How to Remove Metadata or EXIF Data from Photographs

Every image contains EXIF data (Exchangeable Image File Format) that describes every information of a photo. You may call it image metadata also. When you take a photo from any digital camera, the camera does not only shoot the image, but, it also stores all the information such as date, time, camera model, iso, shutter speed etc. behind the image. All these information can be viewed from the properties option of an image. These data helps you to improve your captures. However, if you are a good photographer and do not want to share the image EXIF data, you can remove metadata from photos before you publish the image online.
Here is a complete list to inform you what info are actually stored behind a picture. What is image metadata or EXIF data?

• Image description i.e. title, subject, rating, tags, comments etc.
• The origin of the image
• The software which is used to edit the image
• The date when the photo is taken
• Copyright information if any
• Image pixels, bit depth and resolutions
• Camera manufacturer and model name
• ISO speed, image aperture, exposure time, subject distance, flash mode, focal length etc.
• Every information regarding camera configuration like lens maker, lens model, white balance, brightness and contrast, digital zoom etc.

To view metadata of an image you don’t need any EXIF data viewer software. You can easily view it from your Windows computer. Just select any photo and right-click on it, select ‘Properties’, then navigate to ‘Details’ tab to view all metadata of any jpeg or png image.

Delete Image EXIF Data with Windows Computer

Windows let you view and remove image metadata in a very quick way. Let’s see how to perform the task.

1. Open windows explorer and select any image.
2. Right click on it.
3. Select ‘properties’.
4. Visit to ‘Details’ section.
5. At the bottom you will find “Remove Properties and Personal Information” option.
6. Click on it.
7. Tap on ‘select all’ button.
8. Mark the circular box that shows “Remove the following properties from this file” option.
9. Press ‘OK’.

Following the above steps, you can delete metadata from single or multiple photos together.  However, windows may not remove every info each time. For such cases, you might take the help of EXIF data remover.

Use Adobe Photoshop to Remove Metadata from Photos

Photoshop is the best image editing tool I’ve seen so far. You can covert any image into sketch using it. Similarly, Photoshop lets you delete metadata from any image. Steps are mentioned below.

1. Choose the image first and open it using Photoshop.
2. From the menu, navigate File >> Save for web option and click on it. Alternatively, use Alt+Shift+Ctrl+S windows shortcut to open the save for web image window.
3. At the right side area you will find ‘Metadata‘ option.
4. Select ‘None’ from the drop-down.
5. Save the image.

In the new image, there will be no EXIF data present in the image.

Use Metadata Removal Software – EXIF Purge

EXIF Purge is a simple but effective portable application which easily removes all the EXIF data from any photo in bulk. It is a freeware and currently supports Windows and Mac OS. Just open run the software, select the images one by one, select the destination folder where you want to save the images, at last press the “Purge EXIF Info” button to delete all the metadata from any captured photo. It supports all the major image types like JPEG, PNG etc.



The software takes only few seconds to complete the entire task. I have selected twelve images for removing EXIF data and the software deletes everything from the photos within 2-3 seconds.
Official download URL:

http://www.exifpurge.com/

Pro photo Tools is another free tool by Microsoft to remove all camera and GPS data from any picture. You can edit common meta data of an image using this utility.

Prevent Camera from Creating Location Based EXIF Data and GPS Data – Android

You can prevent android camera from creating any EXIF data while capturing images and videos. Open your camera app and go to ‘settings’. Make the Geo-tagging feature off. Thus the location of the shoot will not be stored as image metadata.



Similarly, you can disable geo-tagging function in your digital camera.
There are few web based image editing services (e.g. http://www.verexif.com/en/, http://www.exifremove.com/) which helps you removing EXIF data online. Just upload the image and remove the metadata from the image. At last, download the clean image from the web. But, these require internet connection. So, I always prefer offline technique and bulk EXIF data remover software.