What it contains
Camera make, model and serial number; lens; exposure settings; the exact date and time; orientation; colour profile; and on phones, usually the GPS coordinates of where the photo was taken.
The privacy problem
GPS coordinates in a photo posted publicly can reveal a home address, a workplace or a routine. The camera serial number links every photo you have ever published to the same device. Most social platforms strip EXIF on upload — but direct uploads, email attachments and files you host yourself do not.
When to keep it
Photographers need capture settings for their own reference and portfolio. Legal, insurance and journalistic work often needs the timestamp as evidence. Print workflows need the embedded colour profile for accurate reproduction.
Orientation is the one that bites
The EXIF orientation flag tells software to rotate the image on display. Strip it carelessly and photos can appear sideways. Proper stripping applies the rotation to the pixels first — which this converter does.
File size
EXIF blocks are usually a few kilobytes but can reach tens of kilobytes with embedded thumbnails and colour profiles. On a page with fifty images that is worth removing.