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Ways to Remove EXIF Data Compared

There's no single best method. It depends on how many files you have, your device, and how private those files are.

Published by Harsh Raj · Last reviewed November 2026

The options at a glance

Phone settings

Built in and quick, and they're the right choice for a single photo. See the iPhone and Android guides.

ExifTool

ExifTool is a free, highly respected command-line program by Phil Harvey. It's the most capable option here and can edit metadata without touching the image data. exiftool -all= photo.jpg removes metadata and saves a backup of the original. If you're comfortable in a terminal or have thousands of files, it's an excellent choice, and better than our tool for that job.

Upload-based websites

Many sites upload your photo, process it, and send it back. Some delete files promptly, but you're relying on their word, which matters most for photos you were trying to keep private in the first place.

Browser-based tools

Tools like EraseAILabel do the work on your device. To test any tool that makes this claim, load the page, turn off your connection, and see whether it still works.

The trade-off with rebuilding images

Our tool redraws the image and leaves metadata behind, so it doesn't need a list of every field. The cost is that JPG and WebP are re-encoded, which ExifTool avoids. PNG stays lossless.

Which should you choose?

• A single photo on your phone: share settings.
• Up to 30 photos with no install: a browser tool.
• Thousands of files or exact control: ExifTool.
• Very private files: anything that doesn't upload them.

Windows: Remove Properties and Personal Information

In File Explorer, right-click a photo, choose Properties, open Details, and select Remove Properties and Personal Information. It's built in and needs no download, but it's worth checking the result. Some guides note that it can leave camera settings in place, and security researcher Didier Stevens has shown that the feature can remove a field's listing while its text stays inside the file. After using it, open the new copy in a metadata checker and don't rely on what the Details tab shows.

Mac: Preview and Photos

Preview can remove location: open the image, choose Tools, then Show Inspector, open the More Info tab, select GPS, and click Remove Location Info. That covers location only, so your camera details stay in the file. In the Photos app, Apple's guidance is to select the photos and use Image, then Location, then Hide Location. Choosing Hide Location is different from cleaning an exported file, so check whatever you end up sending.

ExifTool in more detail

Some details are useful to know before you run it, most of them from its author's own forum:

• The -all= option is fully effective for JPG. Other formats may keep some metadata afterward.
• It saves a backup with _original added to the file name. Those backups still contain your data, so delete them when you're sure, or add -overwrite_original.
• Dates that belong to the file system, such as when a file was modified, aren't removed because they aren't stored inside the file.
• Removing everything also drops the color profile. That can change how some images look, especially wide-gamut photos.
• Don't use it this way on RAW files, which depend on their metadata.

How to verify any method

Whichever you choose, the check is the same, and it takes under a minute:

1. Scan the original, and note what it holds.
2. Apply your method to a copy.
3. Scan the copy with a different tool from the one that cleaned it, if you can.
4. Open the copy and confirm that it still looks right, including its orientation and colors.

Things no method can fix

All of these tools work on the file's data. None of them removes what's visible, so a street sign, a reflection, or a name badge will still be there. Video needs separate handling too, and GPS tracks in video files can survive tools designed for photos. Our tool is limited to static images and won't process video at all.

Common questions