PixWash
Strip EXIF from a HEIC without converting it to JPEG: the metadata is wiped inside the container, pixels untouched, nothing uploaded.
Private by design: the photo is read and cleaned entirely in your browser. It is never uploaded anywhere — you can even load this page, go offline, and it still works.
Inside a HEIC file
HEIC is an ISO Base Media container — the same family as MP4. The image lives in HEVC-coded items; metadata lives in separate items: an Exif item (camera, lens, timestamps, GPS — same TIFF format as JPEG EXIF) and often an XMP item (Adobe's XML metadata). An index inside the file's meta box records where each item's bytes sit.
How PixWash removes EXIF from a HEIC
It parses that index in your browser, finds the Exif and XMP items, and overwrites their bytes in place — the EXIF payload becomes an empty, spec-valid TIFF record and the XMP becomes an empty packet. Nothing is moved, so every offset in the container stays valid; the HEVC image data is never touched. The cleaned file opens everywhere the original did, stays a HEIC, and its pixels are bit-for-bit identical. One honest consequence of in-place wiping: the file size doesn't shrink — the space the metadata occupied is blanked, not reclaimed.
Why most tools convert instead
Parsing ISO containers is more work than JPEG segments, so the common shortcut is decode-to-JPEG-and-save — which re-encodes your photo (generation loss), changes its format, and usually happens on someone's server. If you script locally, exiftool -all= photo.heic is the gold-standard alternative; PixWash is for when you're on a machine without tools installed, and for seeing what's in the file before you clean it.
What's left alone
Everything the image needs: color information, the container's own rotation/mirror properties (HEIC stores display orientation in the container, not in EXIF — so cleaned photos never turn sideways), thumbnails, and Apple's depth/portrait data items. Only the metadata records that describe you — EXIF and XMP — are wiped. The findings table above shows exactly what was found before you download.
Common tasks
Guides for the usual reasons people end up here — each opens the tool with a live demo:
Remove GPS location from photos · Remove location from iPhone photos (HEIC) · Remove EXIF data from a JPEG · Remove EXIF from HEIC photos · View EXIF data online · Strip EXIF without losing image quality · Remove metadata from a PNG · Remove EXIF & XMP metadata from a WebP image · Remove metadata from an AVIF image · Remove metadata from a TIFF · Remove metadata from DNG raw files · Remove metadata from camera raw files (CR2, NEF, ARW, ORF, RW2, PEF, RAF) · Remove metadata from a PDF · Clean photos before selling online · Your camera’s serial number is in your photos
По-русски
Удалить метаданные (EXIF) из фото — по-русски · убрать геолокацию (GPS) с фото · удалить EXIF из JPEG · фото iPhone (HEIC) · посмотреть EXIF онлайн · метаданные PDF