$ exif --scrub
Text and filesScrub EXIF from Photos
Wipe GPS, camera, dates, software and author from your photos — in batches and with no upload. The photo is read, the metadata APP1 segment is cut, and the new JPEG is handed back to you.
- no upload
- batch photos
- free
What your photo reveals about you
Every JPEG from a modern phone or camera carries, attached to the image file, an APP1 segment with EXIF: a table of the manufacturer and model of the device, lens, software used (including the Photoshop or Lightroom version), dates of when the photo was taken and digitised, author signature and copyright. Worse: with location enabled, latitude and longitude from the GPS, accurate to a few metres.
For a photo of a cat, fine. For a screenshot of a receipt sent by corporate email, the photo of an unreleased product shared in a support ticket, the image of a contract sent as an attachment, the EXIF reveals where you were, with which device and which software touched it — none of which you set out to share.
Why "no upload" changes everything
Practically every online EXIF scrubber works the same way: you upload the photo, a server processes it and sends it back. That means the file left your machine and passed through third-party infrastructure with a retention policy you do not control. For the photo whose protection matters to you, that is exactly what you wanted to avoid.
Here the file is read in memory by the browser, the JPEG bytes are walked looking for the APP1/EXIF segment, and that segment is cut out of the file. The new JPEG — without EXIF, but with the image preserved byte for byte — is handed back to you. No network request happens.
The method: raw bytes, no re-encoding
A JPEG is a sequence of segments, each preceded by an 0xFF marker. To strip EXIF there is no need to decode and re-encode the image (which would introduce compression artefacts). You simply copy the buffer byte by byte skipping the APP1 segment— exactly what exiftool -all= does on the command line. The image undergoes no visual change; only the metadata disappears.
GPS — the biggest risk
Major social networks (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter) already strip EXIF when you post. But that same JPEG attached to a corporate email, sent in a support ticket, pasted in a Discord channel or handed to a government form — arrives intact, with GPS. Anyone receiving the file can read the coordinates in seconds with any EXIF viewer.
If the camera recorded your location, the file carries it through as many uploads as you make. Scrubbing before sending is the path.
Limits: JPEG, for now
The tool only parses JPEG. HEIC (the default format on iPhone) has a different MOOV/atom structure and is not yet covered; PNG carries EXIF in the eXif chunk, also not yet parsed; TIFF and RAW have their own containers. If your photo is in another format, convert it to JPG first via the image compressor and then run it through here — that path takes less than ten seconds.
For professional email, this pairs well with the image compressor , which already reduces the file weight, and the character counter to check attachment limits.
## faq
Frequently asked questions
Are the photos uploaded to a server?
No. The photo is read by the browser, the bytes are parsed in memory and the new JPEG (without EXIF) is handed back to you for download. There is no upload, no processing queue and no cloud copy — important when the photo is a document, a receipt, a screenshot of a dashboard with client data or anything under NDA. Disconnect from the internet after loading the page and the tool still works.
What exactly is removed from the EXIF?
By default, the entire APP1 Exif segment: camera make and model, lens, software (including the Photoshop or Lightroom version), dates (original and digitised), author signature (Artist and Copyright), user comment, and the full GPS block (latitude, longitude, altitude, timestamp). Adobe XMP is kept by default (it is often legitimate and put there by the author) but a checkbox lets you strip it too.
Does the photo look different after removing EXIF?
No — the image pixels are preserved byte for byte. A JPEG is a sequence of segments: APP0/JFIF (identity), APP1/EXIF (metadata), DQT (quantisation), DHT (Huffman), SOS (image data stream), EOI (end). The scrubber copies everything, skipping only APP1/EXIF. It is the same method as `exiftool -all=`: no codec re-encoding, no pixel mutation.
Why is GPS in EXIF a privacy risk?
When a phone camera takes a photo with location enabled (the default on most Android phones and iPhones), it writes latitude and longitude into EXIF with accuracy down to a few metres. Sending the raw photo by email or pasting it into a form leaks where the photo was taken — where you live, where you were, which hospital you visited. Major social networks strip EXIF when you post, but corporate email, Discord, a form attachment and a support ticket do not. The tool is built precisely for those channels.
Does it support HEIC, PNG, TIFF or RAW?
No — JPEG only. HEIC has a different metadata structure (iOS-style MOOV/atoms), PNG carries EXIF in the eXif chunk and we are not yet parsing that, and TIFF/RAW have their own containers. In those cases the tool tells you the format is unsupported. Quick workaround: use the image compressor to convert any format to JPG first, then run it through the EXIF scrubber.
How do I confirm the EXIF was actually removed?
The tool shows how many fields were removed for each photo. To check externally, open the final photo on macOS with Preview → Tools → Show Inspector (Info), or run `exiftool photo.jpg` in the terminal. The fields will be empty. The file weight also drops visibly — for a batch of phone photos, the saving is typically 20 to 80 KB per photo.
Is there a size or count limit?
No limit is imposed by the tool, because there is no server to overload — the ceiling is your browser memory. Photos are analysed in series, not in parallel, precisely to avoid blowing up memory when you drop in a big batch of phone photos. A batch of 50 photos at 5 MP is processed in a few seconds.
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