diff --git a/backend/src/routes/admin.ts b/backend/src/routes/admin.ts
index 34a66ce..8f333a8 100755
--- a/backend/src/routes/admin.ts
+++ b/backend/src/routes/admin.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import {
   signatureMatches
 } from '../uploadTypes';
 import { notifyFavoritersOfSale, notifyFavoritersOfRemoval, collectFavoriteRecipients } from '../favoriteAlerts';
+import { reencodeInPlace } from '../imageProcessing';
 
 const router = Router();
 
@@ -178,6 +179,34 @@ async function verifyUploadedImages(req: Request): Promise<string | null> {
   return null;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Rebuilds every accepted file so it carries no metadata (#226).
+ *
+ * After verification, deliberately: re-encoding a file whose bytes do not match
+ * its declared type would be doing work on something already refused, and
+ * sharp's own error would replace the clearer message that check produces.
+ *
+ * A failure here refuses the upload rather than storing the original. Storing
+ * it would mean the one case where a photo keeps the coordinates it was taken
+ * at is the case nobody was told about.
+ *
+ * Returns the message to refuse with, or null when every file was rebuilt.
+ */
+async function stripUploadedImages(req: Request): Promise<string | null> {
+  const files = (req.files as Express.Multer.File[]) || [];
+
+  for (const file of files) {
+    try {
+      await reencodeInPlace(file.path, file.mimetype);
+    } catch (err) {
+      console.error(`[upload] could not re-encode ${file.path}:`, err);
+      return `${file.originalname} could not be processed`;
+    }
+  }
+
+  return null;
+}
+
 // No error-handling middleware is mounted on the app, so translate multer's
 // limit errors here instead of letting them surface as a generic 500.
 const uploadImages = (req: Request, res: Response, next: NextFunction) => {
@@ -200,6 +229,16 @@ const uploadImages = (req: Request, res: Response, next: NextFunction) => {
 
     verifyUploadedImages(req)
       .then((problem) => {
+        if (problem) {
+          res.status(400).json({ error: problem });
+          return null;
+        }
+        return stripUploadedImages(req);
+      })
+      .then((problem) => {
+        // The first stage returns null both when it answered and when it found
+        // nothing wrong, so the response itself is what distinguishes them.
+        if (res.headersSent) return;
         if (problem) {
           res.status(400).json({ error: problem });
           return;
diff --git a/backend/tests/integration/exifStripping.integration.test.ts b/backend/tests/integration/exifStripping.integration.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6a529ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backend/tests/integration/exifStripping.integration.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,119 @@
+import request from 'supertest';
+import sharp from 'sharp';
+import { promises as fs } from 'fs';
+import path from 'path';
+import app from '../../src/app';
+import { pool } from '../../src/db';
+import { resetDb, closeDb } from './setup/testDb';
+
+const UPLOADS_DIR = process.env.UPLOADS_DIR as string;
+
+beforeAll(async () => {
+  await fs.mkdir(UPLOADS_DIR, { recursive: true });
+});
+
+beforeEach(async () => {
+  await resetDb();
+});
+
+afterAll(async () => {
+  await pool.end();
+  await closeDb();
+});
+
+/**
+ * A JPEG carrying GPS EXIF, built rather than committed as a binary fixture so
+ * what it contains is readable in this file. This is the exact shape of the
+ * problem: a photograph that says where it was taken.
+ */
+async function photoWithLocation(): Promise<Buffer> {
+  return sharp({
+    create: { width: 3000, height: 2000, channels: 3, background: { r: 120, g: 90, b: 60 } }
+  })
+    // GPS tags live in IFD3 — that is the GPS IFD as libvips names it, and
+    // sharp's Exif type has no separate `GPS` key. Writing them into IFD0
+    // instead would still produce EXIF, but not the tags this issue is
+    // actually about.
+    .withExif({
+      IFD0: { Make: 'TestCam', Model: 'X1' },
+      IFD3: { GPSLatitudeRef: 'N', GPSLatitude: '51/1 30/1 0/1', GPSLongitudeRef: 'W' }
+    })
+    .jpeg()
+    .toBuffer();
+}
+
+async function storedPathFor(itemId: number): Promise<string> {
+  const { rows } = await pool.query<{ image_path: string }>(
+    `SELECT image_path FROM item_images WHERE item_id = $1 ORDER BY sort_order`,
+    [itemId]
+  );
+  const row = rows[0];
+  if (!row) throw new Error(`no item_images row for item ${itemId}`);
+  // image_path is '/uploads/<name>'; the file is that name inside UPLOADS_DIR.
+  return path.join(UPLOADS_DIR, path.basename(row.image_path));
+}
+
+async function createItemWith(image: Buffer, filename: string): Promise<number> {
+  const res = await request(app)
+    .post('/api/admin/items')
+    .field('name', 'Vase')
+    .field('description', '')
+    .field('price', '40')
+    .attach('images', image, filename);
+
+  expect(res.status).toBe(200);
+  return res.body.id;
+}
+
+describe('an uploaded photo does not keep where it was taken', () => {
+  it('has no EXIF once stored', async () => {
+    const withGps = await photoWithLocation();
+    // Guard the fixture itself: if this ever stops carrying EXIF, the
+    // assertion below would pass while testing nothing at all.
+    expect((await sharp(withGps).metadata()).exif).toBeDefined();
+
+    const itemId = await createItemWith(withGps, 'vase.jpg');
+
+    const stored = await sharp(await storedPathFor(itemId)).metadata();
+    expect(stored.exif).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
+  it('is bounded to the maximum dimension', async () => {
+    const itemId = await createItemWith(await photoWithLocation(), 'vase.jpg');
+
+    const stored = await sharp(await storedPathFor(itemId)).metadata();
+    expect(stored.width).toBe(2000);
+    expect(stored.height).toBe(1333);
+  });
+
+  it('keeps the format, so the stored extension still describes the file', async () => {
+    const itemId = await createItemWith(await photoWithLocation(), 'vase.jpg');
+
+    const storedPath = await storedPathFor(itemId);
+    expect(path.extname(storedPath)).toBe('.jpg');
+    expect((await sharp(storedPath).metadata()).format).toBe('jpeg');
+  });
+
+  it('does not enlarge an image that is already small', async () => {
+    const small = await sharp({
+      create: { width: 300, height: 200, channels: 3, background: { r: 1, g: 2, b: 3 } }
+    })
+      .png()
+      .toBuffer();
+
+    const itemId = await createItemWith(small, 'tiny.png');
+
+    const stored = await sharp(await storedPathFor(itemId)).metadata();
+    expect(stored.width).toBe(300);
+    expect(stored.height).toBe(200);
+  });
+
+  it('leaves no temporary re-encoding files on the volume', async () => {
+    await createItemWith(await photoWithLocation(), 'vase.jpg');
+
+    const leftovers = (await fs.readdir(UPLOADS_DIR)).filter((name) =>
+      name.endsWith('.reencoding')
+    );
+    expect(leftovers).toEqual([]);
+  });
+});