Guide
How to open your Google Takeout files
Google Takeout hands you a pile of numbered zip archives, cryptic folder names, and a .json file next to almost every photo. Here is what all of it means, and the fastest way to turn it into a library you can actually use.
1. Download every part before you extract anything
Exports larger than the size you picked (2 GB, 10 GB, 50 GB) are split into numbered parts: takeout-20260101T000000Z-001.zip, -002.zip, and so on. They are not standalone archives in the way people expect — a single folder, or even a single photo, can straddle two parts.
Download all of them into one folder first. Download links expire (typically within a week) and each link can only be used a handful of times, so grab the whole set in one sitting.
2. Extract them into one shared folder
On Windows, right-click each zip and choose "Extract All" into the same destination folder. On macOS, double-click each archive in place. Merging the parts into one destination is what stitches the split folders back together.
If your extractor complains about long file names, extract closer to the drive root (for example C:\takeout) — Takeout paths are deeply nested and can exceed the classic Windows path limit.
3. What all those .json files are
Inside Takeout/Google Photos/ you will find pairs like IMG_2043.jpg and IMG_2043.jpg.supplemental-metadata.json. The sidecar holds the original photo taken time, GPS coordinates, description, and album membership.
This matters because the exported image file itself often carries the export date rather than the date you shot it. Delete the sidecars and that history is gone for good — read them first, write the date back onto the file, and only then throw them away.
4. Expect duplicates across exports
If you have run Takeout more than once, the same photo appears in every export, sometimes under a slightly different name (IMG_2043(1).jpg). Sorting by file name will not catch these. Comparing file contents will.
5. Sort into categories you can browse
A raw export mixes Google Photos, Gmail (a single giant .mbox), Drive documents, Contacts (.vcf), Calendar (.ics), YouTube videos, and activity logs. Splitting them into photos, videos, documents, mail, contacts, and calendar folders is what turns an archive into something you will actually open again.
Or let Takeout Champ do all five steps
Drop your zips in — no unzipping needed. It sorts every file by category, finds duplicates across every export you have ever run, restores the original timestamps from the sidecar data, and saves a clean folder to your device. Everything runs in your browser: your files never leave your computer. Free for your first 3 GB.
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