Downloading photos one by one from Google Photos is fine for a handful of pictures, but hopeless for an entire library of thousands. Google Takeout is the tool built for exactly this job: it packages your whole Photos library — or just the albums you choose — into downloadable archive files you can save to your computer or an external drive.
This guide walks through creating a Takeout export of Google Photos, choosing sensible file sizes, downloading the archives before they expire, and understanding how the exported photos and albums are organised.
Quick Answer
Go to takeout.google.com, deselect everything, tick only Google Photos, choose which albums to include, set the export to create .zip files of 2 GB or 10 GB, and click Create export. Google prepares the archives (this can take hours or days for big libraries) and emails you download links. Download every part within 7 days, unzip them, and your photos and videos are saved locally with albums kept as folders.
Creating the Export Step by Step
- Open takeout.google.com in a browser and sign in to the correct Google account.
- Click Deselect all at the top — Takeout selects every Google service by default, and you only want Photos.
- Scroll to Google Photos and tick its box.
- Click the “All photo albums included” button if you want only certain albums, and untick the ones to leave out.
- Scroll down and click Next step.
- Choose delivery by download link sent by email (the simplest option), export once.
- Pick .zip as the file type and a split size — 10 GB parts mean fewer files to manage than 2 GB parts, as long as your connection and drive can handle them.
- Click Create export and wait. Google emails you when the archives are ready.
Downloading and Unzipping
The email link leads to a page listing every archive part. Download all of them — the export is only complete with every part saved. Links expire after about 7 days, and you can download each archive only a limited number of times, so save the parts somewhere safe as soon as they land rather than re-downloading casually.
Unzip each file into the same parent folder. Inside, a “Google Photos” folder contains one sub-folder per album, plus a folder for photos not in any album, organised by date. Most photos keep their original quality. Alongside many images you will find small .json files: these hold metadata such as titles and descriptions that Photos stored separately. You do not need them for everyday viewing, but keep them if you ever plan to import the library into another service that can read them.
How Long Does It Take?
A small library may be ready in minutes. A library of hundreds of gigabytes can take a day or more for Google to prepare, and downloading it takes as long as your connection needs for that volume. Start the export when you do not urgently need the files, and consider exporting album by album if your library is huge and your internet is slow — several smaller exports are easier to manage than one giant one. Google’s account help page on downloading your data explains the process and the timeframes in more detail.
What Takeout Does Not Do
- It does not delete anything. Exporting is a copy. Your Photos library stays exactly as it was, which is what you want until the local copy is verified.
- Edits may be exported as separate files or originals. Depending on the photo, you may receive the original alongside an edited version. Check a few favourites after unzipping so you know what you have.
- Shared albums need care. Albums shared with you by other people are generally not part of your export. Save anything important from those separately.
After Downloading: Verify, Then Decide
Open a sample of photos from different years and albums, play a couple of videos, and compare the archive’s total size with what Photos reports for your library. If you exported specifically to free phone space by relying on the cloud, remember this export now gives you a second, local copy — exactly the safety net recommended in our guide on freeing up phone space safely with Google Photos backup. Only delete anything from the cloud after the local copy checks out, and keep the archives on a drive you trust.
Choosing Between One Big Export and Several Small Ones
For libraries over about 100 GB, splitting the job makes life easier. Run one export for your albums (using the album selection button to keep them), and a separate export later for anything left over, or export year by year if your albums are organised that way. Several smaller exports mean that if one download fails or a link expires, you redo a small piece instead of the whole library. The trade-off is bookkeeping: keep each export in its own clearly named folder on your drive — “Takeout Photos Albums 2026-10” and so on — and merge nothing until every part is downloaded and unzipped.
What To Do With the JSON Sidecar Files
Those small .json files beside your photos contain the metadata Google stored separately from the image file: the title you gave it, the description, and sometimes the location and timestamps as Photos recorded them. Most photo viewers ignore them, and you can safely leave them sitting alongside the images. If you later import the library into a tool that understands Google Takeout format, those files let it rebuild titles and descriptions properly. Deleting them loses only that extra metadata, not the photos — but since they take almost no space, keep them unless you have a reason not to.
Mistakes and Tips
- Do not let the links expire. Seven days passes quickly. Download promptly, and if you miss the window, simply create the export again.
- Use a computer with enough free space. The archives plus the unzipped library need roughly double the library’s size during the process.
- Choose .zip for compatibility. Every system opens .zip without extra software; .tgz mainly suits technical users.
- Keep the originals folder structure. Renaming or scattering the unzipped folders makes any future import into another photos service much harder.
Storing the Export Safely Afterwards
An export sitting in your Downloads folder is only half protected. Move the unzipped library onto the storage you actually trust: an external drive for a local archive, a second cloud service for an off-site copy, or ideally both for the photos that truly cannot be replaced. Label the folder with the export date so future exports do not blur together, and resist tidying inside it — keeping the album folders and structure exactly as Takeout produced them preserves your ability to re-import cleanly later. Treat the export like a backup, because that is precisely what it is.
Conclusion
Google Takeout turns “download everything” from a nightmare into a routine task: select only Photos, choose your albums, pick a sensible archive size, and download all parts before the links expire. Verify a sample of the unzipped library and you hold a complete local copy of your memories — ready for an external drive, a new service, or simple peace of mind.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Google Takeout download photos in original quality?
Yes. Takeout exports the files as stored in your library, including original-quality uploads, along with small JSON metadata files for many items.
How long do Takeout download links last?
About 7 days, with a limited number of downloads per archive. Download everything promptly; if links expire, create a fresh export.
Can I export only one album instead of everything?
Yes. In the Photos section of Takeout, use the “All photo albums included” button to deselect albums and keep only the ones you want.
Will exporting delete photos from my Google Photos?
No. Takeout makes a copy. Nothing in your library changes until you delete something yourself.
My library is enormous. How do I make the export manageable?
Choose the 10 GB or larger split size to reduce the number of parts, export album groups in separate runs, and download to a computer with plenty of free disk space.
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