EXIF Viewer
See what a photo file says about itself: camera, lens, exposure, date, location and every hidden tag. Works with phone photos and RAW files, with no upload.
All metadata
How to view the EXIF data of a photo
The file is read on your own device. Nothing is sent anywhere, so this works for private photos too.
- Choose or drop a photo: a JPEG or HEIC from a phone, a PNG, WebP or TIFF, or a RAW file straight from the camera.
- Read the summary: camera, lens, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, focal length, the time it was taken and the location, if the file has one.
- Open All metadata to see every tag in the file, grouped the way it is stored.
- Switch to Remove details to save a copy without them, or to Shutter count to see how much the camera has been used.
What my own photos give away
I shoot with a Sony A7 III and edit in Lightroom, so I opened one of my published photos here first: the red bicycle at Metelkova in Ljubljana, exported at 1200 px. The viewer listed 253 entries. The summary showed the camera body, the E 28-75mm lens, 1/400 s at f/4 and ISO 160 at 28 mm, and the exact minute I pressed the shutter: 24 March 2023 at 15:40:49, with my time zone. My camera has no GPS, so there was no location.
Most of the 253 entries are not EXIF at all. Lightroom writes its whole edit into the XMP block: every slider I moved, the crop, the profile. Anyone who downloads that JPEG can read how I edited it. That is fine for a photo on my blog, and it is the reason I check a file before I send it anywhere else.
Six files from six cameras
| File | Camera | Settings | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| JPEG from a phone | Google Pixel | 1/2660 s, f/2, ISO 50, 4.7 mm | 50.299603, 14.820294 |
| HEIC from a phone | Apple iPhone 7 | 1/100 s, f/1.8, ISO 20, 4 mm | 38.046642, 12.994411 |
| CR3 RAW | Canon EOS R6 | 1/4 s, f/25, ISO 100, 200 mm | Not recorded |
| NEF RAW | Nikon D3000 | 1/250 s, f/8, ISO 100, 40 mm | Not recorded |
| ARW RAW | Sony ILCE-7M3 | 1/50 s, f/4, ISO 400, 32 mm | Not recorded |
| RAF RAW | Fujifilm X-T3 | 1/4 s, f/3.6, ISO 160, 35 mm | Not recorded |
The two phones wrote their position into every photo; none of the four cameras did, because none of them had a GPS unit attached. The RAW files are public samples from raw.pixls.us, the phone photos are test images of an open-source project.
What EXIF data is
EXIF is a block of facts a camera or phone writes into the file at the moment it takes the picture: make and model, lens, exposure, date and time, often the position, and the orientation the picture should be shown in. Editing software adds its own name and, in a separate XMP block, its settings. News agencies and photographers use a third block, IPTC, for captions, credits and copyright.
The viewer shows all three. The summary picks the facts most people look for; All metadata lists every entry by group, so you can see what is in the file and where.
RAW files and phone photos
Canon CR2 and CR3, Nikon NEF, Sony ARW, Fujifilm RAF, Olympus ORF, Panasonic RW2, Pentax PEF and DNG files all carry the same EXIF facts as a JPEG, packed differently. The viewer reads them directly, without developing the RAW picture, so even a large file opens in a moment. For the preview it uses the JPEG that the camera stores inside the RAW file.
An iPhone saves HEIC by default. Its details open here like those of any JPEG; the preview needs a browser that shows HEIC, such as Safari.
When a value is missing
Not recorded means the file does not contain that fact. Screenshots, images saved from social networks and pictures exported by many apps lose most of their EXIF on the way. A camera without a GPS unit never writes a location. Some cameras keep the ISO or the lens only in their maker notes, a block every brand fills in its own way; the summary shows the standard tags, and the maker notes are counted in the full list.
Location and privacy
A phone photo usually says where it was taken to a few metres, and the iPhone sample above even records the height. If you share such a photo by email, as a file or on a forum that keeps the original, everyone who saves it can read the place. The Show on OpenStreetMap link opens the position only when you tap it. To share a photo without its location, use the Remove details tab.
Tips for better results
- Check the original file from the camera or phone; an exported or downloaded copy often has fewer details.
- A date without a time zone is the camera clock’s local time, so a camera set to the wrong zone gives the wrong hour.
- Large RAW files are read from the start, where cameras keep their details, so even 100 MB files open quickly.
- If a photo shows sideways in one app and upright in another, look at Orientation under All metadata.
Privacy
What you choose here never leaves your device. The photo is read and cleaned in your browser, so nothing is uploaded or stored, and you need no account. The map link sends a photo’s coordinates to OpenStreetMap only when you tap it.
Frequently asked questions
Is this EXIF viewer online and free?
Yes. It runs on this page in any modern browser, with no account, no limit on the number of photos and no upload: the file is read on your own computer or phone and is never sent to a server.
What does EXIF data mean?
EXIF stands for Exchangeable Image File Format. It is the set of facts a camera stores inside each photo: which camera and lens took it, the exposure settings, the date and time, and on most phones the place where it was taken.
How do I see EXIF data on an iPhone?
In the Photos app, swipe up on a photo to see the basics. For every detail, open this page in Safari, tap the box and choose the photo from your library. When you share instead, the Options button of the share sheet decides whether the location goes along.
Can an EXIF viewer show where a photo was taken?
Only if the file has GPS coordinates. Phones add them when location access is on for the camera; most cameras do not. When a position is there, the viewer shows it in degrees with a link to the map.
Does Lightroom keep the EXIF data when I export?
By default Lightroom keeps the camera details and adds its own edit settings in XMP. Its export dialog can limit the metadata to copyright only. My own exports kept the camera, lens, settings and time, but lost the maker notes.
Related tools and guides
- Remove EXIF Data from Photos: Save a copy of your photo without its location, camera details and hidden thumbnail. The picture stays exactly as it was, and you choose what to keep.
- Shutter Count Checker: Find out how many photos a camera has taken from a single picture it made. No upload and no software to install; a camera that keeps no count is named as such.
- Image Converter: Convert JPEG, PNG, WebP and HEIC images directly in your browser.
- Image Compressor: Reduce JPEG, PNG and WebP file sizes while keeping quality high.
- JPG to PDF Converter: Combine JPG, PNG, HEIC and other images into one PDF in your browser.
- Metelkova Ljubljana: My Photos and Complete Visitor Guide: Where I took the red bicycle photo whose metadata is described above.
- How I Edited a Metelkova Graffiti Photo in Lightroom: The kind of Lightroom edit that ends up in a photo’s XMP block.