What is EXIF data, and what does it reveal?

EXIF (Exchangeable image file format) is a standard published by the Camera & Imaging Products Association, CIPA. Its current edition, Exif 3.0, was issued in 2023^[1]. Cameras and phones use it to record facts about each photo inside the image file: when it was taken, with what device and settings, and often where.

What’s in EXIF data?

Most of it is technical: exposure time, aperture, ISO, focal length, flash, image size and orientation. Photographers use these fields to learn from their shots. A smaller set is personal:

Field	Why it matters
GPS position	Puts the photo on a map, which may be a home or school
Date taken and time zone	When you were there
Camera serial number	Links photos taken with the same camera
Camera owner, artist	A name set once in camera or app settings
Phone or camera model, software version	Narrows down who took it
Embedded thumbnail	A small preview that can still show the uncropped original

The field reference lists more than 50 fields the checker reports, each with a risk level.

EXIF, XMP and IPTC: what’s the difference?

Photos often carry more than one kind of metadata:

• EXIF is written by the camera at capture time. It’s the main source of GPS, device and exposure data.
• XMP is an XML-based format created by Adobe. Editing apps use it for creator names, ratings, keywords, the editing tool and sometimes a history of edits.
• IPTC metadata comes from the news-photo industry: captions, creator, credit line and location names. IPTC also maintains labels such as the digital source type, which can mark an image as created by a generative AI model^[2].
• Content Credentials (C2PA) are a newer, signed record of where a file came from and how it was edited^[3].

The same fact can appear in several places. That’s why removing one block, such as EXIF, may leave a name in XMP. The checker reads all of them and groups the results by what they reveal rather than by where they’re stored.

How to check a photo’s EXIF data

Drop it into the metadata checker. It reads EXIF, XMP and IPTC in your browser and lists the fields that identify a place, person or device first. Technical camera fields are grouped at the end.

How to remove EXIF data

Use the metadata remover. For JPEG, PNG and WebP it removes EXIF, XMP and IPTC without re-compressing the picture, keeps only the tag that makes the photo display upright, and checks the cleaned copy again. For removing just the location on iPhone or in Google Photos, see how to remove location from photos.

Do websites remove EXIF data when you upload?

Some services remove some or all metadata from the copy they show to other people; others keep it, and practices change. We haven’t tested individual platforms, so we don’t make claims about them. The safe habit is to clean the file yourself before uploading, or to check the version you download back from the service.