Remove EXIF data from a photo
EXIF is the block a camera writes into the file: model, lens, serial number, exposure, timestamps, and — on phone photos — usually the coordinates. This clears all of it, and keeps the rotation flag so your portrait photos don't fall over.
What EXIF is
EXIF is a text block that cameras have been writing into photo files since 1995. It was designed to help software develop the image correctly — and it records far more than that.
In a JPEG it lives in one segment near the top of the file. In a PNG it is an
eXIf chunk. In a WebP it is a RIFF chunk called EXIF. Different
containers, same idea: a structured list of named values riding along with your picture.
Which ones identify you
| Group | Fields | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Location | GPSLatitude, GPSLongitude, GPSAltitude, GPSDateStamp | Highest. On a home photo this is your address. |
| Device | Make, Model, LensModel, BodySerialNumber, LensSerialNumber | High. A serial number is effectively a device fingerprint, and it persists across photos even when the location doesn't. |
| Time | DateTimeOriginal, CreateDate, ModifyDate | Medium alone, high combined with other files. |
| Identity | Artist, Copyright, CameraOwnerName, OwnerName | Medium — and the one case where removing it can have legal consequences on someone else's work. |
| Software | Software, HostComputer, ProcessingSoftware | Low alone. A small hint about your setup and workflow. |
| Imaging | ExposureTime, FNumber, ISO, FocalLength, Flash | Low. Usually the harmless part — and the reason people say EXIF is "just camera settings". |
Orientation: the one field you should keep
Phones almost never rotate the pixels. They store the photo the way the sensor read it and
attach a single field, Orientation (tag 0x0112), saying "turn this
90° clockwise when displaying".
Delete the whole EXIF block and the viewer has no instruction — so a portrait photo taken on a phone comes out on its side. Many "EXIF removers" do exactly this, and the user blames their phone.
This tool reads the orientation before stripping and writes back a minimal EXIF segment containing that one value and nothing else — 34 bytes, no camera, no lens, no location.
If a file has no rotation flag, nothing is written back. If you would rather remove everything including the rotation flag, you can — it will warn you first.
There is no server here for it to go to
Most online tools rewrite your file on their own machine — which means your file gets uploaded first, and you have to take their word for what happens then. This one runs in the page. Check it yourself in twenty seconds, or turn off your Wi-Fi and try it — it still works.