Every photo from your phone carries the GPS coordinates of where it was taken, your camera's serial number, the exact timestamp, and sometimes a thumbnail of what you cropped out. Drop an image below to strip all of it — locally, in your browser. Need a different file type? We have a dedicated tool for each.
↓ Drag from your desktop · or click to browse · batch supported
This page handles images. For everything else, we built a dedicated tool — each with a format-specific inspector, the right presets, and an explainer of what that format hides. All of them run entirely in your browser, just like this one.
JPG, PNG, WebP, SVG, GIF. Strip GPS coordinates, camera serial, timestamps, thumbnails, and C2PA AI signatures.
Strip the Info dictionary (Author, Title, Producer, Creator), the XMP packet, and document IDs from any PDF.
Strip author, company, tracked changes, comments, custom XML, and embedded image EXIF from Word files.
Strip author, company, comments, named-range file paths, and embedded image EXIF from Excel workbooks.
Strip author, company, slide-note comments, revision data, and embedded image EXIF from presentations.
Strip C2PA Content Credentials, generator tags, embedded prompts, and EXIF from DALL·E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion images.
OpenDocument text and spreadsheets, EPUB e-books, and other ZIP-container formats. See the full list.
Other tools upload your file, strip metadata on their server, and ask you to trust the audit trail. We parse, inspect, scrub, and re-serialize directly inside your browser. We literally cannot see what you cleaned.
Drag from anywhere on your machine. We detect the format by magic bytes (not extension), unpack the container, and inventory every hidden field — EXIF, IPTC, XMP, XML properties, tracked changes, the lot.
Before anything is removed, we show you a complete inventory of every metadata field found. Camera serial, GPS, edit history, embedded image EXIF — laid out so you understand exactly what's about to be stripped.
Pick a preset, get the cleaned file back instantly. Optional audit report includes SHA-256 of original and cleaned versions — tamper-evident proof of exactly what changed.
You should never take a privacy tool's word for it. Here's how to confirm your file never leaves your device, using tools already built into your browser:
This is the difference that matters most. A tool that uploads your file to a server — however reputable — has to be trusted. A tool that runs in your browser can be checked.
Image-only "privacy" cleaners. PDF-only converters. Office tools that miss tracked changes. We built one engine that handles every format and every hidden field — because the metadata you forget about is the one that burns you.
This page handles images (JPG/PNG/WebP/SVG). Dedicated pages handle PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OpenDocument files — each tuned to that format. No per-format paywall, no upselling mid-flow. See all tools ↓
9+ formatsCompetitors who process client-side handle JPGs only. Competitors who handle DOCX and PDF require server upload. We do all of it in your browser via WebAssembly and pure JavaScript.
Zero-upload architectureSee every metadata field in your file before removal. No competitor shows you what's actually there — they just promise it's gone.
Downloadable HTML report showing every field stripped, with SHA-256 of before and after. For lawyers, journalists, HR, compliance.
Accepted revisions, rejected edits, deleted comments, embedded image EXIF inside DOCX. The XML scrub Office's Document Inspector misses.
Privacy strips personal/location data but keeps orientation and color. Web Publishing keeps copyright and color profile. Legal Filing guts revisions but preserves Title and Subject. Maximum Privacy wipes everything possible — including color profiles and structural metadata.
Drop multiple files at once. Get a ZIP back with all cleaned files plus a single audit report covering the batch.
No watermarks, no daily limits, no signup. Every format and every preset is free for personal and professional use.
Detect and strip Content Credentials from DALL·E, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, Adobe Firefly, and other AI tools.
Every metadata tool makes a trade-off. The browser-based ones are usually images-only. The ones that handle documents and video almost always upload your file to a server first. Desktop tools are powerful but need installing. Here is where each type lands — and where we sit.
| Capability | removemetadata.tools | Browser image tools (exifremover, MetaClean, etc.) |
Upload-based web tools (GroupDocs, pics.io, etc.) |
Desktop apps (ExifTool, ExifCleaner) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Files never leave your device | ● All formats | ● Usually | ✗ Uploads to server | ● Local |
| Works with no install | ● | ● | ● | ✗ Install required |
| Images (JPG / PNG / WebP / GIF) | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| HEIC (iPhone), lossless & in-browser | ● | Some only | ● (server) | ● (desktop) |
| TIFF & camera RAW | ● | Rare | ● (server) | ● (desktop) |
| PDF — in your browser | ● | Some only | Server-side | Desktop only |
| Office (DOCX / XLSX / PPTX) — in your browser | ● + revisions | ✗ Almost none | Server-side | Partial |
| Tracked changes & comments scrubbed | ● | — | Rare | — |
| Audio (MP3 / FLAC / OGG / WAV) — in your browser | ● | — | Server-side | ● (desktop) |
| Video (MP4 / MOV) — in your browser | ● | Specialists only | Server-side | ● (desktop) |
| C2PA / AI Content Credentials removed | ● | Some only | — | Partial |
| Pre-strip metadata inspector | ● All fields | ● Common | ● | ● |
| Cleaning presets (Privacy / Legal / etc.) | ● 4 presets | — | Manual only | — |
| SHA-256 audit / verification report | ● Signed HTML | — | — | — |
| Free, no signup, no batch cap, nothing uploaded | ● | Often ad / freemium | Often freemium | ● Free |
Categories, not slander: many individual tools are excellent at what they do. The point is the structural trade-off each category forces. We built this to be the one that doesn't make you choose between "handles my file type" and "never uploads it." Comparison reflects publicly documented behaviour as of 2026; specific tools vary and change over time.
Image metadata is invisible when you look at a picture, but it travels with the file and is trivial to read. Understanding what's in there is the first step to deciding what to remove.
EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) is the metadata block that cameras and phones embed in every photo. It records the technical circumstances of the shot and, crucially, often the location. A typical smartphone JPEG carries the camera make and model, the lens, the full date and time down to the second, exposure settings (aperture, shutter speed, ISO), the device's operating-system version, an embedded thumbnail, and — if location services were on — GPS coordinates.
GPS coordinates in EXIF are not stored as the familiar decimal number you see in a maps app. They are stored in degrees, minutes, and seconds (DMS) as three rational numbers, accompanied by a reference letter (N/S for latitude, E/W for longitude). To turn that into the decimal degrees a map uses, the tool applies this formula:
decimal = degrees + (minutes / 60) + (seconds / 3600)The reference letter then sets the sign: south and west are negative. So a photo
tagged 40° 42' 46.08" N, 74° 0' 21.6" W resolves to:
lat = +(40 + 42/60 + 46.08/3600) = +40.7128
lon = −(74 + 0/60 + 21.6/3600) = −74.0060That decimal pair, 40.7128, −74.0060, drops a pin within a few metres of
where the shutter fired. When you strip EXIF, this entire GPS sub-block is removed, so
there is no coordinate left to convert.
Cameras embed a small preview thumbnail (often 160×120 pixels) inside the EXIF data so that file browsers can show a quick preview without decoding the full image. The catch: when you crop or edit a photo, some software updates the main image but leaves the original thumbnail untouched. Anyone reading the metadata can then recover a miniature of the uncropped original. Removing EXIF deletes this embedded thumbnail along with everything else.
People sometimes worry that stripping metadata will degrade their image. It will not. Metadata is a small descriptive header sitting alongside the compressed pixel data, not part of it. Removing it changes the file by only the size of that header — typically a few kilobytes — and re-compresses nothing. The relationship is simply:
cleaned_size = original_size − metadata_bytesThe pixels, dimensions, and visual quality are identical to the original. By default we also preserve the orientation flag and the colour profile so the image still displays the right way up and with correct colours.
Total removal is not always what you want. A stock photographer needs IPTC keywords and copyright to survive; a print shop needs the ICC colour profile. That is why the tool offers presets. Privacy removes location, device, and timestamp data while keeping orientation and colour. Web Publishing additionally preserves copyright and credit fields. Maximum Privacy strips everything that is not structurally required to display the image, including the colour profile.
Here is the EXIF block of a typical smartphone JPEG, as a metadata reader would show it, alongside what remains after the Privacy preset runs. The image pixels are identical in both — only the hidden header changes.
Make : Apple
Model : iPhone 15 Pro
Software : 17.5.1
DateTimeOriginal : 2025:09:14 17:04:11
GPSLatitude : 40 deg 42' 46.08" N
GPSLongitude : 74 deg 0' 21.60" W
LensModel : iPhone 15 Pro back camera
SerialNumber : F2LZ9XK3QP
ExposureTime : 1/120
ThumbnailImage : (embedded 160x120)(no EXIF block)
ImageWidth : 4032
ImageHeight : 3024
Orientation : 1 (kept, optional)
ColorProfile : sRGB (kept, optional)
That "before" block pins the photo to a street corner (those coordinates resolve to
40.7128, −74.0060), names the exact phone and its serial number, timestamps
the moment to the second, and even hides a thumbnail of the original framing. After
cleaning, none of it remains — only the dimensions and, optionally, the orientation and
colour profile needed to display the image correctly.
This table lists the metadata an image can carry, what it discloses, and how the presets treat it.
| Field | What it reveals | Privacy | Web Publishing | Max Privacy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPS latitude / longitude | Exact location the photo was taken | Removed | Removed | Removed |
| Make / Model | Camera or phone make and model | Removed | Removed | Removed |
| SerialNumber | Unique camera/lens serial — links all your photos | Removed | Removed | Removed |
| DateTimeOriginal | Exact date and time of capture | Removed | Removed | Removed |
| Software | OS version or editing software used | Removed | Removed | Removed |
| Embedded thumbnail | Preview that may show the uncropped original | Removed | Removed | Removed |
| IPTC / copyright / credit | Author, copyright, caption | Removed | Kept | Removed |
| Orientation | Which way up to display | Kept | Kept | Kept |
| ICC colour profile | How colours should render | Kept | Kept | Removed |
| C2PA Content Credentials | AI-generation / edit provenance signature | Removed | Removed | Removed |
Someone lists an expensive item on a marketplace and photographs it on their kitchen table. The listing is anonymous, but each photo carries GPS coordinates from where it was shot — their home. A buyer reading the EXIF knows the seller's address before any meeting is arranged. Stripping EXIF before uploading removes that risk entirely.
A person crops a sensitive detail out of a photo before posting it. But some editors update only the main image and leave the original embedded thumbnail untouched. Anyone reading the metadata recovers a small version of the uncropped picture — defeating the whole point of the crop.
A photographer keeps a public account and a private one, posting full-resolution images on both. Every shot from the same camera carries the same body serial number in EXIF. By matching serial numbers, an observer links the two accounts that were meant to stay separate.
No. Metadata is separate from the compressed pixel data. Removing it does not re-compress or alter the image; the visible result is pixel-for-pixel identical.
Some do, some do not, and the behaviour changes over time. Several major platforms strip GPS on upload but keep other fields, and many smaller sites, forums, and direct file shares keep everything. Stripping at the source means you are not relying on any platform's policy.
Yes. Drop a whole batch and the tool processes each one in your browser, then offers them back individually or as a single ZIP, with one audit report covering the set.
HEIC is fully supported. The tool locates the EXIF and XMP items inside the HEIF container and removes them in place, so your GPS and device data are stripped while the image stays viewable — no conversion to JPG required.
Yes, for the common TIFF-based RAW formats (DNG, NEF, ARW, CR2). RAW files carry the deepest metadata of all, including body and lens serial numbers, and the tool strips those tags while keeping the image data intact.
C2PA "Content Credentials" are a signature some cameras and AI tools embed to record how an image was created or edited. They can reveal that an image was AI-generated or trace its edit history. The tool detects and removes these along with other metadata.
Yes. The orientation flag is preserved by default, so a photo taken in portrait stays portrait. Only the Maximum Privacy preset touches structural display data, and even then it keeps orientation.
No. Every image is read, parsed, and rewritten entirely in your browser using JavaScript. The file never leaves your device — which is exactly why this is a real privacy tool rather than one that asks you to trust a server.
Yes. Open the cleaned image's properties on your computer, or run a metadata reader like ExifTool, and you will see the EXIF block is gone. The optional audit report also records a SHA-256 hash of the cleaned file as proof it changed.
"A privacy tool that uploads your file
is not a privacy tool."