Does Instagram Remove EXIF Data From Photos?

What Instagram removes and what it keeps

Narqo, a tool vendor, uploaded test photos to Instagram on 20 October 2026, downloaded the copy that Instagram serves and read it with ExifTool and c2patool. Instagram saved a new copy of the image. It did not pass the original file through.

The test used one upload on one day, and Instagram can change this at any time. An older test agrees with the main result. In 2019, the IPTC (the standards body for news photo metadata) found that Instagram displayed no embedded metadata. That test could not download the Instagram copy, so it did not look inside the file.

Narqo also tested Threads, Meta's other photo app. It reports that the files that Threads served were byte-for-byte identical to the Instagram copies. So the same results probably apply there. Narqo found that every platform in its test re-saved the uploaded image. Where data was removed, it was removed in that new copy. A file that you send without going through Instagram, such as by email, is not re-saved and keeps all of its metadata.

Meta still receives the original

These tests look at the file that other people can get. They do not show what Meta does with the file that you upload. Meta said in February 2024 that it builds tools to read the "AI generated" information in C2PA and IPTC metadata so that it can label images on Facebook, Instagram and Threads. To do that, its systems must read the metadata in your upload.

In 2020, the FBI's Portland office wrote that Facebook does not share EXIF data but may use it internally. That statement is about Facebook, not Instagram, and it is six years old. We found no Meta page that lists what it keeps from an uploaded photo. Treat the answer as unknown.

What Instagram's removal does not cover

• Location tags and captions. A place that you add to the post is public. It has nothing to do with the hidden data in the file.
• What you can see in the photo. A street sign, a house number or a view from your window stays visible.
• Text fields. The test found that a description or copyright name in the file stayed.
• Other ways of sharing. The test covered a normal post. We found no test of direct messages, and files that you send by email or as a download keep all their metadata.

Clean the photo before you upload it

1. Open WipePic in your browser.
2. Add your photos. WipePic shows the data that it found, such as the location, the device and the time taken.
3. Download the cleaned copies and upload those to Instagram.

WipePic removes the location, the camera and phone details, the date and time, the author and copyright fields, the editing history, AI labels and Content Credentials. It keeps the orientation and the color profile. It does not change the pixels, so the photo looks the same. WipePic runs in your browser and does not upload your photos. iPhone photos work too: see how to clean HEIC files.

If you only want to hide the place, remove the location from a photo. To see what a photo holds first, use the EXIF viewer.

Sources

Checked on 2026-11-08. The tests come from third parties. Instagram does not publish a statement.

• Narqo: Which platforms strip image metadata? (tested 2026-10-20)
• IPTC: Social media sites photo metadata test results (2019)
• Meta: Labeling AI-generated images on Facebook, Instagram and Threads (2024-02-06)
• FBI Portland: Building a digital defense against dangers of EXIF data (2020-11-17)