EXIF

EXIF commonly records capture settings, dates, orientation, camera and lens information. It can also point to a GPS information directory. A camera may store exposure time, aperture, ISO, focal length and the software that last saved the file.

GPS

Location metadata can contain coordinates, altitude, direction and related timestamps. ImageHush flags supported GPS structures without sending coordinates to a map service. It deliberately avoids turning a private coordinate into a request to another provider.

XMP and IPTC

Editing and publishing applications use XMP and IPTC for captions, keywords, creator information, ratings, workflow history and software details. These families overlap in purpose but are stored differently depending on the image format and application.

Content Credentials

C2PA Content Credentials can describe an image's origin and editing history using signed, tamper-evident provenance. Their presence does not by itself prove that an image is true, and their absence does not prove that an image is false.

How ImageHush presents a scan

Detected
The scanner found a supported structure or metadata group.
Not detected
The scanner did not find that supported group. This is not a forensic guarantee.
Plain language
Results are grouped by privacy meaning rather than listing every raw tag.
Local processing
The selected file and extracted details remain in the browser session.

Metadata is different from pixels

A metadata viewer reads information stored around the visible image data. A pixel watermark, face, sign or landmark is part of the picture itself and requires a different kind of analysis. Removing one category does not remove the other.

Why can two viewers show different results?

Metadata can be stored in several containers, compressed blocks or vendor-specific fields. Tools support different formats and tag families, so one viewer may report something another does not. Damaged files and unusual exports can also produce different results. Treat a browser scan as a practical privacy check, not a complete forensic examination.

Verify how local processing works

See the browser network policy, output checks and current automated test coverage.

Read the verification notes

What a local viewer cannot tell you

A metadata viewer cannot identify every invisible watermark, determine whether the scene is truthful, inspect records held by third parties, or guarantee that an image was or was not AI-generated.

What to do after the scan

If the metadata is useful, keep the original in your private archive. If you are sharing publicly, use the EXIF remover to create a separate copy. For a location-specific checklist, see remove location data from a photo.