Free Google Takeout Metadata Restorer
Restore the correct photo-taken date into Google Takeout JPEG exports using their JSON sidecars, privately in your browser.
1. Select your Takeout folder
Select the unzipped Google Takeout top folder
2. Restore report
Select a folder to begin.
Processed entirely in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, and your original files are never modified.
How to restore Takeout dates
- Unzip your Google Takeout export.
- Select the top folder using the folder picker.
- Review matched media/sidecar pairs and the dates found.
- Download the repaired JPEGs plus a CSV manifest covering every file.
What actually gets fixed
Google Photos Takeout exports lose the real photo-taken date from the file's own timestamp — it only survives in the matching .json sidecar's photoTakenTime field. For JPEG files that already contain an EXIF DateTimeOriginal tag, this tool corrects that tag directly, in place, using the sidecar's date. Files without an existing EXIF date tag, non-JPEG files, and files with no matching sidecar are listed in the CSV manifest with the correct date, but are not modified.
Why this is deliberately conservative
Constructing a brand-new EXIF block for a photo that has none is a meaningfully riskier operation than correcting an existing fixed-length field, since getting the byte structure wrong could damage the image. This tool only ever performs the safe, byte-length-preserving correction, and never guesses at an unmatched file's date.
Common use cases
- Fix photo dates after a Google Photos export before re-importing elsewhere
- Recover the original date from a Takeout JSON sidecar
- Get a CSV list of correct dates for photos that can't be auto-patched
Frequently asked questions
Are my photos uploaded?
No. Matching and patching happen entirely in your browser.
Does this fix every photo?
No. Only JPEG files that already have an EXIF date field are patched directly. Everything else — PNG, HEIC, video, or JPEGs with no EXIF date at all — is listed in the CSV manifest with the correct date instead.
Does this restore GPS location too?
Not currently. This version focuses specifically on restoring the correct date, the most commonly needed fix.
Will this touch my original files?
No. Your selected files are read only; new, separately downloaded files are created for anything that gets patched.
What if a photo has no matching JSON sidecar?
It's reported as unmatched in the manifest rather than guessed at.