Tone CaliperSee everything your photo reveals
Every photo carries invisible metadata — camera, settings, dates, often the exact GPS location. Drop one here to read all of it, and download a clean copy with everything removed. Free, and the photo never leaves your browser.
What's inside a photo's metadata
Cameras and phones record far more than the image. Most of it is harmless and genuinely useful — until the file is shared somewhere you didn't expect the details to travel.
| Category | Typical fields | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Camera & lens | Make, model, lens, serial numbers | Serial numbers can tie photos to one specific camera |
| Exposure | Shutter speed, aperture, ISO, focal length | The useful half — how the shot was made |
| Dates | Taken, digitized, modified, time zone | Establishes exactly when you were somewhere |
| Location | GPS coordinates, altitude, direction | Phones write this by default — often to street level |
| Author | Artist, copyright, description | Worth keeping on published work, on purpose |
| Software | Editing app, version, edit history (XMP) | Reveals your workflow, sometimes your edits |
Where metadata goes when you share
Whether your metadata travels depends entirely on the path the file takes. Social feeds usually re-process images and strip most of it. But the direct routes — email attachments, cloud-drive links, many messengers, USB sticks, "send original" options — hand over the file exactly as it is, location and all. The safe assumption: if you sent the file itself, you sent its metadata. Checking takes ten seconds with the viewer above; removing it takes one more click.
Removing metadata without recompressing
Metadata lives in its own labeled blocks beside the image data, so it can be removed by dropping those blocks whole — no decoding, no re-encoding, no quality change. That's what the clean copy does, with two deliberate exceptions: the color profile stays (removing it visibly shifts colors), and the orientation flag is re-written (without it, photos shot sideways display sideways — a classic stripper bug).
Frequently asked questions
What is EXIF data?
EXIF is metadata your camera or phone writes into each photo: camera and lens model, exposure settings, capture date, software used, and often the GPS coordinates of where it was taken. It travels inside the file, invisible unless you look for it.
Does removing EXIF data reduce image quality?
No. The clean copy removes whole metadata blocks and never re-encodes the image — the pixels and the color profile are byte-for-byte identical to the original. The orientation flag is kept so the photo still displays upright.
Do Instagram and other platforms remove EXIF for me?
Large social feeds usually strip most metadata from what they display, but email attachments, cloud-drive links, and many messengers pass your original file through untouched — GPS location included. If a file leaves your hands directly, assume its metadata goes with it.
Is my photo uploaded to a server?
No. The file is read directly by your browser and never leaves your device — no upload, no account, nothing stored. Viewing and cleaning both happen locally.
Why doesn't my iPhone photo (HEIC) work?
Browsers can't decode HEIC files, so this tool can't read them yet. Export the photo as JPEG from your phone or photo app first — sharing from an iPhone usually converts it to JPEG automatically.
What are XMP and IPTC?
Two other metadata families: XMP is written by editing apps (Lightroom, Photoshop) and can also carry location; IPTC carries press captions and credits. This tool shows when they're present and removes both in the clean copy.
See your colors. Shape them directly.
Tone Caliper shows your image’s colors on an interactive wheel and lets you edit them right there.