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How to check a photo's metadata

Wondering what a photo says about you — or where a photo someone sent you was really taken? The answers sit in the image's metadata: structured data blocks written into the file by cameras, phones, editors and AI generators.

This guide shows how to read all of it in seconds, free and in your browser, and how to interpret what you find.

Open the Metadata Checker tool

View the metadata in your browser

The checker parses the file's EXIF, XMP and IPTC headers locally and lists every tag it finds — nothing is uploaded, so it's safe to inspect even sensitive photos.

  1. 1Open the free Metadata Checker.
  2. 2Drag in a JPG, PNG, WebP, TIFF or HEIC image.
  3. 3Read the extracted tags — device, timestamps, GPS, software and more.
  4. 4Check the XMP section for AI-generation prompts if the image may be AI-made.

How to read what you find

GPS latitude/longitude means the photo pinpoints a real place — treat it as sensitive before sharing. Device and software tags tell you what captured or last edited the file.

For suspected AI images, prompts, seeds or model names in XMP are a strong signal — though their absence proves nothing, since metadata is easy to strip.

If a photo shows no metadata

An empty result usually means the file was already scrubbed, or passed through a platform that strips EXIF on download (most social networks do). Screenshots also start life with almost no metadata.

If you're checking your own photo before posting and it still shows GPS or device data, run it through the AI Metadata Remover and check it again.

Frequently asked questions

Ready to try it?

Instantly view all EXIF, XMP, and hidden metadata in your image.

Use Metadata Checker