--- title: "Remove Photo Metadata: Strip EXIF and GPS Online (Free)" description: "Free tool to remove EXIF, GPS and other metadata from JPEG, PNG, WebP and HEIC photos in your browser. It re-checks the clean copy before you download. No upload." url: https://www.vaultforyou.app/tools/remove-photo-metadata lang: en published: 2026-10-30 updated: 2026-10-30 author: "VaultForYou Editorial Team" publisher: VaultForYou --- # Remove photo metadata and check the result > Make a clean copy of a photo without its location, camera details and hidden fields, then see proof before you share it. Everything happens in your browser. This is an interactive tool. Open https://www.vaultforyou.app/tools/remove-photo-metadata in a browser to use it: the photo is processed on your device and never uploaded. ## Quick answer Drop a photo, and the tool makes a copy with EXIF, GPS, XMP, IPTC, comments and text chunks removed, then re-reads that copy to confirm none remain. JPEG, PNG and WebP are cleaned losslessly. HEIC is re-drawn as JPEG. Nothing is uploaded. - **Output:** A new file named like photo-clean.jpg. Your original is untouched. - **Check:** The clean copy is re-inspected before the download button appears. - **Quality:** JPEG, PNG and WebP: pixels unchanged. HEIC or rotated photos: re-drawn. - **Privacy:** Processed locally by JavaScript on this page. ## How it removes metadata For JPEG, PNG and WebP, the tool rewrites the file without the metadata blocks and keeps the compressed picture data byte for byte, so image quality does not change. It keeps the color profile, because removing it can change how colors look. Some photos need a different route. A JPEG that is stored sideways with a rotation tag would turn the wrong way once the tag is gone, and HEIC cannot be rewritten in the browser. For those, the tool draws the picture onto a canvas and saves a new file, which carries no metadata but recompresses the image. You can also force this route with the checkbox for the strongest clean. ## How the check works After cleaning, the tool reads its own output with the same reader as the [image metadata viewer](/tools/image-metadata-viewer). The download button only appears if that second read finds no EXIF, GPS, XMP, IPTC, comments, thumbnails, maker notes or text chunks. The before and after tables are shown side by side so you can see what changed. The check can only confirm what the reader understands. If you share something highly sensitive, use the re-draw option and open the result in the viewer yourself. ## What to do next Share the clean copy, not the original. Then deal with the original: a photo with your home location in it is still sitting in your camera roll. Our guide to [removing location from photos on iPhone](/blog/remove-location-from-photos-iphone) covers stopping the Camera app from saving it in the first place. Private photos that should not sit in the camera roll at all belong in a separate encrypted space. See [how to hide photos on iPhone](/blog/hide-photos-on-iphone) for what the Hidden album does and does not protect. ## Frequently asked questions ### Does this tool upload my photo? No. The cleaning and the re-check both run in your browser, and the clean file is created on your device. You can confirm by disconnecting from the internet after the page loads and trying a photo. ### Does removing metadata reduce image quality? Not for JPEG, PNG or WebP in the default mode: the picture data is copied unchanged. Quality changes only when the tool has to re-draw the picture (HEIC, a photo stored with a rotation tag, or when you tick the re-draw option), because the new JPEG or WebP is compressed again. ### Does it remove metadata from HEIC photos? Yes, if your browser can open HEIC (Safari can; many other browsers cannot). The tool converts the picture to a new JPEG with no metadata and re-checks it. If your browser cannot open the file, it tells you instead of producing an unchecked copy. ### Does converting HEIC to JPG remove metadata by itself? Not necessarily. Many converters carry EXIF and GPS over into the JPEG. That is why this tool re-reads its output before offering the download. ### What metadata can this tool not remove? It cleans the common blocks it can read: EXIF, GPS, XMP, IPTC, comments and PNG text. It cannot clean what appears in the picture itself, and it does not process video, RAW or PDF files. ## Related - [Image metadata viewer (free tool)](https://www.vaultforyou.app/tools/image-metadata-viewer) - [Remove location from photos on iPhone](https://www.vaultforyou.app/blog/remove-location-from-photos-iphone) - [EXIF data on iPhone](https://www.vaultforyou.app/blog/exif-data-iphone) - [How to hide photos on iPhone](https://www.vaultforyou.app/blog/hide-photos-on-iphone) --- Store private photos outside your camera roll. VaultForYou keeps photos, videos and documents in an encrypted vault that opens only with a pattern you draw. Delete the originals from Photos afterwards, then empty Recently Deleted. Download on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/vaultforyou/id0000000000