izitru is a free web service which tells you if a photo is real or fake. Nowadays when I see an amazing photo, the first thought which comes to my mind is, “is it real or Photoshopped”. We have been subjected to so many Photoshopped images on the internet that its hard to believe in a good photograph anymore. The first thing we say is that looks like it has been tampered with. But what if you really want to know if a photo is real or has been modified. This is where izitru comes in, the web service will scan the photo provided by you through some tests and will tell you if a photo is real or has been modified. Currently the website only supports photos in JPEG format.
When you open up this website you will notice that it is very minimalist. It only has options you need, no ads, no pop ups, just a clean interface. There is also a video available on the home page to explain how the website works.
How this web service works:
The working is pretty easy, you do not need to do much. Just click on the upload image button and select the image you want to check out. Once the upload is completed the website will start evaluating the photo. All you will be able to see is a progress bar, like the one shown below.
After the analysis, the results will be displayed to you. Starting with the photo you uploaded on top, followed by the detailed result as shown in the screenshot below.
The results screen tells you if the photo you uploaded is real or fake. On the top of the result box you will get a share URL for the photo. Then you will see the verdict displayed, in above screenshot the verdict shows as “potential file modification”. Then it will show you the date of capture, kind of camera used to capture, and location. Also, it will show the info of the person who submitted it, that is in case you are logged in and have turned the location feature on.
Now the important thing to remember here is that for the results to be more accurate, you should upload original camera photos. In case you first save the photo to your PC and then upload it to the website, then it might come out as a photo which has been modified, because it has been re-saved from one device to another. This might actually reduce the usefulness of this website a lot. So, another way to look at the website would be to prove to others by uploading that your own photos are original, by uploading original captures of your photos to this website, and then share the forensic analysis link of this website which would tell others that the photo you are trying to share is real.
The website runs the photos uploaded through six different forensic tests to determine if they are real. To read about this in detail you can check out the FAQ section of the website.
You can also check out free software to add watermark to photos.
I found the website to be useful, but it comes with some stipulations regarding the images you are uploading. For most of the photos I checked out it showed them as potential file modification, because they were saved from phone to computer. The ones that were direct camera uploads also got a medium trust rating. Overall it is a good service to make sure that the photo you have or are sharing with others is real.
Check out izitru here.
