Does PNG Have Metadata? EXIF, Text Chunks and How to Remove Them

Yes. PNG files can contain metadata, stored in separate blocks called chunks: text chunks (tEXt, zTXt and iTXt) that can hold anything from an author name to a full AI prompt, an eXIf chunk holding standard EXIF data such as GPS coordinates, a tIME modification timestamp and color information such as an embedded ICC profile. Removing PNG metadata means removing those chunks, which leaves the image data untouched.

PNG metadata is often overlooked because the format is associated with screenshots and graphics rather than camera photos. This guide explains how the format stores information, what is actually found in real files and how to view and remove it.

How a PNG file is built: chunks

A PNG file starts with an 8-byte signature, followed by a sequence of chunks. Each chunk has the same simple layout: a 4-byte length, a 4-letter type name, the data and a 4-byte checksum (CRC). The image itself lives in one or more IDAT chunks, and the file ends with IEND.

The letter case of the chunk name carries meaning. If the first letter is uppercase, the chunk is critical, and a decoder must understand it to display the image. Only four chunks are critical: IHDR (dimensions and color type), PLTE (palette), IDAT (image data) and IEND. Everything with a lowercase first letter is ancillary, which means the image can be displayed without it. All metadata is ancillary.

The fourth letter's case also matters: lowercase means "safe to copy", telling editors they may keep the chunk even if they change the image. Both eXIf and the text chunks are safe to copy, which is one reason PNG metadata survives so many edits.

Text chunks: tEXt, zTXt and iTXt

PNG has had text chunks since its first version. Each one stores a keyword (1 to 79 characters) and a text value. The three types differ in encoding:

• tEXt stores uncompressed Latin-1 text.
• zTXt stores compressed Latin-1 text and is recommended for large blocks.
• iTXt stores UTF-8 text, optionally compressed, with a language tag. The current specification recommends it for new content.

The PNG specification predefines a set of keywords: Title, Author, Description, Copyright, Creation Time, Software, Disclaimer, Warning, Source, Comment, Collection and XML:com.adobe.xmp, which is where XMP metadata is stored in a PNG. Applications can also invent their own keywords, and many do.

That freedom is the main privacy issue with PNG. A text chunk can hold an author's real name, a file path such as C:\Users\yourname\Documents\, a long XMP packet with editing history and document IDs, or a raw EXIF profile: older ImageMagick versions stored EXIF in a text chunk with the keyword Raw profile type exif before an official EXIF chunk existed. For more on XMP and how it differs from EXIF and IPTC, see EXIF vs IPTC vs XMP.

The eXIf chunk: EXIF data inside PNG

For most of PNG's history there was no standard place for EXIF data. That changed on July 15, 2017, when version 1.5.0 of the "Extensions to the PNG Specification" registered the eXIf chunk. Its contents follow the EXIF format used in JPEG: the data starts with II (little-endian, "Intel") or MM (big-endian, "Motorola"), followed by the usual TIFF-style structure with tags like GPSLatitude, Make, Model and DateTimeOriginal.

The W3C published the PNG Specification Third Edition as a Recommendation on June 24, 2025. Besides adding official support for animated PNG and HDR color information, it moved eXIf from the extensions document into the main specification. A few rules from the current text are worth knowing:

• Only one eXIf chunk is allowed per file.
• The chunk-ordering rules place it before the image data. The 2017 extension had allowed it almost anywhere, so older files may have it after IDAT, where some software never looks.
• The specification's privacy section explicitly warns that eXIf may contain automatically included data such as GPS coordinates, the same risk as EXIF in JPEG.

Support for reading eXIf is uneven: some viewers show its contents, others ignore it completely. That cuts both ways. A file can look clean in one app and still contain coordinates that a different tool displays.

Timestamps, color profiles and other technical chunks

The tIME chunk records when the image was last modified, down to the second, and the specification recommends using UTC. It is less revealing than EXIF dates, but it can still link a file to a particular moment, for example the time a screenshot was edited.

The iCCP chunk embeds an ICC color profile, such as Display P3 on a recent Mac or iPhone. It tells software how to display the colors accurately. Its privacy content is minimal (typically a profile name), and removing it can make colors look duller or shifted, which is why metadata removers often keep it. Our article on ICC color profiles explains the trade-off. The newer cICP, mDCV and cLLI chunks describe HDR content and contain no personal information.

Finally, a PNG file is supposed to end at IEND, but some programs append extra data after it. Normal viewers ignore that data, so it is invisible, yet it travels with the file. ExifTool, for example, reports and preserves trailing data unless you ask it to delete it.

Where PNG metadata comes from in real files

Screenshots

Screenshot tools on most platforms save PNG. They commonly add a color profile and pixel-density information, and some add XMP or text fields naming the software or describing the capture. GPS data is rare in screenshots. Our article on screenshot metadata covers each platform.

Image editors and design tools

Photo editors and design apps often write a Software keyword, XMP packets with creation and modification dates, document IDs and editing history, and sometimes the author name configured in the app.

AI image generators

This is where PNG text chunks matter most today. Popular local image generators save their generation settings inside the PNG:

• The AUTOMATIC1111 Stable Diffusion web UI writes a parameters text chunk containing the prompt, negative prompt, seed, sampler and model information.
• ComfyUI writes prompt and workflow text chunks containing JSON, which can describe the entire node graph, model file names and sometimes file paths. The ComfyUI documentation describes these entries.
• Several AI image services add C2PA Content Credentials that record how the image was made, stored in PNG in a caBX chunk. See our guide to AI images and C2PA for the trade-offs of removing them.

Sharing such a PNG shares your exact prompt and settings, which you may consider your own work, along with any personal details you typed into the prompt.

How to view PNG metadata

Most operating system file viewers show little or nothing about PNG chunks, so use a dedicated tool. ExifTool reads every chunk type listed above. Its PNG tag reference lists them all.

# List all metadata with the group each tag comes from
exiftool -a -G1 -s image.png

# Show only the PNG chunks and any EXIF block
exiftool -PNG:all -EXIF:all image.png

The command-line utility pngcheck is also useful: pngcheck -v image.png lists every chunk in order with its size, and pngcheck -t image.png prints the contents of text chunks. A long list of tEXt or iTXt chunks, or an eXIf chunk, tells you there is something to clean.

How to remove metadata from a PNG

Because metadata chunks are separate from IDAT, a remover can drop them and copy the image data unchanged. Here are the main options:

The quickest route without installing anything is to remove PNG metadata online: upload up to 10 PNG, JPEG or WebP files of up to 25 MB each, keep the default format and download the cleaned copies with a report of what was found. For ExifTool's full syntax, see our ExifTool cheat sheet.

PNG metadata checklist

• Never assume a PNG is clean because it is a screenshot or a graphic. Check it.
• Look for eXIf and text chunks first: they hold GPS, names, paths, software and AI prompts.
• Remember that converting a photo to PNG can carry its EXIF data along.
• Keep the iCCP color profile unless you have a reason to remove it.
• Re-check the cleaned file with ExifTool or pngcheck before publishing it.
• Check what is visible in the image: metadata removal cannot hide names or details on screen.