Remove photo GPS while keeping supported camera fields

Decide whether this removal policy fits your file

The GPS remover supports static JPEG files up to 20 MiB. It copies the retained compressed JPEG image bytes and embedded ICC profile. It rebuilds EXIF from its visible camera-field allowlist, rather than keeping every non-GPS field. MakerNote, thumbnails, author fields, descriptions, serial numbers and unknown EXIF fields are discarded.

Whole XMP, IPTC/Photoshop, APP11, unknown APP1, JPEG comment and trailing-data containers are also removed. That can remove useful captions, rights declarations or Content Credentials along with location. Existing credentials are not re-signed. Save your original and use the separate category remover if you need a different supported policy.

• Choose whole metadata categories instead — The general remover lets you choose supported categories; removing EXIF also removes its orientation tag.

Create a verified synthetic copy

1. Step 1

   Keep a known original for comparison

   Download gps.jpg, then open the GPS remover. Choose that JPEG, or click Try synthetic GPS removal. It contains fictional camera labels and GPS, not a real person's location.

   Open the JPEG GPS remover

2. Step 2

   Read the exact allowlist and result

   Expand Exact camera-field allowlist before accepting the result. For this sample, Camera make, Camera model, Orientation, Date taken and Lens model are retained. GPS, the synthetic description and MakerNote are not retained. The original file remains unchanged.

3. Step 3

   Download the generated JPEG

   Wait for Verified output and the status beginning JPEG copy verified. Click Download JPEG copy. The displayed result explains that the output was re-read and that the retained compressed image bytes match; Canvas re-encoding is not used.

4. Step 4

   Reopen the actual download in the GPS viewer

   Choose your downloaded copy in the GPS EXIF viewer. Expect the absent status and no coordinates. Do not use the remover's success message as the only check of the file you will share.

   Recheck GPS in the downloaded file

5. Step 5

   Check which camera fields survived

   Open the metadata comparer, choose gps.jpg as Before and the downloaded JPEG as After, then click Compare metadata. Filter retained to inspect the five supported camera fields; filter missing to inspect GPS, the description and MakerNote. Source offsets may move while retained typed values stay equal.

   Compare the original and cleaned JPEG

• Download the synthetic GPS JPEG — Project-authored 4 × 3 image and fictional stored fields, fixture v1. It is not a camera capture or a private person's photograph.
• Download the deterministic cleaned comparison — A reference copy built from the same synthetic original using this removal policy. Recheck your own download too.

Expected before-and-after reading

No findings in the cleaned fixture is an observation about this defined file and this scanner's coverage. It is not a promise that any arbitrary cleaned photo is anonymous. Visual faces, signs, buildings, watermarks and previously shared copies are unaffected.

When the result is different

Try camera EXIF without GPS is not necessarily a no-change operation: the sample still contains a description and MakerNote, so the same limited rebuilding policy can discard those fields. A JPEG with none of the targeted containers can instead produce an unchanged download.

An incomplete EXIF block is removed entirely rather than copying unknown offsets. Multi-picture JPEG is rejected. PNG and WebP are unsupported by this GPS-specific writer; use the supported category remover for those formats, then read the output again. If verification fails, the tool provides no successful download.

Sources and reproducible inputs

• Download the synthetic GPS JPEG — Project-authored 4 × 3 image and fictional stored fields, fixture v1. It is not a camera capture or a private person's photograph.