Google Takeout Export Too Big? Why It Happens & How to Make It Fit
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Google Photos says your library is 50GB. You run Takeout, and it produces 95GB of zip files. Now it won't fit on your laptop's SSD alongside everything else. Here's where the extra space went and how to deal with it.
Why Your Export Is Bigger Than Your Library
1. Every Album Photo Is Exported Twice
This is the biggest culprit. Google Takeout exports photos from both year-based folders and album folders separately. A photo in "Vacation 2022" and "Photos from 2022" becomes two identical files in your export. If you have lots of albums, your export can be nearly double the size of your actual library.
We verified this by comparing MD5 hashes - the duplicates are byte-for-byte identical. For the full breakdown, see our guide to Google Takeout duplicate photos .
2. Thousands of JSON Sidecar Files
Every single photo and video gets a companion .json file
containing its metadata - dates, GPS coordinates, descriptions. With duplicates, that's two JSON files
per album photo. On a 50,000-photo library, these small files add up to a few GB. Not the main problem,
but it adds up.
Learn more in our guide to Google Takeout JSON files .
3. Original Quality vs. Storage Saver
If you ever uploaded photos at "Original quality" before switching to "Storage saver" (previously "High quality"), Google kept your originals. The storage number you see in Google Photos reflects the compressed versions, but Takeout exports the originals where they still exist. Your files are literally bigger than what Google was counting.
4. Shared Albums and Partner Sharing
Photos shared with you that you saved to your library are included in the export. If your partner shared 10,000 photos with you via partner sharing, those are now in your Takeout too.
How Much Space Do You Actually Need?
A rough rule: expect your Takeout to be 1.5-2x the storage number shown in Google Photos. The more albums you have, the closer to 2x.
| Google Photos Says | Takeout Export (Typical) | After Deduplication |
|---|---|---|
| 15 GB | 25-30 GB | ~17 GB |
| 50 GB | 80-100 GB | ~55 GB |
| 200 GB | 300-400 GB | ~220 GB |
The "After Deduplication" column is your real library size - close to what Google Photos reports, plus a bit extra from original-quality files and JSON metadata.
How to Make It Fit
Option 1: Use an External Drive
The simplest solution. A 1TB external SSD costs less than a month of cloud storage these days. Download your Takeout directly to it, process it there, and you never touch your laptop's storage. Metadata Fixer works on any connected drive.
Option 2: Export Only What You Need
When setting up Google Takeout, click "All photo albums included" and deselect "Include all albums." Export only specific years or albums. A decade of photos is more manageable than your entire history since 2004.
Option 3: Run Multiple Smaller Takeouts
Instead of exporting everything at once, run several Takeout exports - one per year or group of albums. Process each export fully, move the fixed photos to their final destination, then start the next one. This keeps the disk space needed at any one time much lower.
Don't try to process only some zip files from a single export - Google splits photos and their JSON metadata across different zips, so you need all the zips from one export together for matching to work.
Important: Whichever approach you choose, fix your metadata before deduplicating or deleting any files. The JSON sidecar files contain your original dates and locations - once they're gone, that data is gone too.
Option 4: Deduplicate After Processing
After fixing metadata, remove the duplicate files to reclaim up to 40% of the space. Since the duplicates are byte-identical, any hash-based deduplication tool will find them. See our deduplication guide for the details.
Option 5: JSON Files Are Cleaned Up Automatically
Metadata Fixer deletes the JSON sidecar files after writing their data back into your photos. On a large library, this frees up another few GB automatically. Every little bit helps when your SSD is screaming.
Fix Metadata First, Shrink Later
Metadata Fixer reads your Google Takeout JSON files and writes the dates, locations, and descriptions back into your photos. Process your export before cleaning up - it works directly with zip files, so you don't even need to extract them first.
Download Metadata FixerFrequently Asked Questions
Why is my Google Takeout twice the size of my Google Photos?
Mostly duplicates. Google exports each photo from both year folders and album folders, so every photo in an album exists twice in your export. JSON metadata files and original-quality exports account for the rest.
Will my Google Takeout fit on a 256GB SSD?
Depends on your library size and how much free space you have. A 100GB Google Photos library can produce 150-200GB of export files. If it's tight, use an external drive or export in batches. After processing and deduplication, the final library will be much closer to your original library size.
Can I process Google Takeout from an external drive?
Yes. Metadata Fixer can read and write files on any connected drive. Point it at your external drive and it processes the Takeout zip files in place - nothing gets copied to your internal storage.
Do I need to extract the zip files first?
No. Metadata Fixer processes zip files directly - no extraction needed. This matters when storage is tight, since extracting would roughly double the space needed on disk.
Can I export only part of my Google Photos library?
Yes. When configuring Google Takeout, click "All photo albums included" and deselect "Include all albums." You can pick specific albums or year folders. This is the easiest way to keep the export size manageable.
Ready to Process Your Takeout?
Metadata Fixer restores your original dates, locations, and descriptions from Google's JSON files. Works directly with zip files on any drive. No technical knowledge required.
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