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GOOGLE TAKEOUT GUIDE

What Google Takeout JSON can—and cannot—tell you.

A Takeout JSON sidecar can preserve useful Google Photos information that is not stored inside the media file. Treat it as one piece of evidence—not as a universal replacement for embedded metadata.

Audit a Takeout folder freeSee the audit rules

Last updated: August 16, 2026

The short version

Keep the media and JSON sidecars together

When you export Google Photos through Takeout, the download can contain photos and videos alongside secondary JSON files. Those sidecars may contain a Google Photos timestamp and other account-level information. Extract every archive part before scanning and preserve the exported folder structure while you review it.

What TrueTaken reads

A narrow, documented subset in current v1

photoTakenTime.timestamp
Used first when it is present and parses as a valid Unix timestamp.
creationTime.timestamp
Used as the sidecar date only when a usable photo-taken timestamp is not available.
title
Used as a clue for matching a sidecar to a media filename.
Other JSON fields
Current v1 does not use comments or location fields to choose the proposed date, and it does not write JSON fields into the media file.

Safe workflow

Prepare a Takeout export for review

  1. 01

    Create the export with Google Takeout

    Use Google's export service, select Google Photos, and download every archive part that belongs to the export.

  2. 02

    Extract all parts on your computer

    Do not scan only one ZIP part. Extract the set into one parent folder and keep its subfolders intact so media and sidecars remain discoverable.

  3. 03

    Select that parent folder in TrueTaken

    Scanning and matching run locally in your browser. Your selected photos, JSON contents, filenames, and paths are not uploaded for analysis.

  4. 04

    Review matches and disagreements

    Check the evidence source on each row. If embedded and Takeout dates differ by more than one day, current v1 marks the item for review and excludes it from copy export.

  5. 05

    Export new copies only after review

    Selected output is copied to date-named files and YYYY/MM folders. Source media remains unchanged, and current v1 does not rewrite EXIF.

Why matching can fail

Sidecars and media do not always pair cleanly

NAME CHANGES

Files were renamed

A JSON title or sidecar filename may refer to an earlier media name, preventing an exact match.

DUPLICATES

Names are not unique

Two items with the same or similar filenames can make a filename-only relationship ambiguous.

LONG NAMES

Sidecar suffixes changed

Takeout sidecars may use suffixes such as .supplemental-metadata.json, and long names can be shortened or transformed by export and extraction tools.

EDITED ITEMS

Exports contain variants

An edited copy and its original can have related names but different content or dates. Review rather than assuming they are interchangeable.

Unmatched JSON does not mean the media is unusable. TrueTaken can still consider supported embedded dates, filename dates, and file modified time, with weaker evidence clearly labeled.

Primary sources

Check the export behavior at the source