diff --git a/backend/requirements-render.txt b/backend/requirements-render.txt
index 614b40a..891800f 100644
--- a/backend/requirements-render.txt
+++ b/backend/requirements-render.txt
@@ -14,3 +14,8 @@ firebase-admin
 a2wsgi
 python-jose[cryptography]
 passlib[bcrypt]
+async-lru
+SpeechRecognition
+googletrans==4.0.0-rc1
+langdetect
+pydub
diff --git a/backend/utils.py b/backend/utils.py
index 7321507..ac7dc06 100644
--- a/backend/utils.py
+++ b/backend/utils.py
@@ -198,9 +198,8 @@ def process_uploaded_image_sync(file: UploadFile) -> tuple[Image.Image, bytes]:
             new_height = int(img.height * ratio)
             img = img.resize((new_width, new_height), Image.Resampling.BILINEAR)
 
-        # Strip EXIF
-        img_no_exif = Image.new(img.mode, img.size)
-        img_no_exif.paste(img)
+        # Strip EXIF in-place (O(1) memory, O(1) cpu)
+        img.info.clear()
 
         # Save to BytesIO
         output = io.BytesIO()
@@ -211,10 +210,10 @@ def process_uploaded_image_sync(file: UploadFile) -> tuple[Image.Image, bytes]:
         else:
             fmt = 'PNG' if img.mode == 'RGBA' else 'JPEG'
 
-        img_no_exif.save(output, format=fmt, quality=85)
+        img.save(output, format=fmt, quality=85)
         img_bytes = output.getvalue()
 
-        return img_no_exif, img_bytes
+        return img, img_bytes
 
     except Exception as pil_error:
         logger.error(f"PIL processing failed: {pil_error}")
@@ -274,14 +273,13 @@ def save_file_blocking(file_obj, path, image: Optional[Image.Image] = None):
         else:
              img = Image.open(file_obj)
 
-        # Strip EXIF data by creating a new image without metadata
-        # Use paste() instead of getdata() for O(1) performance (vs O(N) list creation)
-        img_no_exif = Image.new(img.mode, img.size)
-        img_no_exif.paste(img)
+        # Strip EXIF data in-place by clearing metadata (O(1) vs O(N) copy)
+        img.info.clear()
+
         # Save without EXIF
         # Use original format if available, otherwise default to JPEG if mode is RGB, PNG if RGBA
         fmt = img.format or ('PNG' if img.mode == 'RGBA' else 'JPEG')
-        img_no_exif.save(path, format=fmt)
+        img.save(path, format=fmt)
         logger.info(f"Saved image {path} with EXIF metadata stripped")
     except Exception:
         # If not an image or PIL fails, save as binary
diff --git a/tests/test_exif_stripping.py b/tests/test_exif_stripping.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c96eda8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_exif_stripping.py
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+import pytest
+import io
+import os
+from PIL import Image
+from backend.utils import process_uploaded_image_sync, save_file_blocking
+from fastapi import UploadFile
+
+# Mock UploadFile
+class MockUploadFile:
+    def __init__(self, filename, content):
+        self.filename = filename
+        self.file = io.BytesIO(content)
+        self.content_type = "image/jpeg"
+        self.size = len(content)
+
+def create_image_with_exif():
+    # Create a small image
+    img = Image.new('RGB', (100, 100), color='red')
+    # Create dummy EXIF data
+    exif_data = b'Exif\x00\x00MM\x00*\x00\x00\x00\x08\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00'
+
+    bio = io.BytesIO()
+    img.save(bio, format='JPEG', exif=exif_data)
+    return bio.getvalue()
+
+def test_process_uploaded_image_sync_strips_exif():
+    content = create_image_with_exif()
+    # Verify input has EXIF
+    img_input = Image.open(io.BytesIO(content))
+    if 'exif' not in img_input.info:
+        # If pillow doesn't see it, force it manually for test (not ideal but works for verify)
+        pass
+
+    upload_file = MockUploadFile("test.jpg", content)
+
+    # Run function
+    img_processed, img_bytes = process_uploaded_image_sync(upload_file)
+
+    # Check returned image object
+    assert 'exif' not in img_processed.info
+
+    # Check returned bytes
+    img_from_bytes = Image.open(io.BytesIO(img_bytes))
+    assert 'exif' not in img_from_bytes.info
+
+def test_save_file_blocking_strips_exif(tmp_path):
+    content = create_image_with_exif()
+    upload_file = MockUploadFile("test.jpg", content)
+
+    output_path = tmp_path / "saved_image.jpg"
+
+    # Run function
+    save_file_blocking(upload_file.file, str(output_path))
+
+    # Check saved file
+    saved_img = Image.open(output_path)
+    assert 'exif' not in saved_img.info