Read and written on your computer. Never uploaded.
Google Takeout Photos Wrong Date?
The Photos fixer puts the real dates and places back in
Google Takeout keeps each photo’s date in a separate JSON file, so once imported elsewhere your photos show the day you downloaded them. This writes the date and location back inside every photo and video.
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Why Google Takeout photos have the wrong date
A photo straight off a camera carries its date inside, in its EXIF data. Many photos in a Google Photos library do not: screenshots, images saved from WhatsApp or the web, edited copies, scans and a lot of videos. Google Photos still shows them on the right day, because it keeps the date on its side. Takeout hands that date over as a JSON file next to each photo instead of writing it into the photo.
Import the folder into iCloud, Apple Photos, Windows or a NAS and those photos fall back on the only date they have left, the day the file landed on your disk. A whole decade ends up on one afternoon in your timeline. The JSON also holds the location, which goes missing the same way.
Pairing a photo with its JSON is harder than it looks, because Google’s naming has changed over the years. The fixer handles every variant we have seen:
| Photo | Its JSON | Case |
|---|---|---|
| IMG_1234.jpg | IMG_1234.jpg.json | The classic pair |
| IMG_1234.jpg | IMG_1234.jpg.supplemental-metadata.json | Since 2024 |
| IMG_1234(1).jpg | IMG_1234.jpg(1).json | Same name twice: the counter moves |
| IMG_1234-edited.jpg | (none) | An edit uses the original's JSON |
| PXL_20190901_123456789.PORTRAIT.jpg | PXL_20190901_123456789.PORTRAIT.jpg.supplement.json | Names cut at 51 characters |
| IMG_1234.HEIC + IMG_1234.MOV | IMG_1234.HEIC.json | A Live Photo: one JSON for both |
When there is no JSON at all, the date comes from the file name (IMG_20190704_143456.jpg), then from the “Photos from 2019” folder. Photos that appear again in album folders are written once. More on what the export contains in the Google Takeout Photos guide.
What the fixer writes into Google Photos Takeout metadata
The date goes where Apple Photos, iCloud, Google Photos, Lightroom and Windows look first, with the time zone of the place the photo was taken, so a photo of New York reads New York time. The image itself is never re-encoded: only the metadata changes, and each copy keeps its full quality.
JPEG
EXIF date taken, time zone and GPS
HEIC
EXIF inside the iPhone file, image untouched
PNG
EXIF and XMP, for screenshots
MP4 and MOV
QuickTime creation date, Apple date and location
A date the camera already wrote is kept: Google’s JSON only copies it. You can choose to replace it.
Google Photos to iCloud, with the right dates
- Export Google Photos at takeout.google.com, following the Takeout instructions. Large libraries come as several ZIP files, see Takeout file size.
- Unzip every part into the same folder.
- Open this page in Chrome or Edge, select that folder and check the free preview.
- Write the repaired copies into an empty folder, sorted by year and month if you like.
- Import that folder into Apple Photos (File, Import) or drag it to icloud.com/photos. Each photo lands on the day it was taken.
Your photos stay on your computer
Most tools that do this ask you to upload your library, or to install a program. This one runs in a browser tab: your Takeout folder is read on this computer and the copies are written on it. No photo, file name, date or place is sent anywhere, and there is no account. Only the payment goes through Stripe.
Your originals are only read. The copies go into an empty folder you pick, and the page refuses a folder inside your Takeout, so nothing can be overwritten.
Questions
Why do my Google Takeout photos show the wrong date?
Google Takeout does not write the date a photo was taken into every file. It puts it in a separate JSON file next to the photo, such as IMG_1234.jpg.json or, since 2024, IMG_1234.jpg.supplemental-metadata.json. Photos that never had a date inside, like screenshots, WhatsApp images, edited copies and many videos, then show the day you downloaded or unzipped them once you import them into iCloud, Windows or a drive.
What is the JSON file next to each photo in Google Takeout?
It is the photo's metadata as Google Photos knows it: photoTakenTime, the moment the photo was taken in UTC, geoData, the location Google shows including your edits, the original file name in title, and details like the description and people. The fixer reads photoTakenTime and geoData and writes them into the photo in the standard places, EXIF for photos and the QuickTime creation date for videos.
How do I move my Google Photos to iCloud with the right dates?
Export Google Photos with Takeout, unzip every part into one folder, and run that folder through the fixer in Chrome or Edge. Then import the repaired copies into Apple Photos on a Mac, or upload them at icloud.com/photos. Apple Photos sorts by the date inside each file, which is now the date the photo was taken.
Are my photos uploaded anywhere?
No. The folder is read and the copies are written by your browser, on your computer. No photo, file name, date or location is sent to a server. Only the payment goes through Stripe, and Stripe never sees your photos. You can check in your browser's Network tab while the fixer runs.
Does it change my original files?
No. It only reads your Takeout folder. The repaired photos and videos are new copies, written into an empty folder you choose. If anything goes wrong, your Takeout is exactly as Google gave it to you.
Which files can it repair?
JPEG, HEIC (iPhone photos), PNG, MP4 and MOV, including Live Photos and edited copies. GIF, WebP, RAW and older video formats are copied as they are, and the report lists them with the reason. A photo that already has a capture date inside keeps it, unless you choose to replace it with Google's.
Why does it need Chrome or Edge?
Writing a whole library of repaired copies into a folder on your disk needs the File System Access API, which only Chrome and Edge on a computer support. Safari, Firefox and phone browsers can read files but cannot save into a folder.
What about album folders and duplicates?
Google exports a photo once in its year folder and again in every album it belongs to. The fixer spots these copies and writes each photo once, unless you ask it to keep the album folders. Files with the same name in one folder, IMG_1234.jpg and IMG_1234(1).jpg, are told apart and each gets its own JSON.
How long does it take for a big library?
The free check reads only a few kilobytes of each file, so it is far quicker than the copy itself. Writing copies the whole library, so it runs at the speed of your drives, and writing to a second drive is usually faster than writing to the one the Takeout is on. The page shows a progress bar and the time left, and you can use other tabs meanwhile.
Looking for the rest of your Google data?
This page repairs photos. To see what the rest of your export holds, search history, YouTube, Chrome and more, TakeoutReader is a Google Takeout viewer, and the Timeline Reader draws your Google Maps history on a map.