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What is EXIF data? What your photos reveal, and how to see it

6 min read
A camera lens lit red and blue, close up
Photo by TheRegisti on Unsplash

The short answer

EXIF data is information a camera or phone stores inside a photo file alongside the picture: the date and time, the camera make and model, lens and exposure settings, often a serial number and, if location was on, the GPS coordinates of where it was taken. It is invisible when you look at the photo but readable by anyone who has the file. You can view it in a photo app's info panel or an EXIF viewer, and remove it before sharing.

See what your photos reveal

Every photo you take carries a second, invisible layer: a list of facts about when, where and how it was taken. Most of the time that is useful. It is how your gallery sorts by date and shows photos on a map. It becomes a problem when the file leaves your hands, because anyone with the file can read the list.

What EXIF is

EXIF stands for Exchangeable Image File Format. It is a standard way for a camera to write details into the image file, next to the picture itself. Other formats do the same job alongside it: XMP, which editors such as Lightroom use, and IPTC, which news agencies use for captions and credits.

Together they are usually called metadata. You cannot see it by looking at the photo. You can see it with the right app.

What a photo can reveal

Field Stored in What it gives away
GPS latitude and longitude EXIF, XMP Where the photo was taken, usually to within a few metres
Date and time taken EXIF When you were there, and with many photos, your routine
Camera make and model EXIF Which phone or camera you own
Body and lens serial number EXIF, maker notes A number that links every photo from that camera
Software EXIF, XMP Which editor touched the picture, often with its version
Artist, copyright, caption, keywords EXIF, IPTC, XMP Your name, and anything a program wrote into the file
Embedded thumbnail EXIF A small copy of the picture as first saved

Two of these surprise people. The serial number ties photos together even when they are posted from different accounts. The embedded thumbnail is a small preview saved inside the file, and some editors do not update it when you crop, so it can still show what you cropped out.

Exposure settings are there too: shutter speed, aperture, ISO, focal length. Photographers use them to learn from their own shots. They reveal little about you.

How to see it

  • iPhone: open the photo and swipe up, or tap the i button. It shows the date, the camera and a map if there is a location.
  • Android: in Google Photos, open the photo and swipe up.
  • Windows: right-click the file, choose Properties, then the Details tab.
  • Mac: open the photo in Preview, then Tools, then Show Inspector, and look at the EXIF and GPS tabs.
  • In a browser: add photos to the EXIF remover. It lists what each one carries, shows any location in red with the coordinates written out, and does it without uploading anything. Each file is read by your own browser.

Who strips it and who does not

Large social networks and messaging apps remove the location when you upload a photo the normal way. Many other routes keep everything:

  • sending a photo as a document or file in a messaging app
  • email attachments
  • many online marketplaces and forums
  • cloud storage share links
  • your own website or blog

If you are not sure where a photo is going, clean it first.

How to remove it

The EXIF remover works on a whole batch of JPEG, PNG and WebP photos at once. Choose Remove everything, or Location only if you want the dates kept so your library still sorts correctly. The picture data is copied byte for byte, so there is no loss of quality, and the orientation tag is kept so portrait photos do not turn sideways. One photo downloads as it is; a batch comes as a zip. Your originals are not changed.

HEIC photos from iPhones and videos are not supported yet. On an iPhone, sharing a photo as Most Compatible gives you a JPEG.

When to keep it

EXIF is not only a risk. The date is how your photo apps sort a trip into order, and the location is how they build a map. Keep the originals with their data in your own library, and clean copies for sharing.

If the dates themselves are wrong, because a camera clock was never set or was on the wrong time zone, see how to fix the wrong date on photos. For a step-by-step on location alone, read how to remove location from photos.

  • Photos
  • Privacy

Questions people ask

What does EXIF stand for?

Exchangeable Image File Format. It is the standard most cameras and phones use to write details about a photo into the file itself, alongside the picture.

Does EXIF data include my location?

It can. When the camera app has location permission, phones write GPS latitude and longitude into each photo, usually accurate to within a few metres. Screenshots and photos taken with location off carry none.

How do I see the EXIF data on a photo?

On a phone, open the photo and swipe up or tap the info button. On Windows, right-click the file, choose Properties, then Details. On a Mac, open it in Preview and choose Tools, then Show Inspector. A browser tool such as the Spolvero EXIF remover lists it without uploading the photo.

Does removing EXIF data reduce photo quality?

Not with a tool that copies the picture data unchanged and removes only the metadata. Tools that redraw the picture to strip it recompress it, which does lose a little quality.

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