No upload · Runs in your browser
Image Metadata Viewer
See exactly what a photograph is carrying. Camera and lens, the settings it was shot at, when it was taken — and, on most phone photos, the precise coordinates of where you were standing. Drop a file in and find out. Nothing is uploaded; the reading happens entirely on your device.
Drag & drop your photos here
Read entirely on your device — nothing is uploaded, which matters rather a lot for a tool that reads where your photos were taken.
This photo records where it was taken
See this location on a mapNo metadata found — this file carries no camera, date or location information.
Clean copy: — every field above has been removed.
Step by step
How to see what your photo is carrying in 3 steps
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Add a photo
JPG, PNG and WebP all work. Several at once is fine.
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Read the results
If location data is present it is shown first, with a link to see the spot on a map.
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Remove it if you want to
The metadata remover gives you a clean copy.
Good to know
What EXIF data actually contains
Almost every photograph carries a hidden block of information called EXIF — Exchangeable Image File Format — written by the camera at the moment of capture. It is not visible when you look at the picture, it survives being emailed and copied, and most people have never seen it.
What a typical phone photo records:
- GPS coordinates — latitude and longitude, often to within a few metres, sometimes with altitude. This is the field that matters most.
- Date and time the photo was taken, to the second.
- Camera make and model, and on many phones the lens too.
- Exposure settings — shutter speed, aperture, ISO, focal length.
- Orientation, a flag saying which way up the image should be displayed.
- Software that last edited the file, which can reveal what you use.
- Occasionally a serial number or an owner name set in the camera's menus.
The location data is the part worth pausing on. A photo taken indoors is usually tagged with the address of the building. Photos of things people sell online, pictures posted to forums, images attached to job applications — all of them may carry the coordinates of someone's home, and the person sending them almost never realises.
Some platforms strip EXIF on upload; many do not, and none of them tell you which. The only way to be sure is to look.
PNG and WebP
PNGs rarely carry EXIF, but they can hold text chunks recording the software that made them and sometimes a copyright or author name. Screenshots are usually clean. WebP can carry EXIF but frequently loses it in conversion.
Quality
Where this data comes from
Metadata comes from three places, and knowing which explains why some photos have plenty and others none at all.
The camera writes most of it. Settings, timestamp, model — recorded automatically at capture. Location is only included if location services were enabled for the camera app, which is the default on most phones.
Editing software adds its own. Photoshop, Lightroom and phone editors record their name and version, and may add author or copyright fields you configured once and forgot.
Platforms remove some of it. Many social networks strip EXIF when you upload, which is why a photo saved from a website often shows nothing. That is not a guarantee — messaging apps, email and cloud storage frequently preserve everything.
So an empty result can mean any of: the camera recorded nothing, the file has been through a platform that stripped it, or it was screenshotted or re-saved somewhere along the way. It does not prove the original was clean.
One caveat about what this tool shows: it reads the fields that are meaningful to a person and skips the rest. A camera may write dozens of proprietary tags — colour matrices, focus points, firmware details — which are noise for this purpose. If you need a complete dump, a dedicated forensic tool is the right choice.
When it is worth checking
- Before selling something online. Marketplace photos taken at home carry your address, and listings are public.
- Before posting publicly — forums, social media, dating profiles, anywhere the audience is not people you know.
- Before sending photos to strangers, including tradespeople, insurers and buyers.
- When receiving a photo and wanting to know when and where it was actually taken.
- To check whether a platform strips data — upload, download the result, and look.
Verifying a photograph
Metadata is useful evidence but weak proof. The timestamp and coordinates can be genuinely informative — confirming when damage occurred for an insurance claim, say — but every field can be edited with ordinary tools, so their presence is not evidence of authenticity.
Absence proves even less. A photo with no EXIF has usually just been through a platform that strips it, or been screenshotted, rather than being suspicious in any way.
Why this runs on your device
It would be a strange tool that asked you to upload photographs so it could tell you they contain your home address. The reading happens entirely in your browser — the file never leaves your machine, and works with the network disconnected.
The map link is the one exception, and it is opened only if you click it: it sends the coordinates to OpenStreetMap so you can see where the point actually is. A pair of numbers means very little; a pin on a street does.
Removing what you find
If you would rather the data were not there, the metadata remover produces a clean copy with every field stripped, again without uploading anything.
It is also worth knowing that most tools on this site strip metadata as a side effect. Converting, compressing or resizing a photo here produces a file with no EXIF, because the browser's image APIs do not carry it across. If you have already run a photo through one of those, it is clean.
Questions & answers
Metadata Viewer: frequently asked questions
Do my photos really contain my location?
Most phone photos do, if location services were on for the camera app — which is the default. The coordinates are often accurate to within a few metres, so a photo taken indoors is effectively tagged with that address. Drop one in and see for yourself.
Why does my photo show no metadata at all?
Usually because it has been through something that stripped it. Many social platforms remove EXIF on upload, and screenshots never had any. It can also mean the camera recorded nothing. An empty result does not prove the original was clean — only that this copy is.
Is my photo uploaded to read it?
No, and it would be a strange tool if it were — asking you to upload photos so we can tell you they contain your home address. Everything is read in your browser and works with the network disconnected. The only thing that ever leaves is the coordinates, if you choose to click the map link.
Can metadata prove when and where a photo was taken?
It is useful evidence but weak proof. Every field can be edited with ordinary tools, so its presence does not establish authenticity, and its absence usually just means the file passed through a platform that strips it.
Why does this show fewer fields than other tools?
Because it shows the ones that mean something to a person and skips the rest. Cameras write dozens of proprietary tags — colour matrices, focus points, firmware details — that are noise for this purpose. For a complete dump, use a dedicated forensic tool.
How do I remove the data?
Use the metadata remover, which produces a clean copy with every field stripped. Converting, compressing or resizing a photo anywhere on this site also removes metadata as a side effect, because the browser image APIs do not carry it across.
Keep going
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