How to Remove EXIF Data From Photos
Six ways to strip EXIF, what each one costs you, and how to check that it actually worked.
In the browser (no installation)
Load the photo into a client-side tool, review the fields it found, remove them and download the clean copy. When the processing is client-side, the file never leaves your device, and a good tool re-reads its own output so you can see the result rather than take it on trust.
This is the fastest route for a handful of files, works identically on desktop and phone, and — with a container-level tool — does not re-compress the image.
On Windows
Right-click the file, choose Properties, open the Details tab and click 'Remove Properties and Personal Information'. You can either create a copy with all removable properties stripped, or select specific fields.
The caveat is that Explorer removes the properties it understands. XMP blocks and vendor segments frequently survive, so this is a partial clean rather than a complete one.
On macOS
Preview can remove location: open the image, choose Tools, then Show Inspector, open the GPS tab and click 'Remove Location Info'. That handles the most sensitive field but leaves the rest of the EXIF intact.
For a full clean, the command line tool ExifTool is the standard: `exiftool -all= photo.jpg` removes every tag it recognises. Add `-overwrite_original` if you do not want the backup copy it creates by default.
On iPhone
When sharing, tap Options at the top of the share sheet and turn off Location. That strips the coordinates from the shared copy while leaving the rest of the metadata.
To prevent geotagging entirely, go to Settings, Privacy & Security, Location Services, and set Camera to Never. Existing photos keep whatever they already have.
Note that iPhone photos are usually HEIC. To clean one fully with a browser tool, export or convert it to JPEG first.
On Android
Google Photos can share without location: in the app's sharing settings, disable 'Remove geolocation' — the wording varies by version, so check what the toggle actually says. Many gallery apps also expose a 'Details' screen with an edit or remove option.
To stop new photos being geotagged, turn off location tags in the camera app's settings, or revoke the camera's location permission in Android's app permissions.
Methods that seem to work but cost you something
Screenshotting a photo removes the original metadata, but re-encodes the image at screen resolution — you lose quality and dimensions, and the screenshot picks up its own metadata.
Re-saving in an editor usually removes most tags but writes a new Software tag and a fresh timestamp. Uploading to a platform and downloading the result strips a lot, but the original still reached that platform's servers, and the returned file is re-compressed.
How to verify it worked
Whatever method you use, check the output rather than trusting the process. Load the cleaned file into a metadata viewer — including this site's tool, which re-parses the file from scratch — or open its properties in your operating system. A file that reports no camera, location or software fields is clean.
Remove EXIF data and verify the result
Strip, clear or erase — it is the same job, and the part that matters is proving it worked. Read the tags, remove them, and check the output.
Open Remove EXIF DataFrequently asked questions
What is the fastest way to remove EXIF from one photo?
A client-side browser tool: load the file, remove, download. No installation, and nothing is uploaded.
What is the best way to remove EXIF from thousands of photos?
ExifTool from the command line. It handles RAW formats, recursion through folders and per-tag control that no browser tool matches.
Does removing EXIF reduce photo quality?
Not if the tool edits the container. It does if the tool re-encodes the image — which is why screenshotting or re-saving costs quality while segment-level removal does not.