How to Check Image Metadata

"Check the metadata" can mean a few different things depending on what you actually want to know. Here's how to pick the right approach.

If you want a quick technical overview

Use the EXIF Viewer. It's the fastest path to camera settings, timestamps, and — most importantly — whether GPS location data is present, called out with a dedicated warning. Good for: "did this photo come with a location attached?"

If you want everything a file could possibly carry

Use the Metadata Viewer. It reads EXIF, IPTC, XMP, ICC color profile data, and checks for a C2PA manifest, all in one pass, plus a best-effort flag for known AI-tool signatures in Software/CreatorTool fields. Good for: "I have no idea what's in this file, show me all of it."

If you're specifically checking for AI/provenance claims

Use the C2PA Checker. It reads Content Credentials specifically — claim generator, signer, validation status — using the official C2PA WebAssembly SDK. Good for: "does this file carry a signed provenance claim, and who signed it?"

If you're deciding whether it's safe to post something

Use the Image Privacy Checker. Rather than a raw data dump, it interprets the findings — flagging GPS as high risk, an embedded thumbnail as a possible leftover of a crop you thought removed content, and so on — with a plain-language recommendation for each. Good for: "should I be worried about anything in this file before I share it?"

Doing it without uploading anything

All four tools above process the file entirely in your browser using JavaScript and WebAssembly — nothing is sent to a server. That's true regardless of which one you use, so there's no privacy tradeoff in picking the "wrong" one; you can always run a file through more than one.

Once you know what's there

If checking turns up something you'd rather not share, move to removal: the EXIF Remover for a fast, targeted strip, or see How to Remove Image Metadata for the fuller picture of which removal tool fits which situation.