Edit photo and video metadata

This tool reads the metadata of a photo or video and lets you rewrite it the way you want: date and time, GPS location, device, software, author, copyright, description. Or tap Refresh everything and get a copy dated today, with no location, software, serial numbers or author. Everything happens in your browser: the file never leaves your device.

What metadata is and why it matters

Every photo and video carries a block of data you don't see: where it was taken, when, with which phone or camera, which app exported it, sometimes even the device serial number and the owner's name. In photos it's called EXIF; in MP4 and MOV videos it lives in the file header, under different names but with the same content.

When you email a file, send it as a document in WhatsApp, upload it to a classifieds site or hand it to someone, that data travels with it. Our photo metadata viewer shows you exactly what a file contains.

What you can do with this tool

• Leave no traces. Remove the location, serial number, owner name and software before sharing. This is the main use.
• Fix the date. A camera with the wrong clock, videos shot in another time zone, files received in a chat that lost their date: set the right one and your library sorts them where they belong.
• Sign your files. Author and copyright inside the photo or video, useful for photographers and creators delivering work.
• Clean software tags. The name of the editing or export app stays in the file: if you don't want it seen, take it out.
• Refresh everything in one tap. Today's date, no location, no software, no serial, no author. Brand and model stay unless you clear them.

How to use the tool

1. Choose a photo (JPEG, PNG, HEIC, WebP) or a video (MP4, MOV) with the picker above.
2. Read what the file says now: sensitive items have a red dot next to them.
3. Edit the fields you want, or tap Refresh everything. Empty fields are left out of the file.
4. Tap Apply and download. The new copy is read back and verified before it's handed to you.

The original file is never touched: you always get a copy.

What changes in the file and what doesn't

• JPEG and PNG: pixels are copied byte for byte. Only the metadata section is rewritten, and the file contains exactly the fields you see in the form, nothing else. The photo's orientation is preserved.
• MP4 and MOV: picture and sound stay untouched, only the header is rewritten. Creation date, location, device and software are written in both the forms that Apple and Android phones read, so Photos and Google Photos understand them.
• HEIC and WebP: the browser can't rewrite them in place. The copy is saved as high-quality JPEG with the new metadata.
• Shooting data (ISO, exposure, lens): for photos you choose whether to keep it. By default it's removed.

Social networks and metadata: the truth

There's a rumour that changing a video's metadata gets it past Instagram's and TikTok's duplicate checks. That's not how it works. Platforms strip metadata on upload and recognise content they've seen before by comparing picture and audio, not file data. This tool is not for that, and we don't promise it.

It is for everything that doesn't go through a social network: the copy on your phone still has all its data, and when you email it, send it as a document in a chat or upload it to a website, the data travels with it. That's where what's inside matters.

How to do the same on iPhone

To remove the location from a photo before sharing, you don't need a tool: in the share sheet tap Options and turn off Location. To change the date, open the photo's Info panel in Photos and tap Adjust. You can't change brand, model, software or author there, nor strip a video's location in one go: that's what this page is for. The full procedures are in how to remove EXIF data from photos on iPhone and turn off location on iPhone photos.

Do it automatically with sigil.

If you often handle sensitive photos and videos, it's easy to forget to clean them by hand. sigil. strips location and metadata on import and on export, so whatever leaves your vault is clean by default. Photos taken with its private camera never touch the Camera Roll, and the whole vault is encrypted on your phone with a key born from your sign: see sign-based encryption.