What is actually stored
EXIF, short for Exchangeable Image File Format, is a metadata standard embedded inside JPG, HEIC and most other camera formats. A typical photograph from a phone carries:
- Device: make and model, and often the operating system version.
- Timestamp: the date and time to the second, sometimes with time zone.
- Camera settings: aperture, shutter speed, ISO, focal length, whether the flash fired.
- Orientation: how the image should be rotated for display.
- GPS coordinates: latitude and longitude, and frequently altitude, if location access was enabled for the camera.
That last item is the one worth pausing on. It is not an approximate area. It is a coordinate pair, typically accurate to within a few metres.
When this matters
For most photographs it does not. A picture of a mountain with the mountain's coordinates attached harms nobody. The concern is narrower and more specific.
Photographs taken at home carry your home's coordinates. Items listed for sale on a marketplace, pictures posted to a public forum, images attached to a listing or a review — each can quietly disclose where you live. The same applies to photographs of children taken at a school or a regular playground, and to anyone whose safety depends on their address not being public.
There is a second, quieter category: timestamps. A photograph's metadata can establish where someone was and when, which occasionally matters in disputes, in journalism, and in situations where a person would rather not have their movements documented.
What social platforms do
Most large platforms strip EXIF when you upload — Facebook, Instagram and X remove location data before serving the image publicly. This is genuine protection against other users, but it is not protection against the platform, which received the original file with the metadata intact.
The gap is everywhere else. Metadata usually survives being emailed, sent through most messaging apps as a file rather than a photo, uploaded to a personal website, posted to smaller forums, or attached to a classified listing. The places least likely to strip it are exactly the places where a stranger is most likely to look.
How to see what a photo carries
On Windows, right-click the file, choose Properties, then the Details tab. On macOS, open the image in Preview and choose Tools, then Show Inspector. On both, the location will appear as coordinates or on a small map if it is present.
It is worth checking one photograph taken at home. People are frequently surprised.
How to remove it
Re-encoding an image discards its metadata as a side effect. When a photo is decoded and written out again, only the pixels are carried over — the EXIF block is not reconstructed. This means running a photograph through the image compressor or the image converter strips the metadata along the way, including the coordinates.
Because both tools run inside your browser, the file with its location data intact is never transmitted anywhere. That matters here more than for most tasks: uploading a photograph to a website in order to remove its location data means handing that location data to the website.
Windows has a built-in option too. Right-click the file, choose Properties, then Details, then "Remove Properties and Personal Information". It creates a cleaned copy without re-encoding the image, so there is no quality loss at all.
When you want to keep it
EXIF is not the enemy. It is what lets photo libraries sort by date, group pictures into trips, and place them on a map. Photographers rely on the settings record to learn from their own work, and the timestamp is often what proves a picture is what it claims to be.
The sensible approach is to keep metadata on your originals and strip it from the copies you publish. Treat the exported, cleaned file as the shareable version and leave your library untouched.
Prevention, if you would rather not think about it
Both major phone platforms let you deny the camera access to your location. On iPhone: Settings, Privacy and Security, Location Services, Camera, then Never. On Android the path varies by manufacturer, but it sits under the camera app's permissions. Photographs taken afterwards will carry no coordinates, and there will be nothing to remove.
Frequently asked questions
Does every photo contain GPS coordinates?
No. Coordinates are recorded only if the camera had location access enabled. Camera model, timestamp and exposure settings are almost always present regardless.
Do social networks remove location data from photos?
Most large platforms strip it before showing the image publicly. Metadata usually survives email, file-sharing and smaller sites, which is where it is most likely to be seen by a stranger.
Does converting an image remove its metadata?
Yes. Re-encoding a photo carries over only the pixels, so EXIF including GPS coordinates is discarded in the process.