See a photo's hidden metadata — camera, date and GPS

How to use Image Metadata

1. Choose a photo, ideally the original file straight from the camera or phone (JPEG, HEIC, TIFF, PNG or WebP).
2. Press Read metadata.
3. Read the summary: Camera, Lens, Taken, Exposure, Aperture, ISO, Focal length, Software and GPS position. Only fields that exist in the file are shown.
4. Scroll the tag table underneath (up to 120 tags) or save it as exif.csv.

What it does and when to use it

Most phone and camera photos carry metadata written at the moment of capture. Some of it is harmless, like the shutter speed. Some is personal: the date and time, the phone model and, when location is switched on, the exact place. This tool lets you see that information before you post a photo online, send it to a stranger or attach it to a listing.

It is also handy for photographers who want to recall the settings of a good shot, and for checking whether a picture is the original or a re-saved copy. For every tag, including IPTC captions and XMP edit history, use the EXIF Reader. To strip the data, use the EXIF Remover. For pixel size, format and DPI, use Image Info.

How it works

The file is read as raw bytes inside a Web Worker. The exifr library parses the TIFF, EXIF and GPS blocks, converts coded values into words (such as “Auto” for a white-balance code) and turns dates into readable times. The tool then picks the common fields for the summary. Exposure times below one second are shown as fractions, and GPS is shown to six decimal places. Nothing is sent to a server.

Worked examples

These examples show how stored values are displayed, following the tool’s own rules.

A phone photo. Stored values of Make “Google”, Model “Pixel 8”, ExposureTime 0.008, FNumber 1.68, ISO 50 and FocalLength 6.9 appear as Camera “Google Pixel 8”, Exposure “1/125 s”, Aperture “f/1.68”, ISO 50 and Focal length “6.9 mm”.

A photo with location. If the file stores latitude 11.4102 and longitude 76.6950, the GPS position row shows 11.410200, 76.695000, and a warning explains that anyone with the original file can see where it was taken.

A screenshot. Screenshots usually have no camera data, so you get the message that no EXIF metadata was found.

Limits and tips

• Metadata can be edited or faked, so treat it as a clue, not proof.
• The tool reads data; it never changes your file.
• The summary covers the common fields; very long values are cut at 300 characters in the table.