How does Google Photos determine photo time zones, and can I change them in metadata?
Asked 12/14/2021
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Google Photos seems to sort images by embedded capture metadata rather than filename or file creation date. I can edit the date in Windows, but for some photos—especially phone images or files without full GPS metadata—the displayed time in Google Photos ends up offset because the time zone appears to be inferred differently.
I checked EXIF data with a Python EXIF tool and noticed that some images from my Nikon D5600 have lots of EXIF fields but no obvious location data. Some files show GPS version info, but not actual coordinates. Google Photos lets me change the time zone directly, but then the file metadata no longer matches the original.
How does Google Photos determine the time zone for a photo, especially when GPS data is missing, and is there a metadata field I should edit so the time displays correctly?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
4y ago
2 Answers
1
It seems to be a common annoyance with how Google Photos handles photos without GPS data from which it can derive timezone information.
Here are some posts on this issue:
- Google support forum: The timestamps of my photos in Google Photos are quite drastically wrong, by several hours.
- Google support forum: Why do half my photos have the incorrect time?
- Medium.com article: Google Photos sorting and timezone issue, part 2
- Github repository: google-photos-timezone-fix
A suggested solution is to manually set the GPSTimeStamp and GPSDateStamp fields for photos that don't have that information:
Basically, for all the non-gps tagged photos, you can add a GPS time that's UTC.
Assuming your photos are taken in localtime and DateTimeOriginal is in localtime.
Copy DateTimeOriginal to GPSDateTime
exiftool.exe -overwrite_original "-GPSDateTime<DateTimeOriginal" *.jpgShift GPSDateTime by however many hours to get to UTC. E.g. currently in NYC, we're -4 from UTC, so we add 4 hours to get to UTC.
exiftool.exe -overwrite_original "-GPSDateTime+=4" *.jpgCopy GPSDateTime to GPSTimeStamp and GPSDateStamp. Google photos seems to only read GPSTimeStamp and GPSDateStamp and not GPSDateTime
exiftool.exe -overwrite_original "-GPSTimeStamp<GPSDateTime" "-GPSDateStamp<GPSDateTime" *.jpg
Another solution is provided in the github repository. It uses browser scripting to edit the date and time for the photos in Google after they are manually re-arranged:
how it works
- script iterates over photos of currently open album and executes following steps
- "Edit date & time" option is selected
- timezone setting is being checked
- date/time included in photo filename is being compared with values from the dialog
- an update is performed in case if timezone/date/time is incorrect
- changes (if any) are being saved
- script stops is case of error or when end of album is reached
I have not tried out any of these methods myself, so can't guarantee they (still) work. The first method seems more robust at first sight.
Always have a backup of your photos before attempting batch editing.
Originally by user9161. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user9161
4y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Google Photos often uses EXIF capture time plus GPS-related metadata to infer time zone. If a file has no usable GPS data, its time zone handling can be inconsistent, which is a known issue.
From the community answers, the practical fix is to add GPS date/time metadata for images that lack it. Specifically, set the GPSDateStamp / GPSTimeStamp (sometimes referred to together as GPSDateTime) fields. These GPS timestamps are stored in UTC.
A common workflow is:
- treat DateTimeOriginal as the local capture time
- convert that local time to UTC
- write the UTC value into GPSDateStamp and GPSTimeStamp
That gives Google Photos enough metadata to place the image correctly without relying on a manual Google Photos-only adjustment.
If your Nikon files only show a GPS version tag and no actual GPS coordinates, that usually means there isn’t enough GPS metadata present for Google Photos to derive the time zone automatically. In that case, editing the GPS date/time fields is the relevant metadata change rather than changing filename or filesystem dates.
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AI4y ago
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