Google Takeout: what to do with all those zip files
You asked Google for a copy of your Google Photos, and got an email with a long list of .zip files. Here's what's in them and what to do next.
Why are there so many zip files?
Google splits a big download into parts of the size you picked (for example 2 GB or 10 GB each). A library of 50 GB at 2 GB per part becomes 25 zip files. Each part holds different photos and videos, and there's no special order: one year's photos can be spread over several parts. So if you want everything, you need every part.
Download them soon. The download links only work for a limited time (about a week), and each file can only be downloaded a limited number of times. If they expire, you have to request a new Takeout.
Tip: put all the parts in one folder of their own, such as Google Photos Takeout 2026, so they don't get mixed up with other downloads.
What's inside?
Open one of the zips and you'll find a Takeout folder, and inside it Google Photos, with folders like:
- Photos from 2019, Photos from 2020, ...: your photos and videos, sorted by year.
- Folders named after your albums: the photos in each album.
- Small .json files next to many photos: "notes" Google adds with the date taken, location and description. You can usually ignore them, but they matter if you move your photos to another service (see below).
Why does the same photo appear more than once?
Google puts a copy of a photo in its "Photos from (year)" folder and in every album it belongs to. A photo in three albums appears four times. That's why a Takeout is often bigger than you'd expect. You may also see edited versions (with "-edited" in the name) next to the originals, and on iPhones, "Live Photos" come out as a photo plus a short video.
None of this means your Google Photos library has duplicates: it's just how Takeout packs things.
Do I need to unzip them?
It depends on what you want to do:
- Just keeping a backup? No. Keep the zip files as they are, ideally on an external drive as well as your computer.
- Want to browse the photos? Yes. Right-click each zip and choose Extract All, extracting them all into the same folder: the Takeout folders inside merge into one. Very large zips sometimes fail with Windows' built-in tool; the free program 7-Zip handles them better.
- Want to check which photos on an old computer or drive are missing from Google Photos? No need to unzip: Photo Wizard reads inside the zip files directly. See below.
What can I do with my Takeout?
1. Keep it as a backup
Google Photos is not a backup on its own: if your account is lost or a photo is deleted, it's gone. A Takeout on an external drive is a simple safety copy. Make a new one once or twice a year.
2. Find what's missing from Google Photos
This is where a Takeout is really useful. It's a complete list of what Google Photos already has, on your own computer, so you can compare it with an old laptop, a backup drive or a memory card and upload only what's missing, instead of uploading everything again and filling your storage with duplicates.
With Photo Wizard: choose the folder with all your Takeout zip files as the Source Location and the old folder or drive as the Target Folder, then click Identify. It reads the zips directly, counts each photo only once even if it's in several albums, and shows you only the photos and videos you don't have in Google Photos yet. Scanning is free.
The step-by-step version is in our guide How to find photos missing from Google Photos.
3. Move to another photo service
Unzip everything into one folder (see above) and upload the "Photos from (year)" folders, which hold every photo once, rather than the album folders, which would add duplicates. Some photos may show the wrong date afterwards, because the date was stored in those .json files instead of in the photo itself; some services and tools can read the .json files to fix this.
Common questions
- One zip file failed to download. Go back to the Takeout email or to takeout.google.com → Manage exports and download just that part again.
- Can I delete the zips after unzipping? Yes, once you've checked the unzipped photos open properly. Keep them if you want a compact backup.
- My Takeout is a few months old. Photos you added to Google Photos since aren't in it. For comparing, it's best to use a fresh one.