Remove EXIF data from your photos

The job on this page is to delete EXIF data from a JPEG, PNG, or WebP while the pixels stay put. The picture you see does not get redrawn. The tag block is what leaves.

What EXIF data a photo carries

A camera or a phone writes this block when it saves the picture. The person holding the device does not type the fields. The firmware does.

Make and model name the body. The lens model names the glass that was mounted, when the body recorded it. Aperture is the f-number of that exposure. Shutter speed is how long the sensor was open. ISO is the gain the camera chose. Focal length is the lens setting for that frame. The date and time come from the clock in the body, including whatever offset that clock was set to.

GPS latitude, longitude, and altitude are the position fix, if location was switched on. Orientation is a flag that says which edge is up, so a viewer can turn the display without rewriting the pixels. Software and firmware name the app or the camera system that last wrote the file. A body serial number, when the maker includes it, points at that particular camera rather than at a model. An embedded thumbnail is a small second image stored inside the file for quick previews.

None of that is a caption you typed after the fact. It is a record the device attached at capture or at export. A plain-language tour of the same block is what EXIF data contains.

Read the tags before you delete them

Read the list before you clear it. Two fields are easy to treat as clutter and expensive to lose. The orientation flag tells a viewer which way is up. If a cleaner drops that flag and does not write it back, a portrait can land on its side even though the pixels never rotated. The colour profile tells other software how to interpret the colour numbers. Strip that profile along with the camera notes and the same pixels can look flatter, or shift, in the next app that opens them.

The EXIF / GPS pass on this page writes the orientation value back and keeps the colour profile. That is why the After list is worth reading before you download, not after the file has already been sent. Open the metadata viewer when you want every tag this reader can show, then come back and remove EXIF only after you have seen the rows you care about.

Delete EXIF data for each situation

The order is not the same every time you delete EXIF data. Start with the fields that name a place or a particular device, then decide what the next person actually needs from the file.

Before posting to Instagram

A post does not need the place you were standing. GPS coordinates and altitude are the first rows to clear. A body serial number and the software name are next, because they point at one camera and at the app that exported the file. Lens and exposure can stay if the post is for other photographers. The location should not travel with the upload.

Before emailing or applying for a job

A portrait for a résumé, or a still sent to someone you do not know, should not carry a home location or a serial number. GPS goes first, then the body serial, then the software name that fingerprints the editor. Exposure data is rarely what that reader needs. Clear the identifying rows and leave the picture itself untouched.

Before listing on a marketplace

A listing photo can show where you live and which camera you own. GPS and altitude come off first. The serial number and the software name come off with them. Date and time can also narrow a listing to a moment, so clear those when the listing should not show when the photo was taken.

Before handing files to a client

A client delivery is the reverse of a public post. The client may need the capture time and the lens, and they should not receive your home GPS or the body's serial number. Strip GPS, altitude, and the serial first. Leave orientation and the colour profile so the files stay upright. Drop the software name when the export app is not part of the brief.

Why a screenshot is not a clean file

A screenshot is a new picture of the screen, not a cleaned copy of the file you already have. It throws away the original pixels, the original size, and often the colour. It can also keep a platform badge inside the image itself, and no tag pass can lift a badge out of the pixels. The file you meant to clean is still sitting unchanged on the device until you run the pass.

Whether a screenshot drops a manifest is a different question, answered on does a screenshot remove AI metadata. For this block the point is simpler. Use the original file, read the tags, and download the cleaned file. Do not photograph the screen and call that a finished clean.

Batch, verify, then hand off

One photo is free in this browser. A set is a different hand-off. Pro cleans the group and returns one ZIP, which is the batch remove path. After either clean, read the After list before you send the file. GPS, the serial, and the software name should be gone if those were the rows you meant to clear. Orientation should still be there, and the colour profile should still be there. Send the downloaded file, not a second export from the camera roll that still has the old tags.

Content Credentials are not the same block. If the job is the manifest, check that pass on check C2PA Content Credentials. This EXIF remover is the camera and location pass. You remove EXIF here, you confirm the list, and only then do you hand the file off. That is the moment to delete EXIF data, not after the file has already been mailed.