Guide to removing EXIF metadata
EXIF (Exchangeable Image File Format) is a format used to store information (8) (metadata) about something. In relation to images, metadata includes information such as the date and time of when an image was taken, where it was taken and information about the device used.
When uploading such images to public platforms, it is important to ensure that this metadata is removed – whilst some platforms may automatically do this, the following steps are provided as a means to check and remove EXIF data as part of your approach to data security.
PC/Windows
1. Right-click the image file and select Properties and then the Details tab.
2. Click Remove Properties and Personal Information at the bottom of the window
3. Choose from ‘Create a copy with all possible properties removed’ or ‘Remove the following properties from this file’
4. Check the resulting file using Step 1 above to ensure the metadata has been successfully removed
MacOS
1. Open the image in Preview (double-click the image)
2. Click File > Export
3. Under Info, ensure the box ‘Include Location Information’ is NOT checked
4. Ensure the image title does not contain identifiable information
5. Click Save and then check the resulting file using Step 1 above.
Whilst these steps do not prevent someone from harvesting images on public platforms, it is a useful step in ensuring associated metadata (9) is kept to a necessary minimum.