What are the .supplemental-metadata.json files?
If your Google Photos Takeout is full of files like
IMG_1234.jpg.supplemental-metadata.json, those hold the information Google kept about each
photo. Don't delete them until your photos are fixed.
What's inside
Each one is a small text file in JSON format. The useful parts are:
- photoTakenTime: when the photo was taken. Often this is the only place the date exists.
- geoData: where it was taken, if Google knew.
- title: the photo's original file name (handy when Takeout cut the name short).
- description and favorited: your captions and favourites.
Why the name changed
Older exports named these files IMG_1234.jpg.json. Newer ones use
IMG_1234.jpg.supplemental-metadata.json, and long names get cut short, for example
…jpg.supplemental-metad.json or …jpg.supp.json. Scripts written for the old names
can't find the new files, so the dates never get applied.
Can I just delete them?
Only after the dates and locations have been written into the photos themselves. If you delete them first, photos without a date inside (screenshots, WhatsApp images, edited copies) lose their real date for good.
How to use them
Takeout Photo Fixer reads both the old and new naming, including cut-short names and numbered copies. It writes each date and location into the matching photo and saves a clean library. It runs in your browser, so your photos aren't uploaded anywhere.
Check your Takeout folder: it's free
Related: Why Takeout photos have the wrong date · Why Takeout has duplicate photos