What your photos secretly reveal
Every photo your phone or camera takes carries hidden metadata called EXIF. It can include the exact GPS coordinates where the picture was taken, the date and time, your camera or phone model, and even a small thumbnail. Post that photo online and anyone can read it - which is how a holiday snap can quietly reveal your home address. This tool removes all of it before you share, without ever uploading your file.
Lossless - your image is not re-compressed
Most online "EXIF removers" redraw your photo onto a canvas and re-encode it, which quietly degrades quality and changes the file. OpenConvert reads the actual file structure (JPEG segments, PNG and WebP chunks) and deletes only the metadata blocks, leaving the compressed image data byte-for-byte identical. You get the same image, just without the hidden data.
What gets removed
- GPS location - latitude and longitude of where the photo was taken.
- Camera & device - make, model, lens and software.
- Timestamps - date and time the photo was captured.
- XMP & IPTC - editing history, captions, author and copyright tags.
- Embedded thumbnails and orientation data.
A worked example: what the reader shows
Drop in a typical phone photo and the built-in metadata reader will usually surface something like: GPS 48.85833, 2.29000 (an exact street address when pasted into a map), the phone make and model, the precise capture timestamp, and the software that last touched the file. Seeing your own data laid out is the fastest way to understand why stripping it matters - a single posted photo can disclose where you live, what device you own, and when you were there. After cleaning, run the same file through the reader again: the fields come back empty.
Limitations to know
Metadata removal protects you from what is stored inside the file - it cannot remove information visible in the photo itself (street signs, reflections, faces) or in the filename you chose. Also note that some platforms strip EXIF on upload while others preserve it, and you rarely know which in advance; cleaning before upload removes the gamble. Finally, the lossless strip applies to JPG, PNG, and WebP - other formats fall back to a re-encode, which removes metadata but does re-compress the image.
FAQ
Are my photos uploaded to a server?
- No - metadata is stripped locally in your browser. Your photos never leave your device.
Does removing metadata reduce image quality?
- No. For JPG, PNG and WebP the image data is kept byte-for-byte - only the metadata is removed, so there is no re-compression and no quality loss.
What metadata does it remove?
- GPS location, camera make and model, date and time taken, software, orientation, thumbnails and XMP/IPTC tags - everything stored outside the visible image.
Why should I remove EXIF before sharing a photo?
- Photos often embed the exact GPS coordinates where they were taken plus your camera and timestamps. Stripping this protects your home address and habits when posting online.