Guide · 2 min read
What EXIF metadata in a photo is, and what it reveals about you
Every photo stores invisible data such as the location, the phone it was taken on and the exact time. What it contains, who can read it and when to remove it.
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EXIF stands for Exchangeable Image File Format, a 1990s standard that let cameras store technical information inside each photo. Every phone uses it today, and what it stores goes well beyond the technical.
What a phone photo stores
- GPS location: latitude, longitude and sometimes altitude and direction. Typical accuracy is a few metres, enough to pick out a front door.
- The exact date and time, to the second, often with the time zone.
- Phone make and model, and on many dedicated cameras, the serial number.
- Shot settings: exposure, aperture, ISO, whether the flash fired.
- The editing software used, if the photo was edited.
- An embedded thumbnail, which in some cases is created before editing and can keep what was later cropped out.
Alongside EXIF there are two similar blocks: XMP, used by programs such as Lightroom and Photoshop, and IPTC, designed for photojournalism, with fields for author, copyright and caption.
Who can see it
Anyone who has the original file. No special tool is needed: Windows shows it under Properties → Details, a Mac under Preview → Tools → Show Inspector, and dozens of websites and apps read it. To see it yourself, drop the photo into Strip metadata: it is shown in plain words, and the photo is not uploaded.
When it really matters
Metadata hardly ever matters in a landscape photo. It matters when the photo connects one fact to another:
- A photo of an item for sale, taken at home, reveals your address.
- A photo sent to someone you do not know well reveals where you were and when.
- A camera’s serial number can link photos published under different names.
- A PDF signed with a pseudonym can carry your real name in its author field.
What social networks do
Instagram, Facebook, X and WhatsApp remove metadata from the version others see when you send an ordinary photo. They do not when you send it as a document or file, and neither do most forums, small websites, email or cloud services. And even when a platform strips the public copy, it received the data first.
How to remove it
Strip metadata removes EXIF, XMP and IPTC from JPG, PNG and WebP without recompressing the image: the pixels come out identical to how they went in. It also clears the author, title and dates from PDFs. It all happens in your browser. If you also need a smaller file, Compress image removes them too when it generates the new image.
To stop new photos recording their location, see how to remove the location from a photo.