EXIF Metadata
Reveals a photo's EXIF metadata: camera, GPS, capture date and the original embedded thumbnail.
The file never leaves your computer — reading the JPEG/PNG's internal structure (segments, EXIF blocks, embedded thumbnail) happens entirely locally, with no network call.
What EXIF is
EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) is a block of metadata that most cameras and phones write directly into the photo file, in JPEG (and, less often, in PNG). It can include the device's make and model, capture date and time, technical settings (ISO, aperture, shutter speed), orientation, the software used to edit it and, when the device's GPS was on, the exact coordinates where the photo was taken.
Why the embedded thumbnail matters
Every JPEG with EXIF can store, alongside the main image, a small thumbnail used for quick preview (in the camera's viewfinder, in a file browser). Many image editors, when cropping or reframing a photo, update the main image but forget to regenerate that thumbnail — which keeps showing the ORIGINAL framing, before the edit. Comparing the two can reveal what got cropped out of the final image: a person, an object, a context the editor preferred to hide. Not every difference comes from manual editing: some action cameras (with lens distortion correction) generate the thumbnail from the sensor's raw frame, before the correction applied to the final image — a wider framing in the thumbnail, in that case, is an effect of the camera's own processing, not a sign of tampering.
GPS: handle with care
GPS coordinates in EXIF are precise enough to pinpoint a home address. When analyzing someone else's photo, treat this information as sensitive. When sharing your own photos publicly (social media, marketplaces, forums), it's worth checking beforehand whether they carry GPS data — most social networks already strip this metadata on upload, but not every channel (email, messaging apps, direct file upload) does that cleanup.
Supported formats
JPEG is the dominant real-world case — the format used by virtually every camera and phone. PNG is also supported: a modern PNG can carry an eXIf chunk with the same metadata structure as JPEG, though that's far rarer in practice (most PNGs never had EXIF written to them). Other image formats (TIFF, HEIC, WebP) are out of scope for this version — not a technical limitation of the tool, but because they're much rarer real-world cases for someone analyzing an everyday photo.
Known limitations
The comparison between the current image and the embedded thumbnail is an approximation (aspect ratio + a low-resolution perceptual hash), not absolute proof — very small or low-contrast thumbnails may not trigger the warning even when a real difference exists, and subtle color/brightness edits without cropping may go undetected. EXIF metadata can also be edited or stripped by anyone before sharing the file — the absence of GPS data or a thumbnail warning doesn't prove the image was never manipulated.
Frequently asked questions
That's common: social media and messaging apps usually strip EXIF on upload, screenshots never have camera EXIF, and any image editor can deliberately remove it when saving.
No. The date shown here comes from the EXIF DateTimeOriginal field, recorded by the camera at the moment of capture — different from the file system's modified date, which changes every time the file is copied, edited, or even just re-uploaded.
EXIF stores the coordinate and a hemisphere reference separately. This tool already applies the correct sign: negative for the Southern hemisphere (latitude) and the Western hemisphere (longitude) — the same convention used by map services.
Not on its own. It surfaces evidence (a thumbnail that differs from the current image, editing software recorded in the EXIF) that helps an investigation, but none of it is definitive proof — EXIF can be stripped or even forged by whoever edits the image.
Out of scope for this version — the dominant real-world case for forensic analysis is still JPEG (the most widely shared/re-uploaded format). Noted as a possible future addition.
No. Reading the EXIF, the thumbnail, and the comparison all happen in your browser — the image is never sent to any server.
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