To download all photos from Google Photos at once to your PC, you must use Google Takeout, as the direct download method on photos.google.com is limited to around 1200 photos at a time and is not practical for an entire library. This process exports your entire collection in one go, giving you a local backup you can access offline.
Why you can't download all photos from Google Photos directly
While you can select and download multiple photos directly from photos.google.com, this method is generally limited to a few hundred to around 1200 photos at a time and is not practical for downloading an entire large library. For a complete export of your entire Google Photos library, you need to use Google Takeout, which is designed to handle large data exports from Google services.
Go to Google Takeout and sign in
Navigate to takeout.google.com and sign in with your Google account. This direct path replaces the old multi-step navigation through Google Photos settings, saving you time.
Select Google Photos for export
Scroll down the list of Google services and find "Google Photos." Check the box next to it to select it for export. If you want to export only specific albums rather than your entire library, click the arrow next to "Google Photos" to expand the options and select the albums you want. Otherwise, leave all albums selected to export everything.
Choose your delivery method and archive size
Click on "Next step" at the bottom of the page. On the following screen, choose your delivery method. You can opt to receive a download link via email, or you can add the export directly to a cloud service like Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, or OneDrive. Next, select the maximum archive size (options include 2 GB, 4 GB, 10 GB, and 50 GB). If your data is larger than the selected archive size, Google Takeout will split it into multiple ZIP files, making them easier to download and manage.
Create the export and wait for the email
Click "Create export." Google will begin preparing your data. This process can take hours or even days, depending on the size of your library. You will receive an email notification when your export is ready. Be sure to check your spam folder if you don't see the email in your inbox.
Download and extract the ZIP files on your PC
Open the email from Google Takeout and click the "Download" link or "Manage Google Takeout request" button. This will take you to a page where you can download your ZIP files. After downloading, right-click each ZIP file on Windows and select "Extract All" to access your photos, or you can download all photos from Google photos to external hard drive directly to save space on your PC. On macOS, double-click the ZIP file to extract its contents.
Understand what you downloaded
Google Takeout includes both original and edited copies of your photos in the download. However, any additional metadata you added within Google Photos, such as descriptions, captions, changed dates or times, and locations, is not embedded in the photo files themselves. Instead, this information is stored in a separate JSON file that accompanies your photos. Additionally, based on the time the photo or video is downloaded, your operating system can assign a new timestamp to the file itself, but the original timestamp is preserved in the metadata embedded within the file. If you want to organize Google photos on your PC, you can use the JSON files to restore that metadata using specialized tools, or you can manually sort the files by their embedded timestamps.
