What can photo and video metadata tell you?
Metadata is information stored alongside the visible image or video stream. It can help identify how and when a file was made, what device created it, and sometimes where it was recorded. TRACE/MEDIA reads available metadata locally in your browser.
Photo metadata: EXIF, camera settings, and GPS
Many JPEG and other camera-produced images can contain EXIF tags. Depending on the device and export workflow, tags may include camera maker and model, lens, original capture time, exposure, ISO, focal length, orientation, dimensions, and GPS coordinates. A GPS reading may include latitude and longitude and can be opened as a Google Maps link in the extractor.
Image editors, social networks, messaging services, and privacy settings may remove or rewrite EXIF data. A missing value does not necessarily mean the camera never knew it; the copy you are inspecting may no longer contain it.
Video metadata: device, streams, and recording details
Video files can include container and stream metadata. Depending on the format and source, an inspector may find the codec, resolution, frame rate, duration, audio codec, timestamps, device model, or recording location. Some video containers encode a location using ISO 6709 coordinates; other files have no location tag at all.
Device make, model, and location are not guaranteed. Re-encoding or exporting a clip can discard camera-origin tags, and some apps add their own encoding details instead of the original recording-device information.
How to inspect a media file
- Open the TRACE/MEDIA extractor in a current browser.
- Choose a photo or video, or drag it into the file area.
- Review the available information by category. Missing fields are omitted when the file does not contain them.
- Use the Google Maps link if valid GPS coordinates were found, or export the results as JSON.
- Clear the session when you are finished to release the in-page media previews.
The browser parses the selected file locally. The original media is not uploaded to TRACE/MEDIA. A browser may still need substantial memory for a very large media file.
Supported formats and limits
The extractor accepts common image formats such as JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, AVIF, HEIC/HEIF, TIFF, and BMP, and video formats such as MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM, AVI, WMV, FLV, and 3GP. Actual parsing depends on the selected format, browser support, and which tags are present in the file.
Metadata is not a verification of authenticity. A timestamp or location can be edited, copied, or removed. Treat it as file-provided information, not independent proof of when or where something happened.