Online EXIF viewer
Read the metadata a photo carries — camera, lens, exposure, timestamp, GPS — parsed right here in the tab. JPEG files need no engine download at all; nothing is uploaded.
Drop a photo (or a zip of them) anywhere on this page
EXIF parsing runs entirely in your browser. Photos never leave your device.
EXIF is the metadata a camera writes into the photo at the moment the shutter fires: make and model, lens, ISO, aperture, shutter speed, focal length, the timestamp, sometimes the GPS coordinates. It is how you check what settings a keeper was shot with, prove when and where a photo was taken, or identify a file that arrived with a meaningless name. ZipTool reads it in the browser tab — the bytes are parsed locally and rendered into the Info panel, and the photo never leaves your device.
Three file families carry their metadata here, each through the viewer it already opens in: JPEG files (.jpg, .jpeg, .jfif) are parsed by this site’s own EXIF reader — no engine download, no worker, instant; camera RAW files (CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, DNG, RAF and the rest) surface theirs straight out of the develop engine; HEIC photos are read container-walk plus EXIF parse, same panel. Drop a single file or a whole zip — each photo’s Info button sits beside it in the viewer.
How to view EXIF data online
Nothing to install, nothing to sign up for:
- Drop your photo anywhere on this page — or the zip it came in — or click to browse, or paste a URL.
- Click the file in the list; it opens in the image viewer (a RAW develops, a JPEG displays instantly).
- Press the Info button — in the viewer’s top corner for JPEGs, in the meta bar for RAW and HEIC files.
- The panel folds out the shooting metadata: camera, lens, ISO, aperture, shutter, focal length, timestamp, orientation, GPS when present.
- The same photo keeps its EXIF while you browse — the panel is a read-out, and closing it changes nothing.
What the Info panel shows
The rows are the shooting-relevant subset — the fields photographers and reviewers actually ask about: Camera (make and model), Lens, ISO, Aperture, Shutter, Focal length, Taken (the original capture time, not the file’s copy date), Software (when an editor stamped itself in), Orientation (when the sensor recorded a rotation), and GPS — latitude and longitude as plain decimal degrees, with altitude when the file carries it.
Empty fields drop out rather than showing zeros — a photo without GPS simply has no GPS row. RAW files additionally show sensor dimensions, bit depth and the developed output size, because the develop engine already knows them.
Why some photos show no metadata at all
Most photos that crossed a social platform or a messenger have no EXIF left to show: Instagram, WhatsApp, X and friends strip metadata server-side on upload (partly for privacy, mostly for bandwidth). A screenshot has none either — it was generated, not captured. A file with no Info button is not an error; it is the honest reading of an empty metadata block.
This matters in the other direction too: an EXIF block that survives intact — full camera, lens, original timestamp — is itself evidence the file is close to its origin and has not been through the usual pipeline.
GPS coordinates, plainly and privately
When a photo carries GPS, the panel shows the coordinates as decimal degrees in plain text. There is deliberately no map link: clicking a marker on a third-party map sends those coordinates — where you or the photographer physically were — to that map’s servers, which is exactly the kind of data handoff this tool refuses. Copy the numbers into any map yourself if you want the pin; the decision stays yours.
Which files carry EXIF here
JPEG (.jpg, .jpeg, .jfif) — parsed by this site’s own reader, no engine download needed. Camera RAW — the full online RAW viewer family (CR2, CR3, NEF, NRW, ARW, DNG, RAF, ORF, RW2, PEF and the vendor tail), surfaced from the develop engine’s read of the file. HEIC/HEIF — Apple’s container walked for its Exif item property, then parsed. PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP and SVG show no panel: they either carry no EXIF or none worth trusting, and pretending otherwise would be the dishonest version.
Honest limits
Real capability, real boundaries — stated up front.
- Viewing only — the tool reads metadata; it does not edit, add, or strip EXIF. Your file is never rewritten.
- The shooting-relevant subset — the panel shows camera, exposure, time and GPS fields, not every IPTC/XMP tag a forensic tool lists.
- Stripped means stripped — photos already stripped by a platform show nothing, and no viewer can recover what was deleted server-side.
- JPEG EXIF needs no download; RAW metadata arrives with the one-time develop engine (~1.1 MB, this site’s own domain, cached).
- Zips welcome — drop the archive and every photo inside opens with its own Info button; nothing is extracted to disk.
Credits
RAW metadata comes from the develop engine, LibRaw compiled to WebAssembly via rawconvert-wasm. The JPEG and HEIC EXIF readers are this site’s own defensive TIFF parser — bounds-checked, no third-party service involved at any step.
Frequently asked questions
How can I view EXIF data without uploading the photo?
Drop it on this page. The metadata is parsed by JavaScript in your browser tab — for JPEG files there is not even an engine to download. You can verify it: press F12, open the Network tab, and watch while a photo opens — no request carries the file. Disconnect from the internet after the page loads and a JPEG still shows its EXIF.
What is EXIF data exactly?
Exchangeable Image File Format — the metadata block cameras write into photos: make and model, lens, ISO, aperture, shutter speed, focal length, the original capture timestamp, orientation, and GPS coordinates when the camera recorded them. It travels inside the file, which is why it survives copies and zips but not platforms that strip it on upload.
Why does my photo show no metadata?
Almost always because it was stripped on the way. Social networks and messengers remove EXIF server-side when you upload; screenshots are generated without it; some export tools write it out deliberately. The absence of an Info button is the honest reading of an empty block — no viewer can display what a server deleted.
Can I see where a photo was taken?
If the camera recorded GPS and nothing stripped it, the Info panel shows the coordinates as decimal degrees plus altitude when present. They render as plain text with no map link — a link would hand the location to a third-party map service, which crosses the privacy line this tool holds. Paste the numbers into any map yourself if you want the pin.
Does viewing EXIF change my photo?
No. The read-out is exactly that — the parser looks at the bytes and the panel renders them. Nothing is written back, and the download paths export decoded pixels, never a re-tagged original.
Can I remove EXIF metadata here?
No — deliberately. Stripping metadata rewrites the file, and this tool keeps to reading. If you need a copy without metadata, exporting the image through most editors produces one; the point of this page is showing you exactly what is inside first.
Does it work on photos inside a zip?
Yes — drop the whole archive. The file tree opens, name search works across every entry, and each photo opens straight from the zip with its own Info button. Nothing is extracted to disk; the archive stays as it is.