See and remove the hidden data in your photos

What is photo metadata?

Most image files carry more than pixels. Cameras, phones and editing apps add extra information to the file. This is called metadata. The most common kind is EXIF, a standard that cameras use to record how a photo was taken. Other kinds are XMP, which editing apps such as photo editors often add, and IPTC, which news and stock photographers use for captions, credits and place names.

Depending on the device and its settings, this data can include:

• GPS location: latitude and longitude, sometimes with altitude and the direction the camera was facing. Phones usually add this when the camera app is allowed to use your location.
• Camera and device: make, model, lens and, on some cameras, a serial number that can link different photos to the same device.
• Date and time: when the photo was taken and last changed, sometimes with your time zone.
• Software: the app or firmware that saved the file, and in XMP sometimes a list of edits.
• Names and text: an author, copyright line, caption or comment, and a small preview thumbnail that in some cases still shows the photo as it was before it was cropped or edited.

Why it matters for privacy

A photo taken at home with location turned on can reveal your home address to anyone who gets the original file. The same goes for your school, your workplace or a place you visit often. Timestamps show when you were there, and a camera serial number can connect photos posted under different names.

Many social networks strip some metadata when you upload a photo, but not all apps and messaging services do. Files sent as documents, shared through cloud links, attached to emails, posted on forums or sold on marketplaces often keep everything. If you are not sure what happens to a photo after you share it, remove the metadata first.

How to remove metadata from a photo

1. Choose or drop one or more JPEG, PNG or WebP files into the box above.
2. Read the report. If the file contains a location, you will see a red warning with the coordinates. Camera, date, software and other details are listed below it.
3. Check the options. By default the colour profile and any Content Credentials are kept, and a photo's orientation tag is kept so it stays the right way up.
4. Press Download clean copy. The new file is named like the original with -clean added, for example IMG_1234-clean.jpg. Your original file is not changed.

What is removed and what is kept

With the JPEG format, extra data after the end of the image can be a second picture used for HDR display, a depth map, or the video part of a motion photo. These can carry their own metadata, so they are removed. As a result, the clean copy shows as a normal still photo.

Lossless: your photo is not re-compressed

Many metadata removers redraw the photo and save it again, which re-compresses a JPEG and lowers its quality a little each time. This tool works differently. It reads the file's structure and copies the image data byte for byte, leaving out only the metadata blocks. The pixels in the clean copy are exactly the same as in the original, and the file usually gets a little smaller.

A note on photo orientation

Phones often save a photo in the sensor's natural direction and add an EXIF Orientation tag that tells apps to rotate it when they display it. If that tag is removed, some apps may show the photo sideways or upside down. When a photo has an orientation other than normal, the tool warns you. By default it writes back a tiny EXIF block that holds only the orientation tag, which says nothing about you. You can untick that option if you want every EXIF tag gone. This tool never rotates the pixels itself.

Content Credentials and AI labels

Some images carry provenance data. Content Credentials are based on the open C2PA standard and record who or what created an image and how it was edited. They are signed, so a verify tool can check that they have not been changed. An image can also carry an IPTC digital source type, such as trainedAlgorithmicMedia, which marks it as made with generative AI.

The tool shows these records openly when it finds them. They are not personal location or device data, so they are kept by default. You can remove them with a separate, clearly labelled option. Removing metadata does not change how an image was made, and many platforms require you to disclose AI-generated or AI-edited content. Provenance can also be checked in ways that do not depend on file metadata. SaveMingo does not verify the signatures, it only reports what the file contains.

If Instagram, Facebook or Threads labelled your own photo "AI info", read why real photos get the AI info label and how to fix it.

Made the image with Stable Diffusion or ComfyUI? The AI metadata remover shows the prompt, settings and workflow saved in the file before you remove them.

Questions

Are my photos uploaded? No. Your browser reads each file and builds the clean copy on your device. SaveMingo's servers never receive your images, and closing the tab discards them. See our privacy policy.

Which formats are supported? JPEG, PNG and WebP. HEIC photos from iPhones are not supported yet; many phones can share or export them as JPEG.

Does a screenshot have metadata? Usually much less than a camera photo, but it can still include a date, the device or app name and sometimes text chunks. Check it here to be sure.

The tool found nothing. Is the file clean? If no EXIF, XMP, IPTC, text or provenance blocks are listed, the file carries none of the metadata types this tool knows about. The picture itself can still show private details, such as a street sign or a house number, so look at it before sharing.

Can I use this on someone else's photo? Removing metadata does not change who owns a photo. Credits and copyright still apply, so read our copyright page before reusing images.

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