Metadata Stripper

What it does

Decodes the photo in your browser and writes a brand-new file from the pixels alone. Because the new file is built from scratch, none of the original's metadata blocks — EXIF (camera, lens, settings, date, orientation), GPS location, IPTC captions and keywords, XMP edit history, embedded thumbnails and colour profiles — are carried across. A PNG in gives a lossless PNG out; anything else becomes a JPEG at 92% quality.

What you'll need

• A photo from your device — JPEG, PNG, WebP, HEIC (where the browser can decode it), TIFF, AVIF.

Steps

1. Read the lossy-JPEG notice above the uploader so you know what you're getting.
2. Tap "Upload a photo" and choose the original.
3. Check the before/after summary — it re-reads the clean copy and confirms 0 fields remain.
4. Tap "Download clean copy". Your original file on the device is untouched.

Reading the result

The Original card shows how many technical metadata fields the file carried; the Clean copy card shows the new file's size, pixel dimensions and format. The line underneath is the proof — the page re-reads the clean copy with the same parser the EXIF Viewer uses and reports how many fields survive, which should be zero. If the original relied on an orientation tag, a second line confirms the rotation was applied to the pixels.

Tips

• Share the clean copy and keep the original — the original still has the settings and date you may want later, and the JPEG re-encode is a one-way step.
• Photos already put through most social platforms or messaging apps usually show 0 fields to begin with; this tool is for originals from the camera, the phone's library or an editor's export.
• For a lossless result from a JPEG there is no browser-side option — that needs a desktop tool that rewrites the container without decoding it (exiftool, for example).

What is a metadata stripper?

A metadata stripper removes the descriptive data embedded inside an image file while leaving the picture itself. Cameras and phones write a lot into a file besides the pixels: an EXIF block with the body, lens, focal length, aperture, shutter, ISO, date and orientation; often a GPS block with the exact coordinates the shot was taken at; IPTC fields for captions, keywords and the photographer's name; XMP data from editing software; an embedded thumbnail; and an ICC colour profile.

This tool does it the only way a browser can do it safely for every format at once: it decodes the image to raw pixels and encodes a completely new file from those pixels. The new file has no memory of the old one, so no metadata block can survive — nothing is looked up, filtered or hidden, it simply isn't written.

Why photographers use it

Metadata is invisible in a preview but travels with the file. Post an original from a phone and the GPS block can place it at your front door; sell a print file and the EXIF says which camera and lens you used; send a client an edited JPEG and the XMP block can carry the edit history. Photographers strip metadata before publishing originals, delivering files to clients, listing gear or artwork for sale, and sharing location-sensitive work — wildlife nests, private property, someone else's home. It's also the quickest fix for a file that displays sideways on a site that ignores the orientation tag.

Strip it here, or somewhere else?

Use this tool when the file is going somewhere public and a good-quality JPEG is what that place wants anyway — social posts, forums, marketplaces, email. Use a desktop tool such as exiftool when you need the JPEG left byte-for-byte identical (it rewrites only the metadata segments), when you want to remove some fields but keep the copyright and contact ones, or when you're processing hundreds of files. A PNG source is lossless here whichever route you take.

Common mistakes

• Assuming a platform will strip it for you. most big social networks do, but portfolio sites, forums, marketplaces, email attachments and cloud links generally don't. If you're not certain the destination removes metadata, remove it yourself before it leaves your device.
• Stripping the original instead of a copy. this tool never touches the file on your device — it produces a new one — but the same isn't true of every tool. Keep the original with its EXIF intact; it's your record of how the shot was made.
• Re-saving the clean JPEG over and over. each JPEG encode loses a little. One pass at 92% is visually clean; running the result back through this or any other lossy step several times is not. Strip once, from the original, each time you need a clean copy.
• Expecting a stripped file to display the same on every site. it will — more reliably than the original, in fact, because the rotation is baked into the pixels rather than left to a tag some sites ignore. What can change is the colour profile: a wide-gamut original becomes standard sRGB, which is what web browsers assume anyway.
• Removing the copyright along with the location. this tool removes everything, including any Artist or Copyright field. If you want your name to travel with the file, add a visible credit or use a desktop tool that can strip selectively.

Example settings

FAQ

Is my photo uploaded anywhere?

No. The file is decoded, re-encoded and offered for download entirely in your browser. There is no server involved, and nothing is kept once you leave the page.

Does it remove GPS location?

Yes — along with everything else. The new file is written from pixels only, so the GPS block can't be carried across. This page never reads the coordinates, either; the before/after count you see covers the technical fields only.

Why 92% and not 100%?

Browser JPEG encoders at "100%" still re-encode (it's never lossless) but produce files two or three times larger for no visible gain. 92% is the point where the output is visually indistinguishable at normal viewing sizes while staying a sensible size to share. If you need lossless, use a PNG source or a desktop tool.

Will the photo come out rotated?

No. Removing the orientation tag on its own would leave a portrait shot displaying sideways, so the rotation is applied to the pixels first. The clean copy is upright without needing any tag.

Does it change the resolution or crop?

No. The clean copy has exactly the pixel dimensions of the original as displayed (after orientation). Only the encoding changes, and only for non-PNG sources.

Which files can't it handle?

RAW files (CR3, NEF, ARW, RAF and so on) and any format the browser itself can't decode — which on some browsers includes HEIC. Convert those to JPEG first, then strip.