Should I keep or remove the ICC color profile when I strip my photo's metadata?
Keep it unless you have a clear reason not to. The ICC profile tells apps how to display the photo's colors, holds no personal data, and dropping it can change how the photo looks, especially wide-gamut phone photos. If you do drop it, the check tells you how many pixels now decode differently even though the stored image data is unchanged.
What an ICC profile is, in plain words
The numbers stored in an image do not mean a specific color on their own. A red channel value of 200 means one red in the sRGB color space and a more saturated red in a wider space such as Display P3. The ICC profile is the note attached to the image saying 'read my numbers in this space'. Modern phones capture plenty of photos in spaces wider than sRGB and embed an ICC profile so every app knows how to show them.
Why it is kept by default
Because it reveals nothing about you. It holds no location, no name, no capture time; it is a technical description of a color space. The tool is built to remove what threatens your privacy without changing how your photo looks, so 'Keep the ICC color profile' is ticked when you open an image, and dropping it is your decision.
What happens if you drop it
Without an ICC profile, most apps assume the image is sRGB. If the photo was in a wider space, its colors will look duller or slightly off: reds less vivid, skin tones different. If the photo was sRGB to begin with, the difference is usually not noticeable.
This is where the tool's check helps. After removal it decodes both files in your browser and compares the pixels. Keep ICC and you see that every pixel is identical. Drop it and you may see a different message: the dimensions match, but decoded colors differ in a certain number of pixels because you chose to drop the ICC profile, even though the stored image data itself did not change. That number measures the effect of your choice on this particular photo.
A practical way to decide
- Open the photo in the Image metadata inspector and remover tool. If an ICC profile is present, it appears in the list marked 'Stays', with its size.
- Try first with the profile kept and download the clean copy. That is enough for most uses.
- If you have a reason to drop it, such as a platform that wants files without profiles, untick the keep option and remove again.
- Read the check result. If the number of changed pixels is large, compare both copies by eye before relying on the one without ICC.
The PNG case
PNG files do not offer this choice at all: the color chunks iCCP, gAMA, cHRM and sRGB always stay, because they are needed to show the image as designed. In JPEG and WebP the option appears whenever the image contains an ICC profile.
Common questions
Does dropping ICC make the file much smaller?
Profiles vary in size, and many are small next to the image data. The tool shows the exact size of the one in your file, so you can judge for yourself.
Should I drop it so my store photos match each other?
No need. Keeping it lets every browser show the photo in its correct colors.
Can an ICC profile carry information about my device?
It may name the profile or who created it, but it does not carry your location, your name or the capture time.