Most photographers know a photo can carry a GPS location. Fewer know it can also carry the serial number of the camera that took it, and often the serial of the lens too. That number is the same in every photo you have ever taken with that camera. Anyone who has two of your photos can tell they came from the same body, even if one was posted under your name and the other anonymously.

This guide shows where the serial number hides, why it matters, and how to remove it from JPEGs and from RAW files without damaging them.

Where the serial number lives

A camera can write its serial number in several places inside one file:

  • The standard EXIF field (Body Serial Number, or Serial Number on older cameras). Most photo viewers show this one.
  • The lens serial number, a separate field.
  • The maker notes. A block of brand-specific data that Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fujifilm and Panasonic all use. It often holds an internal serial, a shutter count, and an image count, and many photo viewers don't show it at all.
  • Unique image IDs. Canon writes a unique ID per image, and DNG files carry an ID that links a converted file back to its original.

Phones are different: iPhones and most Android phones don't write a body serial number. The serial problem is mostly a camera problem.

Why it matters

  • Linking accounts. A serial number connects photos across sites. If you post under a pen name and your real name, or run an anonymous account, the serial can join them up.
  • Stolen camera searches work exactly this way. Sites like Stolen Camera Finder look up photos on the web by the serial number inside them. That's useful when it's your stolen camera, and a reminder of how easy the lookup is.
  • Shutter counts reveal how much a camera has been used, which matters when you sell it and might not be what you want buyers to see from sample photos.
  • Client work and stock. Agencies and clients don't need your gear details, and the serial ties every delivered file back to one body.

How to check if your photos carry a serial number

For JPEG, PNG, WebP and HEIC photos, open our image cleaner and drop a photo in. It shows what the file holds, in your browser, before anything is removed.

For RAW files (CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, RAF, RW2, DNG), drop the file on our RAW metadata page. Without an account, it reads the file's header in your browser, without uploading it, and lists what it found, including camera and lens serial numbers.

Removing the serial from JPEGs and other photos

This is the easy case. A JPEG is a finished picture, so all of its metadata can be removed safely.

  • Our image cleaner removes all EXIF (including serials and maker notes), GPS, XMP and AI labels. It runs entirely in your browser, so photos never leave your device.
  • Lightroom Classic: in the Export dialog, set Metadata to Copyright Only (or All Except Camera & Camera Raw Info). This leaves the serial out of the exported copy.
  • ExifTool: exiftool -all= photo.jpg removes everything from a JPEG.

Removing the serial from RAW files: be careful

RAW files are different. A RAW file isn't a finished picture. It's sensor data plus the information your editor needs to turn it into one. Some of that information sits in the same places as the personal details.

We learned this by testing. Running the blunt command exiftool -all= on a DNG shrank it from 35.7MB to 14.5MB and changed how the photo looked when opened, because it deleted data the raw converter needs. So never blunt-strip a RAW file.

Removing the serial safely means naming each identifying field and leaving everything else alone. That has its own traps:

  • ExifTool won't delete the maker-notes block in a RAW, and many serial fields inside it are marked permanent. They can only be overwritten with a neutral value (zeros), not deleted.
  • Nikon uses the serial number as a key. Nikon encrypts part of the colour information in NEF files using the camera's serial number and shutter count. We tested removing the Nikon serial: the white balance of the photo was ruined. So in a Nikon NEF, the maker-note serial number and shutter count have to stay. The ordinary EXIF serial can still go.

The safe way, in one step

Our RAW metadata remover does the targeted clean for you:

  1. Removed: GPS, owner and artist name, copyright notice, body and lens serial numbers, internal serials in the maker notes (Canon, Sony, Fujifilm, Panasonic), Sony shutter counts, image counts, unique image IDs, the DNG link to the original file, software names, all capture and edit dates, time zones, and XMP and IPTC data.
  2. Kept on purpose: the camera make and model and the lens model. Your editor uses them to pick the right colour profile and lens correction, and removing them breaks some formats. Every owner of that camera model shares them, so they don't identify you.
  3. Kept because it has to be: in Nikon NEF files, the maker-note serial number and shutter count, for the colour reason above. The report tells you when this applies.
  4. Checked: we decode the actual sensor data and the camera's white balance before and after, and they must match exactly. If our checker can't read a very new camera model, the file is marked "couldn't verify" instead of being called clean.

Formats: Canon CR2 and CR3, Nikon NEF, Sony ARW, Fujifilm RAF, Panasonic RW2, and DNG. Files are cleaned on our server in Germany and deleted straight after: the original as soon as it's cleaned, the clean copy after its one download (or after 15 minutes).

Frequently asked questions

Do photos contain the camera serial number?

Photos from dedicated cameras usually do: in the EXIF data, in the maker notes, or both. Phone photos usually don't. The lens serial number is often recorded as well.

Can someone track me with my camera's serial number?

They can connect photos to the same camera. If one photo is linked to you, any other photo with the same serial number can be linked to you too, including ones posted anonymously. Sites that search for stolen cameras use exactly this.

Why does the cleaned NEF still have a serial number?

Nikon uses the serial number and shutter count as a key for the colour data in NEF files. Removing them ruins the white balance, so they stay. The ordinary EXIF serial is still removed. If you need no serial at all, export a JPEG and clean that instead.

Will removing metadata change my RAW photo?

Not with a targeted clean. We check that the sensor data and white balance are identical before and after. A blunt "remove everything" command can change it, which is why we don't use one.

Does Lightroom remove the serial number on export?

Yes, if you export with Metadata set to Copyright Only, or All Except Camera & Camera Raw Info. That only affects the exported copy, not your RAW files.

Is it free?

Cleaning JPEG, PNG, WebP and HEIC photos is free in your browser. RAW files: a free account gets 3 cleans a month, and Pro gets 100.