Guide

What .supplemental-metadata.json means in Google Takeout

For every photo and video, Google Takeout writes a small JSON file with the date it was taken, where, and its caption. Older exports named it after the photo plus .json. Exports since 2024 add .supplemental-metadata before the .json.

• IMG_1180.jpgIMG_1180.jpg.supplemental-metadata.jsonThe newer name, from the sample library.
• IMG_20160514_101522.jpgIMG_20160514_101522.jpg.jsonThe older name. Both can turn up in the same export.

Why it matters

The file is the same kind of JSON as before. The problem is the name: a tool that looks for IMG_1180.jpg.json doesn't find it, so the photo is treated as having no JSON at all. Anything without a date inside the file itself (screenshots, pictures saved from WhatsApp, edits made in Google Photos, many videos) then keeps the file date Takeout gave it, which is the day of the export. Import that into Apple Photos, Lightroom or a NAS and those photos all land on one day.

What's inside

This is the JSON for IMG_1180.jpg in the sample, shortened:

{
  "title": "IMG_1180.jpg",
  "description": "First swim of the year",
  "photoTakenTime": { "timestamp": "1484454605", "formatted": "Jan 15, 2017, 4:30:05 AM UTC" },
  "creationTime": { "timestamp": "1484471520", ... },
  "geoData": { "latitude": -33.8915, "longitude": 151.2767, "altitude": 3, ... }
}

photoTakenTime is when the photo was taken, geoData is where, and description is the caption you typed in Google Photos. More on each field.

How Takeoutfix handles it

• It looks for both names in the same folder: <name>.json and <name>.supplemental-metadata.json.
• It also matches the long name when Takeout has cut it short, for example .supplemental-metad.json, .suppl.json or ..json. See cut-off names.
• A duplicate counter can sit inside it too: IMG_1234.jpg.supplemental-metadata(1).json belongs to IMG_1234(1).jpg.
• Every zip part is read before matching, because a JSON file can land in a different zip from its photo.

The free scan shows how many files matched and by which rule, so you can see before paying whether your export's names were understood.