Google Takeout photos have the wrong date?

You downloaded your Google Photos library with Google Takeout and imported it into Apple Photos, Windows Photos or a new phone. Now thousands of photos say they were taken on the day you downloaded them. Your photos aren't damaged. The dates are just in the wrong place.

Why it happens

Most photos store the "date taken" inside the image file, in a block of information called EXIF. Photo apps read that block to sort your library.

Many photos in Google Photos don't have that date inside the file: screenshots, images saved from WhatsApp or Messenger, scanned photos, edited copies, and photos whose information was stripped when they were shared. Google kept the date in its own database instead. When you export with Takeout, Google writes that date into a separate small file next to each photo, for example:

IMG_1234.jpg
IMG_1234.jpg.json                      ← the date lives here
IMG_5678.jpg.supplemental-metadata.json ← newer exports use this name

Photo apps don't read those .json files. With no date inside the photo, they fall back to the file's own "created" or "modified" date, which is the day you unzipped the download.

Why fixing it by hand is painful

The JSON file names don't always match the photo. Long names are cut short, copies get numbers in odd places (IMG_1234(1).jpg pairs with IMG_1234.jpg(1).json), and edited copies share the original's file.
In 2024 Google started naming them .supplemental-metadata.json, which broke many older fix-it scripts.
A big library comes as several zip files, and a photo and its JSON can land in different zips.

How to fix it

Unzip all of your Takeout zip files.
Open Takeout Photo Fixer in Chrome or Edge on a computer and choose the folder. You'll see how many photos are affected. Nothing is uploaded: it all runs on your computer.
Pick an empty folder. The fixer writes the real date (and location, if Google had it) into each photo and saves a clean copy sorted into year and month folders, with duplicates removed.
Import that clean folder into your new photo app.

Does it change my originals?

No. The fixer only reads your Takeout folder and writes fixed copies into the folder you choose. A fix-log.csv file lists every change.

Check your Takeout folder: it's free