What information is hidden in your photos?
An ordinary photo can carry information that isn't visible in the picture itself. Knowing what can be included—and what cannot be reliably removed—helps you make better choices before sharing.
EXIF: camera information and timestamps
EXIF data may record camera manufacturer and model, lens and exposure settings, a capture date, image orientation and other details. Not every photo contains all of these fields. Image editors and sharing services may preserve, change or remove different tags.
Some EXIF entries are functional: orientation can tell a viewer how to rotate an image. Removing it without handling rotation can make a photo appear sideways.
GPS: when a picture reveals a location
Location-enabled cameras and phones can attach latitude and longitude to photos. A person may share a seemingly ordinary picture and accidentally reveal where it was taken. Check your phone camera's location-tagging option and consider turning it off when location isn't necessary.
A photograph can still reveal a location through visible signs, landmarks or contextual clues even without GPS metadata. Metadata cleaning does not remove those visual clues.
XMP and IPTC: editing and publishing information
XMP is a flexible format for metadata such as descriptions, editing software, authorship and processing history. IPTC is commonly used by photographers and publishers for captions, credit and licensing information. Some fields can contain names, locations or contact information; others help document ownership and appropriate attribution.
Removing publishing metadata can have copyright or attribution implications. Keep originals with their metadata intact in your own archive; prepare a separate copy for public sharing.
Content Credentials and C2PA
C2PA is a technical standard for associating provenance information with digital media. Some Content Credentials are cryptographically signed, and verifying them correctly requires checking the manifest, signature and trust information—not just looking for a keyword or file segment.
Missing embedded metadata does not prove that an image is human-made, nor does it guarantee that a platform will stop labeling it AI-generated. Platforms may use additional detection signals. Avoid altering provenance information to misrepresent how content was created.
Check metadata before sharing
- Keep a separate untouched original for your records.
- Open our free Image Metadata Inspector.
- Select JPEG, PNG, WebP or a ZIP archive using the same Browse files control. The files are processed locally in your browser.
- Review the recognized metadata categories. GPS coordinates are not displayed.
- Choose an export mode: supported files may use lossless segment removal, while others require re-encoding to handle orientation and compatibility safely.
- Review the original and exported image previews, then download your privacy copy or a batch archive.
This is a best-effort inspector, not a forensic certificate. It does not validate signed C2PA manifests or guarantee complete removal of all provenance signals. Re-encoding can change visual quality, color profiles, transparency and animations. Inspect important exports before sharing them.
A free tool that respects your privacy
The metadata inspector runs in your own browser. Your photos are not uploaded to our servers, and it doesn't require an account or subscription.