Best EXIF Removers in 2026: the buyer's shortlist

ToAny's Remove EXIF data page runs in your browser tab. You drop one or several JPG, PNG or WebP pictures and press one button; there is nothing to set. Each result keeps your file name with -clean added. The picture is not uploaded: ToAny's image tools never use its conversion server.

It removes the camera details, the GPS location, descriptions such as a title or author in XMP or IPTC, the embedded preview, content credentials and extra data such as a motion-photo clip. Each result row names what your file actually had.

Nothing is decoded. A JPEG is repacked and a PNG or WebP has its picture data copied as it is, so the pixels stay the same; in our test on three real files they were identical. Three things stay on purpose: the colour profile, the rotation note and the print resolution, because the picture would look wrong without them.

Limits come from your device. On a computer it takes a JPEG or WebP of up to 80 megapixels and a PNG of up to 100, and up to 300 MB of pictures in one run. A phone is limited to 32 megapixels.

The gaps are real. It does not take HEIC, TIFF, RAW, video or PDF files, it does not show the metadata values before removing them, and you cannot keep chosen fields. For an iPhone HEIC photo, HEIC to JPG converts it without copying the camera data or the GPS location. ToAny is free with no account.

ExifTool by Phil Harvey is the reference tool for photo metadata. It is a free, platform-independent Perl library and command-line application for reading, writing and editing meta information in a wide variety of files. It handles EXIF, GPS, IPTC, XMP and ICC profiles, plus the maker notes of dozens of camera brands.

Removing everything is one command. The documentation lists -all= as the syntax that deletes all meta information, and narrower forms delete one tag or one group. When it writes, ExifTool keeps the original by adding _original to its file name. That protects you from a bad edit, but it leaves the uncleaned copy on disk until you delete it.

It runs on your own computer, so nothing is uploaded. Windows users get an executable that includes Perl, and Mac users a package that installs the command in /usr/local/bin. Version 13.60 came out on 28 October 2026, so it is actively maintained. It is free under the same terms as Perl, and the author accepts donations.

The cost is the interface. ExifTool is built for a terminal: dragging files onto the Windows executable shows their metadata, but changing it takes typed commands. Getting -all= wrong, or forgetting the _original copy, is easy if you have never used a command line. Jimpl, further down this list, runs ExifTool on its own servers for you.

ExifCleaner is a free, open-source desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux, released under the MIT License. You drag files or whole folders onto its window and the metadata is stripped at once.

It covers more file types than ToAny. The site names JPEG, PNG, WebP, TIFF, GIF, MP4, MOV, M4A and PDF, among others, so a video from your phone or a scanned PDF can be cleaned with the same app. It says it handles batches of tens, hundreds or even thousands of files.

On privacy it is strong. The site says the app makes no network access and sends no telemetry, and it points to the source code so you can check. A metadata inspection view shows a before-and-after list of the fields removed from each file. Privacy controls let you keep the orientation, save copies instead of changing the originals, or strip extended attributes.

The trade-off is the install. You must download and run it on your own machine, which a work laptop may not allow, and the site lists no phone version. The site does not say whether a photo is saved again or left untouched, so we make no claim about quality either way.

The interface comes in more than 24 languages and follows your system's light or dark theme. For anyone who cleans many files at once, it is the friendliest option here.

Image Scrubber is a single web page by Everest Pipkin, made for anonymising photographs taken at protests. It removes identifying EXIF data and shows you the data it is removing before you save the result.

It does something no other tool here does: you can paint over or blur parts of the picture, with a brush, a rectangle or a tap, to cover faces and other identifying details. The page itself warns that the blur is fairly secure but that sensitive information should be covered with the paint tool instead.

All processing happens in the browser, and the page says no information is stored or sent anywhere. It also works offline. On a phone you can load the page and turn on airplane mode before opening a photo; on a computer you can download the code and open it with the internet turned off. The code is published on GitHub.

The limits are plain. The maximum size is 2500 by 2500 pixels, and larger images are scaled down, so a photo from a modern phone comes out smaller than it went in. The page does not list which file types it opens, and it shows no price, account or sign-up.

Use it when what is in the photo matters as much as the data hidden inside it, and a smaller picture is an acceptable price.

Metadata2Go is an online metadata toolbox from QaamGo Web GmbH in Radolfzell, Germany. Its Metadata Remover takes any file type, with no format list: photos, PDFs, Word and Excel documents, MP4 video and MP3 audio. There is nothing to set; you upload, press Start and download.

It is free with no account for up to 5 files per job, or 10 with a free account, and each file can be up to 75 MB. Paid plans raise that to 8 GB per file. The page shows advertising.

It is an upload service. Files are processed on servers in Europe under a data processing agreement, and the page says nobody reads or copies them and they are never used to train AI models. Its privacy policy says a result can be downloaded at most 10 times, access is blocked after 24 hours, and files are physically deleted after 72 hours at the latest.

That retention is the longest on this list, and it matters for the very photos people clean: ones with a home location in them. The tool page shows a rating of 4.7 out of 5 from 1,803 votes, collected on its own site.

Use it when you need to clean a PDF, a Word file or a video as well as photos, on a device where you cannot install anything, and you are comfortable with an upload.

Jimpl is an online EXIF viewer that also removes metadata. You upload a photo, or paste the address of a public one, and it shows the date, the camera settings and the GPS coordinates. You can then download a copy with the metadata stripped. Its footer says it is powered by ExifTool.

Uploads are limited to 50 MB. The page says uploads are private and all photos are deleted after 24 hours. The privacy policy adds that images are kept on encrypted storage, are never shared with anyone, including Jimpl staff, and that it never asks you to register. The site carries Google advertising.

Its strength is seeing before you strip. If you are not sure what a photo gives away, Jimpl shows it first. Its FAQ also notes that removing metadata can cut a file's size, by up to 30% by its own estimate.

The weakness is the upload and the 24 hours your photo sits on someone else's server, which is the opposite of what most people want when hiding a location. The homepage shows 4.1 from 129,695 votes, collected on its own site, and the copyright line dates the site to 2010.

Jimpl is the pick when you mainly want to look, and a cleaned copy is a bonus.