → Batch-process multiple files at once. If you are uploading a gallery to a website, strip all images in one session rather than processing them individually.
- → Metadata stripping also reduces file size. Removing EXIF data can trim 10–100KB per image, which adds up quickly on image-heavy websites.
Related tools
- For the .docx counterpart, the DOCX Metadata Inspector reads the core, app, and custom properties from a Word file using a pure-browser ZIP parse — no upload.
Frequently Asked Questions
What types of metadata are removed?+
Always removed: EXIF camera data (make, model, lens, settings, capture time, software), the GPS location block, XMP, IPTC and Photoshop blocks, comments, PNG text chunks and timestamps, and anything appended after the image itself, such as the extra pictures phones store after the main JPEG. Three things are kept by default or on request: the ICC colour profile (on by default), the orientation flag (on by default, so phone photos stay upright) and the artist and copyright fields (off by default).
Does stripping metadata reduce image quality?+
No. The tool does not re-encode or redraw anything. It reads the file's structure, drops the metadata blocks and copies the compressed image data byte for byte, so a JPEG is not recompressed. Checked Oct 12, 2026 on JPEG, CMYK JPEG, PNG and WebP test files: every cleaned file decoded to exactly the same pixels as the original.
Can I selectively remove some metadata and keep others?+
Yes, for the three things worth keeping. Tick Colour profile (ICC), Orientation, or Artist and copyright above the drop area. With orientation or copyright ticked, the tool writes a new minimal EXIF block holding only those fields; everything else, including GPS, is still removed. Location, camera and date details cannot be kept selectively.
Do smartphones embed GPS in every photo?+
Only when the camera app is allowed to use your location, and both iPhone and Android camera apps ask for that permission. Many people grant it, so treat any phone photo as possibly carrying its exact location until you have checked or cleaned it. Some sharing apps remove location on upload and others do not.
Is my image uploaded to a server?+
No. The file is read in your browser and cleaned there; nothing is sent anywhere. You can disconnect from the internet after the page loads and it still works.
What file formats are supported?+
JPEG, PNG and WebP, including animated PNG and WebP. The cleaned file keeps the same format. HEIC, AVIF, GIF and TIFF are refused with a message rather than processed; convert them to JPEG, PNG or WebP first.
What metadata gets stripped?+
EXIF (camera model, GPS coordinates, capture time, lens), IPTC (caption, keywords, city, copyright notice), XMP, comments, PNG text and time chunks, multi-picture indexes and data appended after the image. The ICC profile is removed only if you untick Colour profile. The compressed image data is left untouched, and each file shows the blocks it removed and kept with the size before and after.
Are there cases when I should keep metadata?+
Yes. The ICC colour profile tells the browser how to interpret the pixel values; removing it from a wide-gamut photo, such as an iPhone image in Display P3, can shift colours visibly, which is why it is kept by default. The orientation flag keeps phone photos upright. For licensing, tick Artist and copyright: the tool keeps the EXIF Artist and Copyright fields (and Author and Copyright text in PNG). IPTC copyright notices are not kept, so re-add them in your photo software if your workflow needs them.
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