Why photo metadata matters for your website
Photos from phones and cameras can contain the exact place of capture, the time, the device and names. If such a file is published unchanged, anyone can read this information by downloading it. Before images go on a website, check their metadata and remove what should not be public, such as the GPS position of a home or the name of an employee.
Where metadata hides
EXIF / GPS
Written by the device
Time, make and model, lens, settings, sometimes serial number and owner, and GPS coordinates when location access is on.
XMP
Written by software
Editing history, program, author, rights, place names. Lightroom and Photoshop, for example, store here.
IPTC
Written by people
Caption, photographer, copyright, city and country, as used by agencies and photographers.
Privacy and data protection
The GDPR names location data explicitly as an example of information through which a person can be identified (Art. 4(1)). A team photo taken at an employee’s home, or a product shot from the owner’s flat, can therefore reveal more than intended once it is on the website.
Many content management systems store the original upload unchanged, alongside smaller versions; whoever opens the original gets the metadata too. Whether your system does this depends on its settings and the image sizes it generates. Removing metadata before uploading avoids the question.
This is general information, not legal advice. For your specific case, ask your data protection officer or a lawyer.
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Photo check: frequently asked questions
What is EXIF data?
EXIF is a standard for information that cameras and phones write into a photo: time of capture, device, exposure settings and, if location access is on, GPS coordinates. Editing programs add more in XMP or IPTC blocks, such as author, copyright or place names.
Are my photos uploaded?
No. The files are opened in your browser only. Reading the metadata and removing it both happen on your device; nothing is sent to a server or stored.
How does removing the metadata work?
The tool draws the visible image onto a canvas and saves it as a new file. The new file contains only pixels, no EXIF, XMP or IPTC. JPEG is saved at quality 0.92, PNG losslessly; HEIC becomes JPEG. The copyright notice and colour profile are lost too, so keep the original.
Which formats are supported?
JPEG, PNG, WebP and HEIC/HEIF (iPhone photos). Reading HEIC works in every modern browser; saving a cleaned copy of a HEIC file only works if your browser can display HEIC. Otherwise export the photo as JPEG first.
Is a photo without metadata safe to publish?
Not necessarily. The picture itself can show a house number, a car registration or people who have not agreed to be published. The check looks at the file’s metadata only. Whether and how you may publish a photo is a legal question this tool does not answer.