🖼️ Pixel Forensics
Inspect image files down to their metadata, container structure, readable strings, hashes, decoded pixels, and raw bytes. You can stage metadata or byte-level changes without overwriting the original file.
This tool is client-side only. Everything happens in your browser and none of your data is shared.
Overview
Metadata
Metadata is information stored alongside the image, including camera details, dates, descriptions, GPS coordinates, software names, and copyright fields. Editing or deleting metadata does not inherently change the visible pixels. This parser reads common JPEG EXIF and PNG text data directly and also exposes readable strings elsewhere in the file.
| Area | Tag / key | Type | Value | Action |
|---|
Add a custom field
PNG text keys are flexible. EXIF fields are stricter and use numeric tags, specific locations, and defined data types. Parsed PNG tEXt values can be edited and written back. Deeper EXIF values are available for inspection or deletion but are read-only.
File Structure
Image files are containers. JPEG files are made of segments; PNG files are made of chunks. This view shows where recognized structures begin, their size, and what they appear to contain. Click a row to show the corresponding bytes in the Hex Inspector.
Hex Inspector
Each hexadecimal pair represents one byte from 0–255. Select a byte to see its offset and alternate interpretations. Raw editing can intentionally make an image invalid, so changes are staged separately and are never written over the uploaded file.
Printable Strings
This scans the raw file for runs of readable ASCII characters. It can expose software names, comments, XML fragments, URLs, identifiers, and other text that may not appear in the normal metadata view. A readable string shows that those bytes exist; it does not prove what created the image.
Hashes
SHA-256 fingerprints the exact file bytes: a one-byte change produces a different hash. The decoded RGBA hash fingerprints the raster instead, which makes it useful for comparing pixel content when the surrounding file container changes.
Pending Changes
Metadata and raw-byte edits are staged here before export. The uploaded file remains untouched.
Export
PNG is the default because it stores the decoded raster without additional lossy degradation. Converting an existing JPEG to PNG does not restore detail already lost to JPEG compression; it only avoids another lossy encoding pass.
Advanced output notes
Browser encoders are not available for every image format. PNG, JPEG, and WebP are offered here because browsers commonly support writing them. Other formats may be readable as inputs without being available as outputs.
Verification
After export, the generated bytes are opened again and compared with the source rather than being assumed valid. This catches unsupported encoders and checks dimensions, decoded raster hashes, structure, and metadata.
About This Tool
Pixel Forensics is an image forensics and image metadata inspection tool for examining what is stored inside JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP, AVIF, and other image files. It reads file properties, dimensions, metadata, EXIF data, text records, container structure, hashes, printable strings, and raw bytes.
The structure view maps JPEG segments and PNG chunks to their physical locations in the file. The hex inspector shows the underlying byte data directly, while SHA-256 and raster hashes make it possible to compare the file itself with its decoded pixel content.
Parsed metadata can include camera information, dates, GPS coordinates, software names, descriptions, copyright fields, and other embedded values. Metadata is editable data, so its presence can provide useful evidence about a file without proving where the image came from or who created it.
Pixel Forensics also supports controlled metadata changes and raw byte edits. Pending changes remain separate from the original file until a modified copy is exported.