What a photo reveals about you before you share it
Published · Updated 3 min read
A photo taken with a phone often contains more than the image: the exact place, the moment, the device used. This information, called metadata, travels with the file. Before posting or sending a photo to someone you do not know well, it is better to know what it says about you.
What the report shows
Read image metadata reads the file without modifying it and produces a report.
| Field read | Example value | What it reveals |
|---|---|---|
| Position | 46.227778; 2.213611 | The place where the photo was taken |
| Altitude | 312 m | The height of that place |
| Date and time | 2026-05-03 10:12:45 | The exact moment |
| Device | Make and model | The equipment used |
| Serial number | SN-000123456 | An identifier specific to the device |
| Lens | 5.6 mm lens | The equipment |
| Author and description | Free text | What the person wrote |
Reading the values correctly
- Coordinates are in decimal degrees. South and west are negative: a photo taken in the south and west gives −46.227778; −2.213611.
- The time is the one written by the device, without time zone conversion: 10:12:45 in the file, 10:12:45 in the report.
- The report says "absente" when the file contains nothing: that is the case for a photo saved without metadata, or already cleaned.
Creating a copy without metadata
By ticking "Remove metadata", the tool recreates the image, saves it without any information and reads the copy again to check that it contains none. A photo of 1,500 by 2,000 pixels then weighs about 43 KB instead of 68 KB, with no metadata block. The copy is re-encoded at high quality: the loss is small but it exists, so keep the original.
The orientation of the photo
A photo taken in portrait often carries an orientation flag, which tells the program to straighten it when displayed. The cleaned copy is already straightened: its pixels match those of the original photo turned the right way up, with no difference.
What the copy does not change
Metadata is only part of what a photo reveals. A building front, a sign, a license plate or a face stay visible in the image. If the content must change, crop with Crop photo before sharing.
The same action for a PDF
A PDF also contains a title, an author and dates. The guide Read the metadata of a PDF before sharing it details the case of the document.
When to care
Before publishing a photo taken at your home, outside your school or your workplace, or before sending a photo to a person you hardly know: the GPS position and the time can reveal your habits.
Check before sharing
- Tick the option and download the copy.
- Run the copy through the tool without the option: the report must show "absente".
- Open the photo to check the orientation.
Frequently asked questions
- What does a photo contain besides the image?
- Often the GPS position, the altitude, the date and time, the device model, its serial number, the lens and sometimes an author's name.
- How do you remove this information?
- By ticking "Remove metadata", the tool recreates the image without any information and reads the copy again to check it.
- Is the cleaned copy of lower quality?
- It is re-encoded at high quality: the loss is small but it exists. Keep the original.
- Is a photo without metadata anonymous?
- No. A building front, a sign, a license plate or a face stay visible in the image.