Check whether a video gives away where it was filmed

Most phones write a GPS position into every video they record. Drop one here to see whether yours carries a place, and roughly which, read on your own device. If it does, one tap saves a copy without it.

Drop your video here

Choose your video

MP4, MOV, WebM or MKV. It opens right here, on your device.

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People crossing a station square, faces blurred, next to a card showing that the video file carries a location, a phone model and a recording time

How it works

Drop the video
The one you are about to share, or one someone sent you, as MP4, MOV, WebM or MKV. Nothing is uploaded.
See if it holds a place
The location row says whether the file carries a GPS position and shows it rounded to about a kilometre, next to the time and device it was recorded with.
Share a copy without it
Save a clean copy and the position stays behind, along with the device and the time. Check the copy here too if you like.

What you get

Phone positions: Reads the location iPhones and Android phones write, whichever of their tags carries it.
Whole GoPro routes: A GoPro’s GPS log holds every position of the ride; the check says how many, and where it begins.
The time it was there: A place comes with a time: the file’s recording time is shown in the zone it was written in.
A clear “not here”: When the file holds no position, it says so plainly, so you know the file itself won’t give a place away.
Rounded on screen: The position is shown to about a kilometre and never put on a map; the point itself stays in the file.
Never uploaded: Checking a video for its location should not mean sending it somewhere. Shycut reads it on your device.

When to check a video for its location

Filmed at home

A clip of something you are selling, a pet or a room can point straight to your address. Check it before it goes to strangers.

Kids and school runs

Videos of children at a school, a club or a park carry where they spend their days. See whether yours do before sharing.

A video you received

Find out whether a file someone sent says where it was filmed, without passing it to an online service.

After changing a setting

Turned off location for your camera? Record a few seconds and drop them here to make sure no position is written any more.

How a video knows where it was filmed

When the camera app is allowed to use location, the phone asks its GPS for a position as recording ends and writes it into the video file as a short text, such as +41.0082+028.9784/: latitude, longitude, sometimes height. It is not part of the picture, so you never see it while watching, but it travels with the file wherever the file goes: a chat that sends it as a document, a cloud folder, an e-mail attachment, a USB stick.

Action cameras keep far more. A GoPro records GPS many times a second into a track of its own, so one clip holds the whole route, with speed and height. Some drones and dash cams do the same in their own formats. A single point in a phone video says where it ended; a track says everywhere it went.

Shycut checks the file’s tags and tracks in your browser and tells you plainly whether a position is there. It rounds what it shows to about a kilometre, enough to know the file gives a place away, and it doesn’t draw it on a map or send it anywhere. If the video has a position you’d rather not share, “Save a clean copy” writes it again from its picture and sound alone, so the position, the device and the time are left out.

A file without a position can still show a place. Street signs, shop fronts, house numbers and the view from a window all say where a video was filmed, and Shycut doesn’t guess places from the picture. If that matters, hide those parts in the editor before sharing: faces and plates are found for you, and any area can be covered and followed as the camera moves. To strip the location itself, remove the location from the video: every video Shycut exports leaves it behind.

Tips for keeping your location out of a video

Turn off location for the camera app in your phone’s settings and new videos won’t carry a position at all.
Many apps remove the position when they post a video, but sending the original as a file usually keeps it.
Check the copy you will actually send, after any app has saved or converted it, not only the original in your gallery.
For rides, set private places in the editor: the time near home can be cut or blurred in the picture itself.
Look at the background too: a sign or the view from a window can say more than any GPS tag.

Private by construction

Runs on your device: Your browser decodes, analyses and encodes the video. There is no server to send it to.
Nothing is uploaded: The counter in the header measures every byte this page sends. It stays at zero.
Location data wiped: Phones hide GPS positions inside videos. The exported file never carries them.

Questions

How can I tell if a video has a location?

Drop it on this page. Shycut reads the file and says whether it carries a GPS position, and shows it rounded to about a kilometre.

Can I find where a video someone sent me was filmed?

Only if the file still holds a position. Many apps remove it when they send a video; if it is gone, the check says the file carries no location.

Why don’t I see the exact spot?

The position is rounded on purpose, so the check never puts anyone’s precise location on a screen. The exact point stays in the file.

Do iPhone videos have a location?

When the Camera app may use location, yes: iPhones write the position into every video. Drop one here to see what yours says.

Does it upload my video to check it?

No. It reads the file on your device and sends nothing; the counter in the header stays at zero.

How do I remove the location?

Press “Save a clean copy”. The new file is written from the picture and sound only, so the position is not in it.

Your video stays with you.

Open Shycut, drop the video in and export. Free, with no account, and your video never leaves your device.