Image EXIF Viewer

You take a photo and share it online. Unknown to you, that image contains your GPS coordinates, the exact timestamp, your camera’s serial number, and the lens you used. EXIF metadata is invisible but revealing — and this tool lets you read it privately, without uploading your photo to any server.

What Is EXIF Data?

EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) is metadata embedded in JPEG and TIFF files by digital cameras, smartphones, and scanners at the moment of capture. It was standardized in 1995 and is now supported by virtually every digital camera and image editing application.

EXIF data is stored in a dedicated section of the image file before the actual pixel data. It does not affect how the image looks — but it tells a detailed story about how the image was taken.

What Metadata Does EXIF Contain?

EXIF stores a wide range of information organized into categories:

Camera Information

• Make and model (e.g., “Apple iPhone 15 Pro”, “Canon EOS R5”)
• Lens model and serial number
• Camera serial number

Shot Settings

• Exposure time (shutter speed), e.g., 1/500 s
• Aperture (f-number), e.g., f/2.8
• ISO speed rating, e.g., ISO 800
• Focal length, e.g., 50 mm
• Focal length equivalent in 35mm film
• Flash fired / not fired
• White balance (auto or manual)
• Exposure program (manual, aperture priority, etc.)
• Metering mode (spot, center-weighted, multi-segment)

GPS Coordinates

• Latitude and longitude (can pinpoint exact location)
• Altitude
• GPS timestamp

Image Information

• Pixel dimensions (width × height)
• Resolution (DPI)
• Orientation (for auto-rotation on display)
• Color space

Dates

• Date/Time Original (when the shutter was pressed)
• Date/Time Digitized
• Date/Time (file modification time)

The Privacy Risk of EXIF Data

GPS coordinates in EXIF are the most significant privacy concern. A photo taken at home, shared publicly, can expose your home address to anyone who reads the EXIF. This is a real risk on social media — though most major platforms (Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram) now strip EXIF on upload. But file sharing, email attachments, and direct downloads often preserve it.

Beyond GPS, EXIF can reveal:

• When you were at a location (timestamp)
• What camera you own (useful for targeted phishing)
• Device serial numbers (can be used to link photos to a specific device)

To strip EXIF before sharing, you can right-click and use “Remove Personal Information” on Windows, or use tools like exiftool from the command line:

# Remove all EXIF metadata from a JPEG
exiftool -all= photo.jpg

# Remove only GPS data
exiftool -gps:all= photo.jpg

# Process an entire directory
exiftool -all= *.jpg

How This Tool Reads EXIF

This tool parses EXIF data manually from the raw file bytes using the browser’s FileReader API and DataView. No library is used. The parsing process:

1. Reads the JPEG file’s binary data into an ArrayBuffer
2. Locates the APP1 marker (0xFFE1) in the JPEG segment stream
3. Verifies the Exif\0\0 header within the APP1 segment
4. Reads the TIFF header to determine byte order (little-endian or big-endian)
5. Parses IFD0 (primary image data) and the EXIF SubIFD (shot settings)
6. Decodes tag values according to their data type: ASCII strings, SHORT, LONG, RATIONAL

Your image bytes are read entirely in memory in your browser tab. Nothing is sent to any server.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my photo show no EXIF data? Several reasons: the image may have been processed by software that strips EXIF (social media platforms, some image editors, messaging apps). Screenshots never have EXIF. PNG and WebP files don’t use EXIF format. Only original JPEG files from cameras and smartphones reliably contain EXIF.

Does this tool read GPS coordinates? GPS data parsing (reading lat/long values) is not shown in the current version to keep the parser simple. The GPS IFD is present in many photos — use exiftool from the command line for full GPS extraction.

Can I read EXIF from a PNG or WebP file? PNG and WebP use different metadata formats (PNG uses iTXt/tEXt/zTXt chunks, WebP uses XMP). This tool specifically reads JPEG/TIFF EXIF. For those formats, use exiftool.

What is orientation EXIF used for? Cameras often save images in landscape orientation physically but record how the camera was held. The orientation tag tells software to rotate the image on display. Values 6 and 8 indicate 90° rotation (portrait photos). Some software ignores this tag, causing photos to appear sideways.

Can EXIF data be faked? Yes. EXIF data is just bytes in the file header and can be modified with tools like exiftool. EXIF should not be treated as authoritative proof of when or where a photo was taken.

Is there an EXIF size limit? The APP1 EXIF segment is limited to 65,533 bytes (the maximum JPEG segment size). In practice, EXIF data is typically a few kilobytes. Cameras with many settings (GPS, detailed lens data) produce larger EXIF blocks.