Check photo metadata before sharing

Some photos contain EXIF location, device or time fields, and editing apps may add XMP or IPTC. Other files omit or lose those records. The fields are not visible in the pixels, so inspect a supported file before assuming what it carries.

• LocationLocation: GPS latitude, longitude, and sometimes altitude—often precise enough to identify a home, an office, or a school.
• DeviceDevice: camera make, model, and lens, plus a body serial number that uniquely ties the photo to your equipment.
• Time and processTime and process: capture time to the second, exposure settings, and the software that edited or exported the file.

The risk is not theoretical. Everyday sharing moves the whole file, and you rarely control what the receiving side keeps.

• ListingsMarketplace and classified listings: selling used gear with photos that carry its serial number and your neighborhood coordinates.
• PlatformsForums, groups, and chats: some platforms strip metadata on upload and some do not—and the ones that do rarely say which fields survive.
• Work filesWork handoffs: an exported screenshot or a phone photo of a whiteboard can reveal device details and exact working hours.

EXIF Metadata Viewer parses supported metadata in a JPEG or PNG locally. It shows fields its parser detects; it cannot prove that every possible field or visible sensitive detail is absent.

The EXIF viewer inspects JPEG metadata segments and PNG text/EXIF chunks; it does not inspect WebP or GIF metadata. For supported WebP metadata, use Privacy sanitizer. No detected fields means no fields detected by that parser, not proof that the file contains no private information.

Lossless cleaning removes supported metadata without re-encoding the image data. Read the result's scope and warnings; retained color profiles and orientation handling are separate choices.

• Verified removalThe cleaned copy is parsed again to check the supported fields. This verifies that scope, not every possible metadata format or sensitive detail in the image.
• Disclosed trade-offsOptional tiers are disclosed, not hidden: removing the ICC color profile can shift color on some displays, and baking orientation into pixels re-encodes the image.
• Batch cleaningA whole trip's photos can go in one batch—up to 12 photos and 96 MiB—cleaned one at a time and downloaded as a single zip.

Some sensitive details are in the picture itself: a face in the background, a license plate, an ID number on a desk, a colleague's email on a screen.

Photo Censor pixelates or blurs the selected rectangle in this browser tab. Export redraws and re-encodes the whole image, so pixels outside that region are not guaranteed byte-identical to the source. A visual mask is not verified irreversible redaction: inspect the downloaded image and do not share it if sensitive details remain legible.

Run this sequence on any photo before it goes to a stranger, a platform, or a public channel.

• ViewView: open the photo in the metadata viewer and read the location, device, and time groups before deciding anything.
• StripStrip: remove the metadata in the default lossless tier, and mask any sensitive detail visible in the pixels.
• Verify and keepReview the re-read result and its limits, inspect the downloaded copy, and keep the original if needed; verification covers supported fields, not the whole photo.

In Privacy sanitizer, load the private sample. The synthetic JPEG has location metadata; the PDF has document information. Clean both with the default selections, then download the ZIP. The JPEG is verified clean within the selected scope; the PDF is verified with limits and retains an unchecked warning. Reopen your output and review those limits: neither result certifies that visible or embedded content is safe to publish.