Changes Google Photos Takeout photos/videos EXIF and file metadata datetimes to the correct value from the supplemental metadata JSON file. Put in same dir as the photos/vids and exiftool.exe.

change_photo_datetime.py

import os
import glob
import subprocess
import json
from datetime import datetime

def get_correct_datetime(file_path):
    directory = os.path.dirname(file_path)
    base = os.path.basename(file_path)
    pattern = os.path.join(directory, base + ".*.json")
    matches = glob.glob(pattern)
    if matches:
        with open(matches[0],) as f:
            metadata = json.load(f)
            wrong_format = metadata['photoTakenTime']['formatted'] # 10 Aug 2025, 23:06:42 UTC
            correct_format = datetime.strptime(wrong_format[:-4], '%d %b %Y, %H:%M:%S') # Convert to datetime object
            return correct_format.replace(second=0).strftime('%Y:%m:%d %H:%M')
    return None

imgs = []
for ext in ('*.jpg', '*.jpeg', '*.png', '*.webp'):
    imgs.extend(glob.glob(os.path.join(os.getcwd(), ext)))

vids = glob.glob(os.path.join(os.getcwd(), '*.mp4'))

for file in imgs:
    try:
        correct_datetime = get_correct_datetime(file)
        if not correct_datetime:
            print(f"No supplemental metadata JSON found for {file}, skipping.")
            continue

        check = subprocess.run(['exiftool.exe', '-j', '-CreateDate', file], capture_output=True, text=True)
        metadata = json.loads(check.stdout)

        if not metadata or 'CreateDate' not in metadata[0]:
            subprocess.run(['exiftool.exe', '-overwrite_original', f'-AllDates={correct_datetime}', file])

        subprocess.run(['exiftool.exe', '-overwrite_original',
                        f'-FileCreateDate={correct_datetime}',
                        f'-FileModifyDate={correct_datetime}', file])
        print(f"Processed image: {file}\n")

    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error processing image {file}: {e}\n")

for file in vids:
    try:
        correct_datetime = get_correct_datetime(file)
        if not correct_datetime:
            print(f"No supplemental metadata JSON found for {file}, skipping.")
            continue

        check = subprocess.run(['exiftool.exe', '-j', '-CreateDate', file], capture_output=True, text=True)
        metadata = json.loads(check.stdout)

        if not metadata or 'CreateDate' not in metadata[0]:
            subprocess.run([
                'exiftool.exe', '-overwrite_original',
                f'-CreateDate={correct_datetime}',
                f'-ModifyDate={correct_datetime}',
                f'-TrackCreateDate={correct_datetime}',
                f'-TrackModifyDate={correct_datetime}',
                f'-MediaCreateDate={correct_datetime}',
                f'-MediaModifyDate={correct_datetime}', file])
            
        subprocess.run(['exiftool.exe', '-overwrite_original',
                        f'-FileCreateDate={correct_datetime}',
                        f'-FileModifyDate={correct_datetime}', file])
        print(f"Processed video: {file}\n")

    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Error processing video {file}: {e}\n")