Skip to content
tools.willenborg.dev
willenborg.dev (external link)

Metadata Viewer & Remover

See what your photos are telling people, then take it out — without recompressing the image.

Drop images here
or click to browse — nothing is uploaded, everything runs in this tab

About this tool

Photos carry far more than pixels. A picture straight off a phone typically records the exact coordinates where it was taken, the moment it was taken, and the device that took it — often including a serial number that ties every photo from that camera together. Most of that stays in the file when you email it, message it, or upload it somewhere.

This tool shows you all of it, then hands back a copy with the identifying data removed. The removal is container surgery rather than a re-encode: the compressed image data is copied through untouched, so the result is pixel-for-pixel identical to the original and simply smaller. Colour profiles are kept, since they affect how the image looks and say nothing about you.

Common questions

Are my photos uploaded anywhere?
No. The file never leaves your device — it is read and rewritten in this browser tab. That is also why it works with no account and no wait.
Does removing metadata reduce image quality?
No. The image data is copied through byte-for-byte and only the metadata containers around it are removed, so the picture is not recompressed. The result is pixel-identical to what you started with.
What exactly gets removed?
EXIF (camera, lens, settings, serial numbers), GPS coordinates, XMP, IPTC, and free-text comments. Colour profiles are deliberately kept, because dropping them visibly shifts colour and they contain nothing personal.
Which formats can be stripped?
JPEG, PNG, and WebP can be rewritten losslessly. Metadata inside HEIC, AVIF, JPEG XL, and TIFF can be read and shown, but removing it needs a re-encode — convert those to JPEG, PNG, or WebP instead, which drops the metadata unless you ask to keep it.
Why does my phone photo have GPS in it?
Most phones record the exact location a photo was taken by default, and it stays in the file when you share it. Social networks usually strip it, but email, messaging apps, and cloud drives often do not.