How to use the Remove EXIF Data
- Add the JPG, PNG or WebP pictures you plan to share.
- Leave Keep rotation flag on so phone shots stay upright, and Keep colour profile on for accurate colours.
- Run it, then save the cleaned copies; each keeps the name it had before.
What is taken out
From JPGs the tool drops the EXIF block with GPS coordinates, timestamps, camera, lens and serial numbers and the small embedded preview, plus XMP, IPTC captions, comments and anything tacked on after the end of the picture, such as the extra previews some phones append. The ICC colour profile goes only if you untick it.
From PNGs it removes text chunks such as author and software, EXIF chunks and the modification time. From WebPs it removes the EXIF and XMP chunks. Chunks for colour, transparency and animation stay, so the picture looks unchanged.
No quality loss
Rather than decoding and saving the picture again, the tool rewrites the file structure and copies the compressed image data byte for byte. The pixels are identical to the original and even big photos are done almost instantly.
With Keep rotation flag on, a tiny new EXIF block holding only the orientation value is written; it says nothing about you. Untick it to remove every EXIF byte, accepting that some viewers may then show phone photos on their side.
Questions
Can I clean HEIC photos?
Not on this page. The HEIC to JPG converter is the route: its output is a fresh JPG that carries no EXIF whatsoever.
How can I tell something was removed?
Compare the before and after sizes. A plain EXIF block is a few KB; phones that append preview images can account for hundreds of KB.
Don’t chat apps strip this already?
Some do when sending a picture as a photo, but sending it as a file or document, by email or through a cloud link often keeps it. Cleaning it yourself removes the doubt.