What EXIF data is
EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) is a block of metadata that cameras and phones write inside a JPG alongside the pixels. It typically records the capture date and time, the camera or phone model, exposure and lens settings, an orientation flag telling viewers which way up the image goes — and, if location services were on, the GPS coordinates of where the shutter fired. None of it is visible when you look at the photo, and all of it travels with the file.
We tested it rather than assuming
It is easy to claim that converting an image strips its metadata. We built a JPG that carries a full EXIF block — camera make and model, a capture timestamp, an orientation flag, and GPS coordinates pointing at Trafalgar Square — then put it through the same decode-to-canvas-and-re-encode path the Image Converter uses, and parsed the metadata again on the other side.
| Field | In the original | After conversion |
|---|---|---|
| Camera make | BravoCam | gone |
| Camera model | BC-900 Demo | gone |
| Capture timestamp | 2026:05:17 14:32:08 | gone |
| Orientation flag | Rotate 90 CW | gone |
| GPS latitude | 51.50806 | gone |
| GPS longitude | -0.12806 | gone |
| Latitude hemisphere | N | gone |
| Longitude hemisphere | W | gone |
exifr parser. The sample is synthetic and the coordinates point at a public landmark, not anyone’s home.
Nothing in that picture suggests it knows where it was taken. Download the tagged sample, open it in any EXIF viewer to confirm the metadata is there, then run it through the converter and check again.
exif-sample-with-metadata.jpg (9 KB)Why this matters
The coordinates above resolve to a specific point on a map to within a few metres. That is the whole problem in one line: a photo taken in your living room and posted publicly can carry the address of your living room, and nothing on screen hints at it.
- Listing an item for sale with photos shot at home publishes where you live along with the price.
- Photos of children posted to a public account can carry the coordinates of a school or a house.
- Timestamps and device models across several photos link otherwise separate accounts to the same person and phone.
Some social platforms strip EXIF when you upload. Many messaging apps, file-sharing services, email attachments, and forum uploads do not. It is not safe to assume the destination will handle it.
What removing EXIF does not do
This is where most articles stop, and it is the part that actually protects you. Stripping metadata is narrow.
A street sign, a house number, a reflection, a screen showing an email, a name badge — all of that is pixel data and survives every conversion. Removing GPS coordinates from a photo that plainly shows your front door achieves very little.
Converting a copy today does not touch the copy someone downloaded last week. Strip before sharing, not after.
The metadata disappears because the output is built from decoded pixels rather than copied from the source file. That is reliable for the EXIF block, but it is not the same thing as a forensic guarantee about every byte a particular camera might have written.
The EXIF block here was 245 bytes. Our converted output actually came out larger than the original (11,024 bytes against 9,670), because re-compressing already-compressed pixels costs more than the metadata saved. If size is your goal, see the file size guide instead.
The orientation flag is a special case
One EXIF field does real work: orientation. Phones often record the sensor as-is and set a flag saying “display this rotated 90°”. Strip that flag naively and the photo appears sideways. The converter reads the orientation first and bakes the rotation into the pixels, so the output looks correct without needing the flag — which is why the orientation row above reads Rotate 90 CW before and nothing after, with the image still the right way up.
Practical habit
Before posting a photo publicly or sending it to someone you do not know, run it through the Image Converter and share the output rather than the original. The conversion happens inside your browser, so the file with the coordinates still in it never gets uploaded anywhere — not to us, not to anyone. Turning off location tagging in your camera app is the better long-term fix, since it stops the data being written in the first place.
Convert a photo in the Image Converter, or resize one first in the Image Editor. Both re-encode through the same path tested on this page.