What EXIF Data Do Photos Contain?

EXIF stands for Exchangeable Image File Format. It is a set of labelled fields, called metadata, that a camera or phone writes into a photo file, mainly JPEG, but also formats such as HEIC and TIFF. The metadata is invisible when you view the picture, but any app that reads it can display it. On a computer, you can often see part of it in the file's Properties or Get Info panel.

Related blocks exist alongside EXIF, such as IPTC and XMP, which hold things like captions, keywords, copyright notes and editing history. People often lump them together under the name EXIF.

Exactly what is stored varies by device and settings, but common fields include:

• Camera and lens: make, model, lens, sometimes a serial number.
• Date and time: when the photo was taken, and often when it was last edited or digitized.
• Exposure settings: shutter speed, aperture, ISO, focal length, flash, white balance.
• Orientation: a flag telling viewers whether to rotate the image.
• Image details: pixel dimensions, colour profile, resolution.
• GPS location: latitude, longitude and sometimes altitude and direction, if location tagging was on.
• Software: the editing program or phone OS version.
• Thumbnail: a small preview embedded in the file, which in some editing workflows can show an older version of the picture.
• Owner or author name, if one was set in the camera.

Phones typically record location whenever the camera app has location permission. Many dedicated cameras record no location unless a GPS accessory or the connected phone adds it.

A photo taken at home, with location tagging on, can contain coordinates accurate to a few meters. Share the original file and anyone who receives it can read those coordinates and see where it was taken. Timestamps can reveal when you are away from home, and the camera serial number can link separate photos to one device.

Large social platforms usually strip most metadata when you upload and re-encode the picture, but this varies, and you should not rely on it. Sending the original file through email, a cloud link, a classifieds listing, a forum or a messaging app that sends files as documents may deliver the metadata intact. Photos of items for sale, children or your home are the typical cases where it is worth removing location data first.

It is not all bad: metadata helps you sort and search photos by date, find the settings that gave a great shot and prove when and where you took an image. The sensible approach is to keep it in your own library and remove it from copies you share publicly.

• Windows: right-click the file, choose Properties, then the Details tab.
• Mac: open the file in Preview and choose Tools, then Show Inspector.
• Phones: the photos app usually shows date, camera and sometimes a map, in the info panel.
• Dedicated EXIF viewers show every field, including those the built-in panels hide.

Check the output file, not just the original, when you want to confirm metadata was removed.

There are three common routes:

1. Turn off location tagging in your phone's camera settings so future photos carry no GPS data. This prevents the problem at the source.
2. Use the sharing options on your phone, since some let you leave out location when you send a photo.
3. Re-save the image as a new file. When a browser tool draws an image to a canvas and exports it, the new file is built from pixel data only, so the original EXIF block is not copied across. The LocalPix compressor, resizer and converter work this way, and because they run in your browser, the photo is not uploaded.

One practical detail: the orientation flag is part of EXIF. Our tools apply the rotation to the pixels when they load the image, so a portrait photo does not turn sideways after the metadata is gone. If you use another tool and the picture ends up rotated, that is the cause. After processing, open the result in an EXIF viewer to confirm the GPS fields are gone.

• Screenshots generally contain little personal metadata, though they may include device details and timestamps.
• Removing EXIF does not remove what is visible in the picture: street signs, house numbers, reflections and landmarks can reveal a location on their own.
• Keep an untouched original in your own library. Share the cleaned copy.
• If you need to keep copyright information, add it again deliberately to the copies you publish.