How to Remove EXIF Data from Images Before Uploading to Web

Web users tend to use websites that have minimum load time; less than 5 seconds. To minimise website loading time, it is essential to work on enhancing page speed. There are plenty of ways in which an ideal page speed can be achieved, optimising images is one of them.
Optimising images means to critically pick the right image format suitable for web i.e. WebP. But this isn’t the only action required to be taken, removing EXIF data is equally important. By removing EXIF data you not just make secure changes to your WordPress website but also enhance image load time which dramatically makes your website load faster.

What is EXIF Data?

Images when saved often carry details such as shutter speed, exposure settings, aperture, geological details etc. EXIF stands for Exchangeable Image File Format and is often known as Metadata, such information makes it easy for photographers and systems to arrange image files in folders. However, this data makes an image file heavy.
Thus, to ease out the loading process on a website, it is essential to remove the EXIF data. This process can be done either before uploading files to a WordPress website or after that all changes are made.

How to Remove Image EXIF Data?

To remove EXIF data from images you need to follow certain steps knowing your system’s operating systems.

Removing Image EXIF Data in Windows

1. Click right on the image icon you would like to get rid of EXIF Data from. Access the Properties tab from the dropdown menu. 
2. From the properties box that appears on the screen, click on the Details tab. 
3. On the bottom of the Details tab, you will find ‘Remove Properties and Personal Information’ at the bottom, click on it. 
4. On the screen now, you will find two options: 

• Create a copy with all possible properties removed 
• Remove the following properties from this file

If you choose the first option, you will be able to remove all EXIF data available while the other option enables you to select the categories of metadata that you want to remove. 

Click OK, and you are done!

Removing Image EXIF Data in Mac

If you are a Mac user, removing EXIF metadata is less complicated. Here are the steps you need to follow:

1. Locate the image and Open it using Preview 
2. In the menu click on Tools 
3. Access Show Inspector and select the first (i) Tab.
4. From the available tabs select EXIF and remove data. 

Even after deliberate attempts of removing EXIF data before uploading images to the web, people often fail due to errors generated by operating systems. Thus, to remove EXIF data and optimise image loading speed from WordPress website you need a compatible plugin. 

Plugins such as WP Rocket and Imagify make this task easier. These plugins not just remove EXIF data from images but also further compress the image files. This automatically enhances the site speed by decreasing the image load time.