# How to Download Google Photos Without JSON Files (and Keep the Dates)

> Google Takeout adds a JSON file next to every photo. What those files hold, when you can ignore them, and how to download your library as plain photo files instead.

![Download Google Photos as plain photo files, without the JSON files that Google Takeout adds](https://blober.io/kb/articles/download-google-photos-without-json-files/cover.10b18bc59f.webp)

The JSON files come from Google Takeout, not from Google Photos. Takeout writes a JSON file next to every photo and video, with Google's record of that item. To get your photos without them, download from the library instead: the Download button on photos.google.com for a handful of items, or a tool that saves each item as its own file for a whole library.

Most photos don't need the JSON. A photo or video you uploaded at original quality still carries its capture date and location inside the file, in its EXIF data, and a plain download keeps that.

## What the JSON files are

Takeout pairs each item with a file named after it, usually `IMG_1234.jpg.supplemental-metadata.json`. Long names get cut short, so one export can also hold endings like `.supplemental-m.json` or `.sup-meta.json`, which trips up scripts that expect one pattern[[1]](https://blog.rpanachi.com/how-to-takeout-from-google-photos-and-fix-metadata-exif-info).

Inside is what Google stores about the item. One user who opened them found tags, the description, people, the creation and modification times, and the photo's Google Photos link[[2]](https://www.reddit.com/r/googlephotos/comments/701g7y/my_google_takeout_of_my_photos_were_saved_as_json/). The tools that merge the JSON back into the photos also restore its GPS location and description fields[[3]](https://blog.rpanachi.com/how-to-takeout-from-google-photos-and-fix-metadata-exif-info).

## Do you lose dates without them?

For most photos, no. Pictures and videos from a phone or camera have their own capture date and location embedded, and the file you download still has it.

The JSON matters for two kinds of item[[4]](https://www.reddit.com/r/googlephotos/comments/1tvj8kx/comment/opprene/):

- Photos you edited in Google Photos, which download as new, re-encoded files.
- Files that never had a date of their own: screenshots, images saved from the web, and photos forwarded through chat apps.

For those, Google's record is the reliable date. If your library is mostly camera photos, you can skip Takeout. If it is full of screenshots and saved images that you want dated, Takeout plus a merge tool such as ExifTool is the thorough route.

## Three ways to get your photos

| Route | Good for | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Download button on photos.google.com | a day, an album, a few hundred items | one item as a file, several items as one zip, up to 500 at a time |
| Google Takeout, then delete or merge the JSON | a full archive that includes Google's records | zip parts, a JSON file per item |
| Blober | the whole library | one file per item, no zip and no JSON |

Takeout can take hours or days to prepare, and it arrives in zip parts you download and extract one by one. See [How to Backup Google Photos Without Google Takeout](https://blober.io/kb/articles/how-to-backup-google-photos-without-takeout/) for the full comparison.

## Download the whole library with Blober

[Blober](https://blober.io) is a desktop app for Mac, Windows and Linux. It signs in to Google Photos through Google's own login page and lists your library by date.

1. Create a workflow and choose **Google Photos** as the source. Sign in with Google in the window that opens.
2. Tick **/ (Entire Storage)** to select the whole library, or pick the days you want, then click **Submit Selection**.
3. Choose the destination. **Local** writes to a folder on your computer, an external drive or a NAS share mounted on your computer. Other clouds work too, such as Proton Drive, iCloud Photos, Dropbox or pCloud.
4. Optional: for one folder per month, enter the path template `{file_created_year}/{file_created_month}/{file_created_datetime}_{filename}`. The time in the name keeps two `IMG_0001.jpg` files from the same month apart. See [Year and month folders](https://blober.io/kb/docs/providers/google-photos/#year-and-month-folders).
5. Start the transfer.

Blober downloads the original of each item from Google and saves the file as Google sends it. It doesn't add, remove or rewrite metadata, and it writes no JSON, XMP or zip files.

A failed download is retried. If you pause, or Google asks you to sign in again during a long run, resume the task: it carries on from the files it already finished.

## Check these after the first run

- Date taken and date modified differ. The capture date lives inside each photo. On a local drive, the file's modified date is the day you downloaded it, because Blober doesn't change file timestamps. Sort by date taken in a photo app, not by date modified.
- Day folders use UTC. A photo taken late in the evening in the Americas can downloads in the next day's folder.
- Motion photos and Live Photos come down as one file per item, as Google's download returns them. Open a few to see what you got.
- Blober doesn't choose between an edited and an unedited version of a photo. You get the file Google serves for that item.

## What this doesn't do

- Albums don't come across. Blober lists the library by date, not by album.
- Blober reads the file plus its name, date and size. The extras that Takeout puts in the JSON, such as descriptions and people tags, aren't part of that.
- Google has no official public API for this. If a Google change breaks access, a Blober update follows.

## Frequently asked questions

**Why does Google Takeout give me JSON files?**
Takeout exports Google's record of each item next to the item: dates, description, people tags and the item's link. Google Photos itself doesn't attach them to downloads.

**Can I delete the JSON files from my Takeout?**
For photos from a phone or camera, yes, because the date is inside the file. Keep them, or merge them in with ExifTool, for screenshots, saved images and photos you edited in Google Photos.

**Does downloading from photos.google.com give me JSON files?**
No. One item downloads as a file. Several items download as one zip.

**Can I download one album without a zip?**
Not with Blober, which lists the library by date. On the website, select the album's photos and download them: more than one arrives as a zip.

**Will my photos keep their GPS location?**
Blober doesn't remove anything from the file Google sends. If the location is in the photo's EXIF, it stays there.

**Can I download straight to an external hard drive?**
Yes. Choose **Local** as the destination and pick a folder on the drive. Keep the drive connected until the transfer finishes.

**What if I run it again next month?**
Keep deduplication on **Skip if a file with the same name exists**, the default. Files already in the destination folder are skipped, and only new ones download. See [Deduplication](https://blober.io/kb/docs/getting-started/deduplication/).

## Related guides

- [How to Backup Google Photos Without Google Takeout (After rclone Lost Access)](https://blober.io/kb/articles/how-to-backup-google-photos-without-takeout/)
- [Back Up Google Photos to pCloud Without Takeout](https://blober.io/kb/articles/backup-google-photos-to-pcloud/)
- [Back Up Cloud Storage Directly to Your NAS](https://blober.io/kb/articles/backup-cloud-to-nas-synology-network-drive/)
- [Organize Cloud Files by Created, Modified, or Backup Date](https://blober.io/kb/articles/organize-files-by-date-path-templates/)