Question 1

What is image metadata, and how did it get in my photo?

Accepted Answer

Your camera writes it as it saves the file. It typically records the make, model and serial number of the camera, the exact date and time, the settings used, often the GPS coordinates, and frequently a small thumbnail copy of the picture. Editing apps add their own name and history on top. None of it is visible when you look at the photo, and all of it travels with the file when you send it.

Question 2

Can someone really find my house from a photo?

Accepted Answer

If it carries GPS data, yes - the coordinates are precise to a few metres, which is a specific building rather than a neighbourhood. This tool shows you the exact numbers before you remove them, so you can see for yourself what a photo you have already shared would have given away.

Question 3

Does this change my photo?

Accepted Answer

No. This is the difference between this tool and simply re-saving an image somewhere else. Rather than decoding and re-encoding your photo, it rewrites only the container around it and copies the compressed image data across byte for byte. The result is pixel-for-pixel identical to what you put in - just smaller, because the metadata is gone.

Question 4

Why does it keep the orientation tag?

Accepted Answer

Because removing it turns portrait photos sideways. Phones record the picture the way the sensor saw it and add a small tag saying which way is up, so stripping every last tag would leave you with rotated photos. We rebuild that one tag from scratch - it says which way is up and carries nothing else, no camera, no date, no location. Untick the box if you would rather have nothing at all.

Question 5

What about HEIC photos from my iPhone?

Accepted Answer

HEIC and AVIF are not supported, and the tool says so rather than pretending to work. If your iPhone saves HEIC, the simplest fix is to set Settings, Camera, Formats to "Most Compatible", which switches it to JPG. For photos you already have, exporting or sharing them as JPG first will convert them, and you can then clean them here.

Question 6

Don't social networks already strip this?

Accepted Answer

Most large platforms do remove EXIF when you upload, though several keep a copy on their own servers first. The gap is everywhere else: a photo emailed, sent through a messaging app that preserves the original, uploaded to your own website, or handed over as a file keeps everything. Cleaning the file before it leaves your device is the only version that does not depend on somebody else.

Image Metadata Remover

What to remove

How it works

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Frequently asked questions

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