The short answer
Instagram processes every upload through its own encoder: images are resized, re-compressed, and stripped of EXIF, GPS and most other metadata. What viewers receive is Instagram's rendition — not your file.
What happens to each format
- Feed posts — stripped and recompressed; downloads (yours or anyone's) carry no EXIF.
- Stories — same, plus aggressive compression and overlays.
- Reels — video pipeline; embedded image metadata removed likewise.
- DMs — image sends are processed like everything else; document-style "original" preservation is not offered for photos.
What Instagram keeps
- Platform-side data — Instagram itself retains upload records and (per its policy) may keep EXIF internally for features like tagging; that is stored by Instagram, not shipped with the image.
- Visible content only — for the public, the pixels are the story.
Net effect: a downloaded Instagram image tells you nothing about the device, time or place of capture. Never cite an Instagram download's missing metadata as evidence of anything.
If you need metadata to survive
- Share the file, not the post — email, cloud link or messenger document mode preserves the original.
- For verification — ask the source for the original file; verify it with the EXIF viewer before drawing conclusions.
If you want it gone
Instagram does the stripping for you. Don't rely on that as your privacy control, though: visual content is not metadata — a photo of your street reveals your street regardless of EXIF. For full control before any platform, see how to remove EXIF yourself.
The re-upload tell
Just like WhatsApp's "IMG-…-WA…" pattern, Instagram-sourced images typically show platform-typical dimensions (1080px widths), recompression structure and no metadata. PictureMatters' Journey section reads these tells together and classifies the file as platform-processed rather than original.