Remove EXIF and GPS metadata

What a photo hides

When you take a photo, the camera or phone doesn't just store the pixels. Inside the file it adds a set of data called metadata, usually in EXIF format, and sometimes also XMP (used by Lightroom and Photoshop) or IPTC (used by news agencies). It often includes:

• GPS location accurate to a few meters: your home address, your kids' school or your workplace.
• The exact date and time of capture.
• The device's make and model, and sometimes its serial number.
• The software used to edit the image.
• Technical settings: lens, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, flash…
• Embedded thumbnails, which in some cases keep the photo as it was before cropping.

Anyone who downloads the original file can read all of this with free tools and no technical knowledge. That's why it's good practice to clean metadata before publishing photos on a website, a forum, a second-hand marketplace or sending them to strangers.

How to remove metadata with ImageZap

1. Drag your photos onto the drop zone, or paste them with Ctrl+V. You can add many at once.
2. ImageZap analyzes each file and shows what it found: GPS location (in red), camera, date, software and which metadata blocks it contains (EXIF, XMP, IPTC, comments).
3. Download each clean photo or all of them together as a ZIP. Files get a -clean suffix so you don't mix them up with the originals.

There's nothing to configure: the tool removes everything that identifies a person or place and keeps what affects how the image looks.

No quality loss: the pixels aren't touched

Most tools remove metadata by opening the image and saving it again. That works, but for a JPG it means another lossy compression: every time you do it, the photo loses a little quality.

ImageZap works differently with JPG, PNG and WebP: it walks the file's internal structure and removes only the metadata blocks, copying the image data exactly as it was. The result has the same pixels, bit for bit, and is a little smaller too.

What's kept and why

Removing everything blindly can break the image, so ImageZap keeps two pieces of data:

• Orientation. Many phones store the photo "sideways" and an EXIF tag says it must be rotated when displayed. If it were deleted, the photo would show up on its side. ImageZap writes it back in a minimal EXIF block containing only that value: nothing personal.
• The ICC color profile. It describes how to interpret the colors (for example Display P3 on iPhones). Without it, photos would look dull or off. It contains no personal information.

Where it matters most

• Marketplaces and listings (eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, Vinted): product photos are usually taken at home.
• Websites and blogs: WordPress and most CMSs don't remove EXIF from the original images you upload. We cover it in the guide to image optimization in WordPress.
• Email and messaging to people you don't know: email and many file-transfer services send the original file untouched.
• Documents and photos of other people: if you publish images of others, their metadata can reveal information about them too.

Some large social networks strip metadata when you post, but not all of them, not always, and not in every mode (for example when sending "as a file" or in private messages). The safest option is to clean photos yourself first. There's more context in the guide on EXIF metadata and privacy.

The tool's own privacy

It would make no sense to upload your photos to a server to strip their private information. ImageZap processes everything in your browser: files are read into your device's memory, cleaned there and downloaded directly. No image or metadata is sent over the internet.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know if a photo has GPS location?

Add it to the tool: if it contains coordinates, you'll see the GPS label in red next to the exact latitude and longitude that will be removed.

Does it reduce photo quality?

Not for JPG, PNG and WebP: the image data is copied unchanged. Only HEIC, AVIF and JPEG XL are re-encoded, at very high quality.

Will the photo be rotated after cleaning?

No. ImageZap keeps the orientation tag precisely to avoid that.

Does it also remove the date?

Yes. The capture date is part of EXIF and is removed with the rest. The file's modification date on your system will be the download date.

Can I clean many photos at once?

Yes, with no limit. Add them all and download them in a single ZIP.