Does resizing or converting a photo remove its GPS location?
Nine everyday operations on one geotagged test photo. Two of them kept the location.
Measured on 24 October 2026 · Last updated: October 2026
The short answer
It depends on the program, not on the operation. In my test, a plain re-save, a resize and a conversion dropped the location. The two runs that kept it were the ones where the program was told to carry the camera record along, which is how many programs behave when you ask them to keep the camera data.
How I tested
I took the generated test photo from the file-type comparison: 4,032 by 3,024 pixels, 30 personal tags including a location and a serial number, an orientation flag that says "stand upright", and a color profile. I ran it through nine operations with two ordinary utilities on my machine, an image library and a command-line video tool, using default settings unless a row says otherwise. I read each result back with a separate metadata reader. This was on 24 October 2026.
The result
| Operation | Personal tags left | Location left | Color profile left | Orientation flag | Pixels stored |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start: the original | 30 | yes | yes | 6 | 4032 x 3024 |
| 1. Re-save, image library, defaults | 0 | no | no | none | 4032 x 3024 |
| 2. Resize to a quarter, defaults | 0 | no | no | none | 1008 x 756 |
| 3. Re-save, carrying the camera record along | 22 | yes | no | 6 | 4032 x 3024 |
| 4. Crop to 2,000 x 1,500, carrying the camera record along | 22 | yes | no | 6 | 2000 x 1500 |
| 5. Re-encode, command-line video tool, defaults | 0 | no | yes | none | 3024 x 4032 |
| 6. Resize, command-line video tool, defaults | 0 | no | yes | none | 1008 x 1344 |
| 7. Convert to PNG, image library, defaults | 0 | no | yes | none | 4032 x 3024 |
| 8. Convert to PNG, command-line video tool | 0 | no | yes | none | 3024 x 4032 |
| 9. Convert to WebP, command-line video tool | 0 | no | no | none | 3024 x 4032 |
Location survived in 2 of 9: the re-save and the crop where the camera record was passed along. In those two, the serial number, the capture time and the name survived as well, 22 tags in all. The caption block and the editor block did not, so they went from 30 to 22 even there.
The side effect nobody mentions
Removing the data is not always harmless. Operations 1, 2 and 7 dropped the orientation flag but kept the pixels in the direction they were stored. A viewer that obeys the flag showed the original upright, 3,024 by 4,032. Without the flag, those three would show it on its side. In operations 1 to 4 the color profile was lost as well. The video tool took another route: in operations 5, 6 and 8 it turned the pixels upright itself, so those results are 3,024 by 4,032 and 1,008 by 1,344.
Our own converters
I also ran the same kind of check on four ConvertNinja image converters. JPG to PNG, PNG to JPG, WebP to JPG and PNG to WebP each returned a file with 0 personal tags, so the location was gone in all four. Three came out upright; WebP to JPG came out 4,032 by 3,024 with no orientation flag. The metadata remover gave 0 tags too, but it kept the orientation flag and the profile on purpose.
What this does not tell you
- It describes two utilities and two converters, with the settings I used. It does not describe your phone's gallery, a messaging app or a social site. I have not tested those, and each may behave differently.
- One file, one run per row.
- If a photo matters, read it back: the metadata checker lists what a file still carries, and the GPS remover takes the location out.