What is EXIF data? What your photos reveal
The short answer
EXIF data is a block of details that a camera or phone writes into a photo file: the make and model, the exposure settings, the date and time, and often GPS coordinates. You don't see it when you look at the picture, but anyone who opens the file in a metadata viewer can read it. It is one of several metadata layers, alongside XMP, IPTC, color profiles and Content Credentials. EXIF is also unsigned and easy to edit, so it can raise questions about a photo but it cannot prove where or when the photo was taken.
Every photo from a phone or camera is two things at once: the picture, and a small hidden record of how it was taken. That record is EXIF data. It can say which camera took the shot, what time it was and, if location tagging was on, where you were standing.
This guide covers where EXIF sits inside a file, which tags matter, what the data can and cannot prove, and how to look at it on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android. To see what a particular file contains, drop it into the Image Metadata Viewer and come back to read what the fields mean.
What EXIF data is and where it lives
EXIF stands for Exchangeable image file format. It is a standard maintained jointly by two Japanese industry bodies, CIPA and JEITA, under the reference DC-008. The current revision is Exif 3.1, and version 3.0 (2023) added UTF-8 text, so names in non-Latin scripts can be stored properly. CIPA publishes the standard.
In a JPEG, EXIF lives in a segment called APP1 near the start of the file, ahead of the compressed pixel data. Inside it the tags are grouped into blocks for general image details, exposure and dates, GPS, and a small preview thumbnail. Other formats reuse the same structure. PNG has a dedicated eXIf chunk, WebP has an EXIF chunk in its container, and HEIC files from many phones, along with AVIF files, carry it as well. GIF does not normally use EXIF, though it can hold a comment and XMP.
The other metadata layers
People often say "EXIF" when they mean metadata in general. A file can carry several independent layers, depending on its format and the software that last saved it.
| Layer | What it holds | Where it appears |
|---|---|---|
| EXIF | Camera, lens, exposure settings, capture time, GPS, thumbnail | JPEG, TIFF, PNG, WebP, HEIC, AVIF, camera RAW files |
| XMP | XML text: titles, descriptions, ratings, keywords, creator, editing history | JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, TIFF and more; sidecar files for RAW |
| IPTC | Creator, credit line, copyright notice, keywords, caption | Stored inside XMP; the older IIM form sits in a JPEG APP13 segment |
| ICC profile | The color space the pixels were saved in | JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, TIFF |
| PNG text chunks | Free-form keyword and text pairs | PNG only |
| Content Credentials (C2PA) | A signed record of how a file was made or edited | JPEG, PNG and some other formats |
IPTC and XMP are written by photographers and editing software to say who made an image and how to credit it, which is why our image SEO guide covers them. PNG text chunks are where several image generators store their prompt and settings, which the guide to reading generation data walks through. Content Credentials are a signed provenance record, a different thing from EXIF, explained in our guide to Content Credentials and watermarks.
The main EXIF tags
The standard defines hundreds of tags. These are the ones you are most likely to meet, under the names a metadata viewer shows.
| Group | Tag | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Device | Make, Model | The manufacturer and model of the camera or phone |
LensModel | The lens, for cameras with interchangeable or built-in lens data | |
Software | The firmware or editing program that last wrote the file | |
| Exposure | ExposureTime | Shutter speed in seconds; 1/250 means a 250th of a second |
FNumber | The aperture, written as f/1.8, f/8 and so on | |
ISO | Sensor sensitivity (newer versions of the standard call it PhotographicSensitivity) | |
FocalLength | Lens focal length in millimeters | |
| Time | DateTimeOriginal | The local date and time the picture was taken; it carries no time zone by itself |
OffsetTimeOriginal | The UTC offset for that time, such as +02:00; newer cameras and phones write it | |
| Place | GPSLatitude, GPSLongitude | Coordinates, stored as degrees, minutes and seconds with a separate N/S or E/W letter |
GPSAltitude | Height above or below sea level | |
GPSImgDirection | The compass direction the camera was facing | |
| Display | Orientation | How to rotate or flip the stored pixels for display (values 1 to 8) |
| People | Artist, Copyright | Free-text name and copyright notice, usually set by the owner or editing software |
CameraOwnerName | An owner name some cameras let you enter | |
BodySerialNumber, LensSerialNumber | Serial numbers that are unique to one camera body or lens, when the device writes them | |
| Extras | MakerNote | A private block each manufacturer fills in its own way; the standard does not define its contents |
| Thumbnail | A small JPEG preview stored inside the EXIF block |
The GPS tags are the ones most people care about. A viewer converts the degrees, minutes and seconds into decimal coordinates and offers map links that only load when you click them.
What EXIF can reveal about you
No single tag is alarming. The risk comes from what a few of them say together:
- Where. GPS coordinates, altitude and facing direction can point to a specific building, not just a town. Even without GPS, a time plus a UTC offset narrows down the region.
- When.
DateTimeOriginalrecords the moment of capture, which can show when you were away from home. - Which device. Make, model and lens identify the gear. Two photos with the same
BodySerialNumbercame from the same camera, even if they were posted under different names. - Who.
Artist,CopyrightandCameraOwnerNamecan hold a real name, typed in by you or filled in by an app. - What was edited.
Softwarenames the program that saved the file. Microsoft engineer Raymond Chen has pointed out that some editing programs appear not to refresh the embedded thumbnail, so content cropped out of the main image can linger there.
A tag exists only if the device wrote it and nothing removed it later. A photo has GPS data only if location tagging was on and the device had a position. Check your own files before assuming either way. If you find coordinates you did not want to share, our guide to removing location data from photos covers each device.
What EXIF cannot prove
EXIF is a set of notes with no lock on it. Nothing signs the data, and free tools can edit any field. Treat it as a claim the file makes about itself, not as evidence.
- Values can be wrong without anyone lying. A camera with a reset clock or the wrong time zone writes the wrong date.
- Values can be copied or invented. You can copy the EXIF block from one photo into another, or type any camera name, date or coordinates you like.
- Missing EXIF means very little. Plenty of ordinary files have none (see below). A bare file is not proof of a fake, a stolen image or a generated one.
When provenance really matters, the stronger tool is a signed record such as Content Credentials. Even then, finding a manifest in a file is different from checking that its signature is valid. Our viewer reports that a manifest is present and shows what it can read, but it does not verify the signature.
How to view EXIF data on your device
Every major platform shows some of it. Built-in views show a subset of the fields, so expect fewer details than a dedicated viewer lists.
Windows
Right-click the file, choose Properties, then open the Details tab. Sections such as Camera and GPS appear when the file has that data. Explorer reads some formats better than others, so a file that shows nothing may still have metadata.
Mac
Open the photo in Preview, choose Tools > Show Inspector (or click the Info button in the toolbar) and open the More Info tab. For location, Apple says to choose Tools > Show Location Info; if the item is gray, the image has no location data.
iPhone and iPad
Open a photo in the Photos app, then swipe up or tap the Info button. Apple says the panel shows the date and time, the file name and the camera details, plus a map when the photo has a location.
Android
In Google Photos, open the photo and swipe up from the bottom of the screen to reach its Details section. Gallery apps from phone makers show their own set of fields, usually behind an Info or Details option.
In your browser
The Image Metadata Viewer reads the file's metadata in the browser. It takes many files at once and shows the layers in this guide, including XMP, IPTC, the embedded thumbnail, PNG text chunks and the color profile name. A "What this file reveals" summary flags privacy-relevant items such as GPS, serial numbers and owner names, and you can export everything as JSON or CSV. For how files added to our tools are handled, see the privacy policy.
Why screenshots and edited images often have none
A screenshot is built by the operating system from what is on the screen. No camera is involved, so there is no lens, exposure or GPS position to record. A screenshot usually has file basics and perhaps a color profile, and little else.
Edited and exported images lose EXIF in several ways. Many editing tools have an export setting for how much metadata to keep, and some strip it by default. Converting between formats can drop it. Messaging apps and websites often resize and recompress what you send. Some platforms remove metadata and some keep it, and their behavior can change, so do not rely on it. If you need a clean file, remove the metadata yourself and check the result.
The orientation tag gotcha
Phones often save the pixels in the sensor's native landscape layout and write an Orientation tag to say how to turn them. The values run from 1 (as stored) through 8, and 6 means rotate 90 degrees clockwise, which is common for portrait shots from phones.
Browsers apply the tag by default, so the photo looks upright. Some programs and code libraries load the raw pixels and ignore it, and the same photo then appears sideways. That matters in two cases. If a tool strips the orientation tag along with the rest of the EXIF, an upright phone photo can turn sideways. And if you prepare images for training, a tool that ignores the tag sees rotated pixels, so check early in an image dataset workflow. Our Image Metadata Remover keeps the rotation tag by default for this reason.
What to do next
Start by looking: open a few photos you have shared in the viewer. If you find coordinates, serial numbers or an owner name you did not mean to publish, you can stop the camera writing location, hide it when you share, or strip it from the file. The location removal guide covers all three. For batches of JPEG, PNG, WebP and GIF files, the Image Metadata Remover strips the metadata block. It is a website you give a file to, so for a photo whose location is itself sensitive, use the options built into your phone or computer first.
See the EXIF, GPS location, copyright, Content Credentials and generation settings hidden inside any image, then export them as JSON or CSV. It runs in your browser. Open the Image Metadata Viewer.
Frequently asked questions
Does every photo include my location?
No. A photo has GPS tags only if the camera app was allowed to use your location when you took it. On many phones that is a per-app permission you can change at any time, and it only affects photos taken afterward. Pictures saved from messaging apps or the web often have none. Open a file in a metadata viewer to see whether it does.
What is the difference between "date taken" and "date modified"?
"Date taken" usually comes from the EXIF DateTimeOriginal tag, which the camera wrote at capture. "Date modified" is the file system's record of when the file last changed, and copying, syncing or editing can reset it. The EXIF value is the better clue to when a photo was taken, as long as the camera's clock was right.
Does removing EXIF change how a photo looks?
Not the pixels, if the tool removes the metadata and leaves the compressed image data as it is. Two things can still change what you see: the orientation tag, which decides whether a phone photo shows upright, and the color profile, which affects how colors render. Good tools let you keep those two. Ours keeps both by default.
Can EXIF show whether a photo was edited?
Sometimes it hints at it. A Software tag naming an editing program, or a modified date later than the capture date, suggests the file was saved after the camera wrote it. But editors can leave these fields alone and anyone can change them, so no hint does not mean untouched.