What EXIF is, how to read it from any photo for free, and what each common tag actually means.

EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) is metadata that cameras and phones write into photo files. It can include the date and time, GPS coordinates, camera and lens, exposure settings, copyright, and more. Reading EXIF is the fastest way to confirm when and where a photo was actually taken, and there are real reasons (insurance, real estate, journalism) to care.

This is a short guide to reading EXIF on macOS, Windows, in the browser, and on a phone. It also explains what the most common tags mean.

Read EXIF in the browser (no install)

The fastest way is the EXIF viewer on this site:

Open the page.
Drag a photo onto it.
The viewer parses the file in your browser (nothing is uploaded) and shows the standard fields in a table. If the photo carries GPS, it pins the location on a map.

This works for JPEG, PNG, HEIC, and TIFF files from any phone or camera.

Read EXIF on macOS

Right-click the file in Finder → Get Info → expand More Info. You'll see basic camera and exposure data, but not GPS.
For full EXIF, open the photo in Preview, then Tools → Show Inspector (⌘ ⌥ I). Tabs across the top expose Exif and GPS data.
Photographers often use exiftool on the command line. exiftool photo.jpg dumps every tag in the file.

Read EXIF on Windows

Right-click the file → Properties → Details. Most camera and exposure fields are visible. GPS may be present as decimal latitude / longitude rows.
For more depth, install ExifTool for Windows or a GUI like ExifTool GUI.

Read EXIF on iPhone

Open the photo in Photos. Swipe up. The "Info" panel shows the camera, exposure, GPS, and address (if location services were on at capture).
For raw EXIF dumping, install Halide, Metapho, or any "EXIF viewer" app.

The browser-based EXIF viewer also works fine in Mobile Safari, which is useful when you don't want to install another app.

Read EXIF on Android

The Google Photos app shows a subset of EXIF in the Info sheet. For full EXIF, Files by Google or any third-party EXIF viewer app works. Or, again, the browser tool works in Chrome and Firefox on Android too.

What the common tags mean

A short reference. Not exhaustive, just the ones you'll actually need.

Date / time tags. Three of them, often confused:

DateTimeOriginal: when the photo was taken (the shutter press).
CreateDate (sometimes DateTimeDigitized): when the file was created (usually the same as Original).
ModifyDate: when the file was last modified. Editing software updates this; the original is what most "when was this taken" questions are about.

GPS tags.

GPSLatitude / GPSLongitude: the coordinates, usually as decimal degrees in the parsed view.
GPSAltitude: height above sea level. Less reliable than the horizontal coordinates.
GPSDateStamp / GPSTimeStamp: UTC time at the moment GPS was recorded. Useful as a sanity check against DateTimeOriginal.

Camera & lens.

Make / Model: the camera brand and model.
LensModel: the lens (for cameras that report it).
Software: what wrote the file. If it's a phone, the iOS / Android version. If it's an editor, you'll see Lightroom, Photoshop, or similar, which is a strong hint that the photo was processed, not straight-from-camera.

Exposure.

FNumber: aperture (e.g. 2.8 is f/2.8).
ExposureTime: shutter speed, usually as a fraction (1/250).
ISO: sensor sensitivity.
FocalLength: lens focal length in mm.

Attribution.

Artist and Copyright: set on cameras with a configured photographer name. Often blank.

What's missing or stripped

Several common situations remove EXIF:

Social uploads. Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, and most others strip GPS (and sometimes all EXIF) on upload to protect users. If you want a photo whose location stays visible after sharing, the only reliable answer is a pixel-rendered GPS stamp.
Some messaging apps. iMessage and AirDrop preserve EXIF; many cross-platform messengers strip it.
Image editors. Some "save as" pipelines drop EXIF unless explicitly preserved.
Screenshots. A screenshot is a new image. It carries the screenshot device's EXIF, not the original photo's.

If you suspect a photo's EXIF was stripped (or wasn't there to begin with), viewing it in the EXIF viewer is the fastest way to confirm.

Editing or removing EXIF

This guide is about reading EXIF, but a quick note on writing:

Removing GPS only. macOS Photos has Image → Location → Hide Location. Windows: right-click → Properties → Details → Remove Properties.
Removing all EXIF. A free desktop tool like exiftool or an online EXIF stripper (note: these do upload your photo) handles it.
Editing dates. Cameras don't normally let you alter EXIF dates after capture, but exiftool can. Most file managers also expose ModifyDate, which can be confusing: that's the file's modify time, not the photograph's capture time.

The TimeStamp Camera tools on this site are read-and-stamp, not edit. They don't modify your original file's EXIF; they only produce a new image with a visible stamp on top.

How to Read EXIF Metadata