View EXIF Data in a Photo
Open a JPEG and read the record it carries: camera body and lens, shutter and aperture, the exact second it was taken, and — more often than people expect — the GPS coordinates of where you stood. Parsing happens locally and costs nothing.
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How it works
- Drop a JPEG straight from a camera or phone.
- Read the parsed fields: camera, exposure, timestamps, software.
- If GPS data exists, follow the map link to see exactly what the file discloses.
- Check the file-structure table to see which segments hold the metadata.
Worth knowing
EXIF is a TIFF-formatted block tucked into a JPEG's APP1 segment, written by the camera at the moment of capture. This viewer walks IFD0, the Exif sub-directory and the GPS directory, and shows each tag with its decoded value rather than raw rational numbers — 1/250 s instead of 4/1000, f/1.8 instead of 9/5.
The fields worth reading closely are rarely the camera settings. Body serial numbers tie separate photos to one device. The Software tag reveals whether an image passed through an editor and which one. Modify timestamps that differ from capture timestamps show a file has been touched. And DateTimeOriginal plus GPSLatitude together answer the two questions — when and where — that most people assume a photo does not answer.
GPS deserves its own caution. A phone with location services on writes coordinates precise to a few metres into every shot. Photos taken at home place your home; a sequence of them establishes your routine. Social networks such as Instagram and Facebook strip EXIF on upload, but sending the "original" or "as document/file" version through messaging apps preserves the whole block intact.
A file with no EXIF at all is a finding too: it usually means a screenshot, a social-media re-download, or a deliberate strip. The structure table at the bottom shows every segment in the file with its byte cost, so you can see precisely where metadata lives — and how much of the file size it accounts for.
The embedded EXIF thumbnail is a separate miniature image — on files edited with older software it can still show the photo from before your edits, including regions you cropped out.
What this tool will not do
- It will not read maker notes — the proprietary encrypted blocks Canon, Nikon and Sony bury inside EXIF are undocumented by design.
- It cannot show EXIF that is already gone; a re-downloaded Instagram image has nothing left to display.
Questions people ask
Why does my photo have no EXIF data?
It probably did not come straight from the camera. Screenshots never have it, social networks strip it on upload, and many editors discard it on export. Only originals carry the full record.
Can EXIF show where a photo was taken?
If the device had location services enabled, yes — latitude and longitude to within a few metres, plus altitude on many phones. This viewer links the coordinates to a map so you can see what a recipient would see.
Does WhatsApp remove EXIF from photos?
Standard photo sends are recompressed and stripped. Sending as a document or file, however, transmits the original bytes — GPS included. The setting you choose matters more than the app.
What does the Orientation tag do?
Cameras record sideways shots as landscape pixels plus a rotation instruction. Software that ignores the tag shows the photo sideways — which is why the same file can look rotated in one app and correct in another.
Is it safe to check a sensitive photo here?
The file is parsed by JavaScript running in your browser and is never transmitted — verifiably: watch the Network tab while you use it, or go offline first.
Can I edit EXIF values with this tool?
No — this one only reads. The companion metadata remover deletes the whole block; rewriting individual fields is deliberately out of scope.
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