How to View EXIF Data on Windows

To view EXIF data on Windows, open the photo in File Explorer, switch to the Details view, and right-click the column header to enable fields like Camera model, F-number, Exposure time, ISO speed and Focal length. For the complete metadata block — GPS coordinates, lens model, serial numbers, timestamps and every raw tag — use a scriptable route such as ExifTool or PowerShell, or open the file in a browser-based EXIF data viewer that parses everything locally with no installation.

Windows itself gives you a convenient summary, but it deliberately shows only a small, curated slice of what is embedded in the file.

Method 1: File Explorer’s Details view

This is the fastest way to see the headline fields for a single photo.

1. Open File Explorer and navigate to the folder containing the image.
2. Choose View → Details, or press Ctrl + Shift + 6.
3. Right-click the column header row and tick the fields you care about.

Useful columns to enable:

• Date taken — populated from the Exif DateTimeOriginal tag when it exists, otherwise from DateTime or the file’s filesystem timestamp.
• Dimensions — pixel width and height.
• Camera make and Camera model — Make and Model.
• F-number, Exposure time, ISO speed, Focal length.
• Orientation — the Orientation flag that tells software how to rotate the image.
• Location — this column does surface GPS coordinates, but only when the file carries a geotag and Windows can resolve the mapping.

To see the same columns for many files at once, sort the view by any of them. Sorting by Date taken is a fast way to find the original capture date rather than the date the file was copied onto your disk.

Method 2: The Properties → Details panel

Right-click a photo and choose Properties, then open the Details tab. Windows renders a read-only summary of the same metadata here, along with file-level information such as type, size, and the Content status / Tags / Comments fields.

The panel is useful for confirming what Explorer is reading, but note two limitations:

• The fields are read-only. You cannot correct a wrong DateTimeOriginal or clear a GPS tag from this dialog.
• It exposes roughly the same subset as the column view. Lens model, body serial number, owner name, copyright, and the underlying raw tag IDs are not shown.

For a full breakdown of what each tag means, see the EXIF tag reference.

What Explorer shows versus what it hides

Metadata	Explorer column	Properties → Details	Full EXIF tool
Date taken	Yes	Yes	Yes
Dimensions	Yes	Yes	Yes
Camera make / model	Optional column	Yes	Yes
F-number, exposure time, ISO	Optional column	Yes	Yes
Focal length	Optional column	Yes	Yes
Orientation	Optional column	No	Yes
GPS latitude / longitude	Optional “Location” column	No	Yes
Lens model	No	No	Yes
Camera body serial number	No	No	Yes
Owner name, copyright	No	No	Yes
MakerNote / raw tag IDs	No	No	Yes

This is the central limitation of the native Windows route: it is a viewer for the popular fields, not for the metadata block.

Method 3: The Windows 11 Photos app

Windows 11 ships a modern Photos app. Open an image and click the info (i) icon in the toolbar: it shows the capture date, dimensions, file size, and the device that took the photo. It is convenient and fast, but it presents a curated summary rather than an editable or complete tag list.

Method 4: PowerShell — no extra software required

PowerShell ships with Windows 10 and 11 and can read the metadata block directly. The System.Drawing API exposes the top-level IFD0 properties, which is enough for most technical fields:

Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Drawing
$path = "C:\Users\you\Pictures\IMG_1234.JPG"
$img  = [System.Drawing.Image]::FromFile($path)

$img.PropertyItems | Sort-Object Id | ForEach-Object {
  $value = if ($_.Type -eq 2) {
    [Text.Encoding]::ASCII.GetString($_.Value).TrimEnd([char]0)
  } else {
    ($_.Value | ForEach-Object { '{0:X2}' -f $_ }) -join ' '
  }
  '{0:X4}  {1}' -f $_.Id, $value
}

$img.Dispose()

You will see entries such as 010F (Make), 0110 (Model), 0112 (Orientation), 0131 (Software), 829A (ExposureTime), 829D (FNumber), 8827 (ISO), 9003 (DateTimeOriginal), 920A (FocalLength) and A434 (LensModel).

Important caveat: System.Drawing stops at the top level. It reports 8769 (the Exif sub-IFD pointer) and 8825 (the GPS sub-IFD pointer) as raw integers, but it does not descend into them. GPS coordinates therefore require either ExifTool or a parser that walks the sub-IFDs.

To reproduce Explorer’s own columns for a file (or for a whole folder), use the Shell COM object:

$shell  = New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application
$folder = $shell.Namespace("C:\Users\you\Pictures")
$item   = $folder.ParseName("IMG_1234.JPG")

0..320 | ForEach-Object {
  $name  = $folder.GetDetailsOf($null, $_)
  $value = $folder.GetDetailsOf($item, $_)
  if ($value) { [pscustomobject]@{ Property = $name; Value = $value } }
} | Format-Table -AutoSize

Swap ParseName("IMG_1234.JPG") for a loop over Get-ChildItem to build a spreadsheet-friendly export.

Method 5: ExifTool — the complete, scriptable answer

ExifTool is the reference tool for reading EXIF, IPTC and XMP. On Windows, download the package, rename exiftool(-k).exe to exiftool.exe, and add the folder to your PATH.

#--- Every tag, grouped by source block, with duplicate tags shown
exiftool -G -a -s "C:\Users\you\Pictures\IMG_1234.JPG"

#--- Just the GPS coordinates, in decimal degrees
exiftool -n -GPSLatitude -GPSLongitude "IMG_1234.JPG"

#--- Export everything to a CSV for a whole folder
exiftool -csv -FileName -DateTimeOriginal -Make -Model -LensModel `
  -FNumber -ExposureTime -ISO -FocalLength -GPSPosition "C:\Users\you\Pictures\*.JPG"

ExifTool reads the MakerNote block as well, so it will report vendor-specific fields such as lens serial numbers, burst mode, or in-camera processing flags. See the camera model, lens model, and serial number reference entries for what those values mean.

Method 6: View the full block in your browser

If the goal is simply to read the metadata and you do not want to install anything, drag the photo onto the free EXIF viewer at freexifdata.com. The file is parsed in your browser with JavaScript — the image bytes never leave your machine, and no account, plugin, or upload is involved.

That makes it a good complement to Explorer: Explorer tells you the camera and exposure in a glance, and the browser tool confirms the GPS block, the exact DateTimeOriginal, the orientation flag, the software string and the owner name that Explorer omits. You can then use the same site to remove EXIF data or run a GPS photo checker before you share the file.

Which method should you use?

Method	Install required	Full tag block	GPS	Best for
Explorer Details view	No	No	Only via “Location” column	Quick look at camera and exposure
Properties → Details	No	No	No	Sanity check on date and size
Windows 11 Photos app	No	No	Location only	Casual viewing on a laptop
PowerShell + System.Drawing	No	Partial (IFD0 only)	No	Batch export without dependencies
ExifTool	Yes (single file)	Yes	Yes	Auditing, automation, batch work
Browser-based viewer	No	Yes	Yes	Private, install-free inspection

Try it yourself

Open a photo you have not inspected before and compare what Explorer shows against the complete block in the EXIF data viewer — you will usually find a GPS tag, a lens model, and a software string that the OS never surfaces. When you want the file back to a clean state, use the remove EXIF data tool, and consult the EXIF tag reference for what each field means.