Free EXIF Viewer
See every hidden detail in your photos — camera make and model, lens, ISO, aperture, shutter speed, date and GPS location. All read locally in your browser.
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Upload a JPEG or TIFF to see its EXIF dataWhat Is EXIF Data?
EXIF stands for Exchangeable Image File Format. It's a standard for embedding metadata inside image files — particularly JPEG and TIFF. Every time you take a photo with a digital camera or a smartphone, the camera writes a hidden block of information into the file alongside the actual image data.
That hidden block can contain a surprising amount of detail about how, when and where the photo was taken.
What EXIF can contain
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Camera | Make (Canon, Apple, Nikon), model, serial number, firmware version |
| Lens | Lens make, lens model, focal length, max aperture |
| Exposure | Shutter speed (1/250s), aperture (f/2.8), ISO (100–12800) |
| Focus | Focus distance, AF mode, focus point location |
| Flash | Whether flash fired, flash mode, red-eye reduction |
| Date & Time | Capture time, digitisation time, sub-second timing |
| Location | GPS latitude, longitude, altitude, compass direction |
| Image | Dimensions, orientation, resolution, colour space |
| Software | Editing software, artist, copyright, image description |
Why EXIF exists
EXIF was designed so that photographs carry their own context. A photojournalist can check when and where a photo was taken. A photographer can review the exposure settings that produced a great shot. A camera can auto-rotate landscape photos that were taken in portrait orientation.
It's become essential for professional workflows — especially for landscape and travel photography, where GPS data powers map-based cataloguing in tools like Lightroom and Apple Photos.
The privacy problem
Because EXIF records where a photo was taken, it can leak personal information without the photographer realising it. Every year there are widely reported incidents:
- People posting photos of their new home — revealing their exact address.
- Sellers on second-hand marketplaces revealing their home location in product photos.
- Journalists and activists accidentally exposing their physical location.
- Parents posting photos of their children at school or at home.
Most social media platforms strip EXIF from images on upload, but this is not guaranteed. Direct file sharing (email attachments, cloud drive links, messaging apps that don't compress) preserves the metadata.
The safest habit: strip EXIF from any photo before sharing it publicly.
How to remove EXIF
There are three common approaches:
- Re-encode the image. Opening a photo in any image editor that saves through the Canvas API (like the Image Compressor or Image Resizer on XToolBoost) strips most metadata automatically. The resulting file has just the pixels.
- Use a dedicated EXIF stripper. Tools like ExifTool (command line) or dedicated web apps remove metadata without re-encoding pixels.
- Platform upload. Most social platforms strip EXIF, but this isn't a guarantee and shouldn't be relied on.
Understanding the values
| Field | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Exposure | 1/250 sec | How long the shutter stayed open — shorter freezes motion |
| Aperture | f/2.8 | How wide the lens opened — smaller number = more light = blurrier background |
| ISO | 800 | Sensor sensitivity — higher = brighter but noisier |
| Focal length | 50 mm | Zoom level — 50 mm is "normal", below is wide, above is telephoto |
| 35 mm equiv. | 75 mm | Same field of view as a 75 mm lens on a full-frame camera |
| Exposure bias | −0.3 EV | How much the photographer over- or under-exposed from the camera's choice |
| Metering | Pattern | How the camera measured light across the frame |
| White balance | Auto | Colour temperature correction — Auto, Daylight, Shade, Tungsten, etc. |
Common use cases
Learn from Great Photos
Check the settings that produced a photo you admire — ISO, aperture, shutter speed.
Find Photo Locations
Recover the exact GPS coordinates of a trip photo you forgot where you took.
Privacy Audit
Check your photos for GPS before sharing them publicly.
Forensics & Legal
Verify when a photo was taken and what device captured it.
Photo Organisation
Use capture date to sort a folder of photos chronologically.
Lens Comparison
Compare which lens or focal length you actually use the most.
Debug Photo Issues
Check if a "portrait" photo was actually shot that way or rotated by EXIF.
Automated Ingestion
Inspect metadata before building workflows that depend on it.
How this tool works
The EXIF data is stored in a dedicated JPEG segment called APP1. The tool:
- Reads the file bytes with
FileReader.readAsArrayBuffer(). - Walks the JPEG segment structure looking for the APP1 segment (marker 0xFFE1).
- Verifies the segment starts with the ASCII string
Exif\0\0. - Parses the TIFF header (byte order marker, magic number, first IFD offset).
- Reads each IFD (Image File Directory), which is a list of 12-byte entries — each with a tag ID, data type, count, and value or offset.
- Follows sub-IFD pointers for the EXIF block (tag 0x8769) and GPS block (tag 0x8825).
- Decodes each tag's value based on its type (BYTE, ASCII, SHORT, LONG, RATIONAL, and so on).
Nothing is uploaded. All parsing is done with typed arrays and DataView in your browser.
Privacy and security
This EXIF viewer runs entirely in your browser. Your photo is never uploaded, stored, or transmitted. The parse uses local JavaScript and the browser's FileReader API. Safe for confidential photographs, client work, and any private material.