Guides

Fixing a Google Photos Takeout

A Takeout keeps each photo's date, place and caption in a separate JSON file, and the way those files are named keeps changing. These pages explain each pattern with real names from the Takeoutfix sample library (a synthetic library, no real photos).

• What .supplemental-metadata.json means in Google Takeout

  Since 2024, Google Takeout names each photo's JSON file IMG_1234.jpg.supplemental-metadata.json. What is in it, why older tools miss it, and how to get the dates back into your photos.

• .suppl.json, ..json and other cut-off names in Google Takeout

  Google Takeout cuts file names at 51 characters, so JSON files end up named .suppl.json, .s.json or ..json. How to match them to their photos.

• photoTakenTime vs creationTime in a Google Takeout JSON

  Which date in a Google Photos Takeout JSON is the capture date, what creationTime and geoData mean, and how the timestamp becomes an EXIF date in your time zone.

• Apple Photos shows the wrong date after importing a Google Takeout

  Why photos from Google Takeout land on the export day in Apple Photos, and how to write the real capture dates into the files before importing.

• Moving from Google Photos to Apple Photos with the dates intact

  Export your library with Google Takeout, put the dates, places and captions back into the files, and import it into Apple Photos and iCloud, step by step.

• -edited copies, (1) duplicates and album copies in Google Takeout

  What IMG_1234-edited.jpg, IMG_1234(1).jpg and repeated album folders are in a Google Photos Takeout, and how to keep one clean copy of each photo.