HEIC · Image formats
Does converting an image remove its EXIF data?
Yes. A conversion that re-encodes an image discards its EXIF metadata completely, including GPS coordinates, because the conversion works from decoded pixels and the metadata is simply never carried across. This is true of every converter on this site. It matters more than it sounds: a photograph taken on a phone with location services enabled records the latitude and longitude where it was taken, usually to within a few metres, alongside the camera model, the exact date and time, and the exposure settings. That data travels with the file when you email it, message it, or hand it to a stranger on a marketplace listing. Converting the photo is one of the more reliable ways to remove all of it at once.
What a photograph is actually carrying
EXIF — Exchangeable Image File Format — is a block of metadata written into the file alongside the image data. Almost every photograph from a camera or phone has one, and most people never look at it.
A typical entry holds the camera make and model, the lens, the focal length, the aperture, the shutter speed, the ISO, and the date and time down to the second. Phones add their own fields. If location services were granted to the camera app, it also holds GPS latitude, longitude and often altitude, accurate enough to identify a specific building.
The privacy consequence is easy to underestimate because the data is invisible in normal use. A photograph of a bicycle you are selling, taken in your driveway, carries the coordinates of your driveway. Nothing in the image looks like an address, and the file gives one out anyway.
Why converting removes it
A browser-based conversion happens in two steps. The original file is decoded into pixels, and those pixels are then encoded into the new format. The metadata is attached to the original file, not to the pixels, so by the time the second step runs there is nothing left to copy — the encoder is handed a grid of colour values and writes a fresh file around it.
This is a side effect of how the conversion works rather than a privacy feature bolted on afterwards, which is worth knowing because it means it is not something that can be accidentally switched off. There is no code path in which the EXIF survives.
Note that this applies to conversions that genuinely re-encode. Renaming a .jfif to .jpg changes nothing inside the file, so every byte of metadata is still there. If your goal is removing location data, renaming does not do it.
The one piece of metadata worth keeping
Discarding EXIF wholesale creates one problem, and it is the reason a naive converter produces sideways photographs. The orientation flag — a single number saying which way up the image should be displayed — lives in EXIF too. Throw the metadata away without acting on that flag first and a portrait photo comes out on its side.
The correct handling is to read the flag, rotate the pixels to match, and then discard the metadata. The rotation becomes part of the image itself, so the photo is upright in software that reads EXIF and software that does not. That is what the converters here do, and it is why the output is both stripped and correctly oriented.
What survives each way of sharing a photo
The large social platforms strip EXIF from images they serve publicly, so a photo posted to Facebook, Instagram or X does not hand your coordinates to everyone who views it. This is less reassuring than it sounds: the platform received the original, complete with location, and stripping it for public display is not the same as never having had it.
Email attachments generally preserve EXIF exactly. So do most file transfer services, cloud storage links, and AirDrop. Messaging apps vary — some recompress and strip, some pass the original through, and the behaviour changes between versions.
iOS gives you direct control at the point of sharing. In the share sheet, tap Options at the top, and there is a Location toggle. Turn it off and the copy you send has no coordinates. Android offers something similar in Google Photos, under the sharing options.
The general rule: assume the file carries everything unless you have specifically removed it or the platform has specifically stripped it.
Removing it without converting
On Windows, right-click the file, choose Properties, open the Details tab, and click Remove Properties and Personal Information. You can strip everything or select individual fields. This edits the file in place, so work on a copy if you want the original intact.
On macOS, the Photos app will export without location if you choose File, Export, and set Location Information to off. Preview can show you the metadata through the Inspector but is awkward for removing it.
Converting remains the blunt instrument that always works, requires no per-platform knowledge, and handles a folder of files in one go. The tradeoff is that it re-encodes the image, which costs a small amount of quality on a lossy format.
When you actually want to keep it
EXIF is not purely a liability. For photographers it is the record of how a shot was taken, and losing it means losing the ability to learn from your own work. For anyone organising a large library, the timestamp is what puts photos in order, and the GPS data is what lets software group them by place.
So the sensible pattern is the same one that applies to formats: keep the originals with their metadata intact, and generate stripped copies at the point of sharing. Convert the photo you are about to post; leave the one in your library alone.
Frequently asked questions
Does converting an image remove EXIF data?
Yes, if the conversion re-encodes the image. The file is decoded to pixels and a new file is written around them, and the metadata is not carried across. Renaming a file does not remove anything, because nothing inside it changes.
Does converting remove GPS location from a photo?
Yes. GPS coordinates are stored in the EXIF block, so they go with the rest of it. This is one of the simplest ways to strip location from a batch of photos at once.
Can someone find my address from a photo I sent them?
If the photo was taken at your home with location services enabled for the camera and sent in a way that preserves EXIF — email and most file transfers do — then yes, the coordinates are in the file and are trivial to read. Converting the image before sending removes them.
Do social media sites remove EXIF automatically?
The major platforms strip it from the versions they serve publicly, so viewers cannot read your location. They still received the original with the data intact, which is a different thing from it never having been shared.
Why did my photo come out sideways after the metadata was removed?
Because the orientation flag lives in EXIF, and a converter that discards the metadata without first rotating the pixels loses the instruction that was keeping the photo upright. A correct conversion applies the rotation to the image itself before stripping.
Is the conversion here done on your servers?
No. It runs inside your browser tab, so the file never leaves your device. For stripping location data from a photograph that is the point — uploading an image to a remote service to remove its coordinates means handing those coordinates to the service.