How it works
- In Google Takeout, export Google Photos as .zip (any part size) and download every part.
- Drop all parts here at once. The tool reads only their table of contents and the small
.jsonfiles, then shows how many photos were matched. - Choose the options and click Fix and save. Extract the fixed ZIP(s) — files now carry the date the photo was taken.
What gets fixed
- JSON matching that survives Google's naming quirks:
.supplemental-metadata.jsonand its cut forms (.supp.json,.s.json…), names cut at 51 characters, duplicates such asIMG_1234(1).jpg↔IMG_1234.jpg(1).json, letter case, JSON names without the extension, and thetitlestored inside the JSON. - Edited copies and Live Photos:
-editedfiles (also-bearbeitet,-modifié,-editado,-編集済みand other languages) and Live Photo / motion videos get the original photo's date. - JPEG and HEIC EXIF: DateTimeOriginal, CreateDate, ModifyDate with UTC offset, plus GPS from Google's location data when the photo has none. Existing camera data, including maker notes, is kept byte for byte. HEIC photos are edited when they already have an EXIF block, as iPhone photos do.
- Video dates: MP4, MOV, M4V and 3GP videos get the taken time in their movie and track headers when that date is empty or only the upload time — in place, same size, no re-encoding. More on video dates.
- Files without JSON: names such as
IMG_20190704_150000.jpg,PXL_…or WhatsApp'sIMG-20190812-WA0003.jpggive their date, marked "from name" in the report. - File dates for everything: photos, PNG, GIF and videos get the taken date as their file date when you extract the fixed ZIP (Windows Explorer, macOS Archive Utility, 7-Zip, unzip).
- Across ZIP parts: a JSON file in
-002.zipis found for a photo in-001.zip. - A report: a CSV with every file, the JSON it was matched with, the date written and what changed — plus lists of photos without JSON and JSON without photos.
Why Takeout photos have the wrong date
Google Takeout gives every file the date of the export as its file date and keeps the real "taken" date in a separate JSON file next to it. Photos that carried their own EXIF date are fine in most apps; everything else — WhatsApp images, screenshots, scans, edited copies, videos — shows up on the day you downloaded the archive. More on this: why Takeout dates are wrong and what is in the JSON files.
A browser alternative to the command-line helper
The popular open-source Google Photos Takeout Helper is a command-line program: you extract everything, install it and run it in a terminal. This page does the core job — matching the JSON files and restoring dates — without extracting or installing anything.
| This page | Command-line helper | |
|---|---|---|
| Install | none, runs in the browser | download a program, use a terminal |
| Input | the ZIP parts as downloaded (or an extracted folder) | extracted folders |
| JPEG EXIF date and GPS | yes | yes (with ExifTool for more formats) |
| Dates inside HEIC / video files | HEIC with an EXIF block; MP4, MOV, M4V, 3GP creation time | with ExifTool installed |
| Dates from file names (files without JSON) | yes, common camera and app names | yes |
| Album folders as shortcuts, extension fixing | no | yes |
Limits
- Inside the file, only JPEG, HEIC (with an existing EXIF block) and MP4/MOV/M4V/3GP are edited. PNG, GIF, WebP, AVI, MKV and other formats keep their bytes and get the file date only.
- A HEIC without an EXIF block is not given one; it gets the file date only. Videos get no location.
- Compressed entries larger than 256 MB are not unpacked for editing; they get the file date only, and the report says so.
- Descriptions, people tags and album membership from the JSON files are not written into the photos.
- Takeout exports in
.tgzformat are not read — choose ZIP when exporting, or extract the .tgz and pick the folder. - Files without any JSON and without a date in their name keep their original bytes and ZIP date and are listed in the report.
Frequently asked questions
Are my photos uploaded?
No. The ZIP files are read by your browser on your own computer and the fixed archive is written there too. Nothing is sent to a server — you can disconnect from the internet after the page has loaded and it still works.
Do I need to extract the ZIP files first?
No. Drop the ZIP parts as you downloaded them. If you already extracted them, use Choose an extracted Takeout folder instead — the result is still a ZIP, because a browser cannot change file dates on your disk directly; the ZIP carries the dates and your system applies them when you extract it.
My Takeout has several 50 GB parts. Will this work?
It is built for that. The tool reads only each ZIP's table of contents and the small JSON files up front, then copies every file's compressed bytes straight into the new archive. For a file stored uncompressed in the ZIP it reads just the header it edits; only a compressed file it edits is unpacked in memory, one at a time (up to 256 MB). In Chrome and Edge the fixed archives are written directly to a folder you pick, so their size is limited only by your disk. Firefox and Safari build each fixed archive as a download; when one holds more than about 1 GB of rewritten files it is split into several ZIPs.
Which files get their date written inside?
JPEG photos get the date (and, if missing, the location) written into their EXIF data, the place photo apps read first. HEIC photos get the same in their EXIF block when they have one, as iPhone photos do; a HEIC without an EXIF block gets the file date only. MP4, MOV, M4V and 3GP videos get the date in their movie and track headers — the "creation time" video apps read — changed in place, without re-encoding. PNG, GIF, WebP, AVI, MKV and other formats are not modified: they get the date as their file date (the "modified" date) when you extract the fixed ZIP.
Will it overwrite the dates my camera wrote?
Not by default. If a JPEG or HEIC already has a "date taken" (DateTimeOriginal) or GPS position, it is kept. A video keeps a plausible recording date in its header; a video date that is empty, before 1970, or only the upload or processing time (on or after the upload of a video taken earlier) is replaced. Turn on Replace dates and locations the camera already wrote if you changed dates in Google Photos and want those instead.
What happens to photos and videos without a JSON file?
If the file name holds a date, that date is used: IMG_20190704_150000.jpg, VID_20190101_101010.mp4, PXL_20190809_203449253.jpg (Pixel, in UTC), Screenshot_20190305-101010.png, 20190704_150000.jpg (Samsung) and WhatsApp's IMG-20190812-WA0003.jpg. Names are read in the time zone you picked. A name date only fills a file that has no date inside — camera data is never replaced by it — and WhatsApp names give only the day, so those get a file date (noon) and nothing inside. The report marks them "from name"; untick the option to leave such files as they are. Files without a JSON file and without a date in the name keep their bytes and their ZIP date.
Which time zone are the dates in?
Google stores the moment a photo was taken in UTC. The tool converts it to the time zone you choose — your computer's zone by default — and also writes the UTC offset (OffsetTimeOriginal) so apps can show the exact moment. Video headers store UTC by definition, so videos get the exact moment and apps show it in their own zone. Photos taken while travelling will show the time in the zone you picked, not the local time of the trip.
Do I have to add all the ZIP parts?
Add them all at once if you can. Google often puts a photo in one part and its JSON file in another; the tool matches them across parts by folder. Each part becomes its own fixed ZIP, so you can extract them into the same folder just like the originals.
What happens to photos that are in both a year folder and an album?
Takeout puts a copy in Photos from 2019 and another one in each album folder. By default both are kept, each with its date. Tick Skip album copies to keep only the year-folder copy of identical files, or choose Sort into YYYY/MM folders, which keeps one copy of identical files automatically.
Which browser should I use?
Chrome or Edge on a computer: they can save the fixed archives straight to a folder, which is fastest and works for any size. Firefox and Safari work too and download the result instead. Phones are not recommended for multi-gigabyte archives.
Is it free?
Yes: no sign-up, no watermark, no file limit.