PHOTO ARCHIVES / 6 MINUTE READ

Keep photo-export sidecars with their originals

The safe goal is a reviewable copy, not a silent rewrite. Keep the original export as a backup until you have opened the new archive and checked dates, edits, and videos.

1. Export the right source

On a Mac, Apple Photos offers “Export Unmodified Original” and can export IPTC metadata as an XMP sidecar. A Live Photo can export as a still image plus a separate video file. Choose the source that fits your archive needs: unmodified originals preserve source bytes, while rendered edited exports are a different deliverable. See Apple’s Photos export guide.

2. Keep companion files in the same folder

Place the exported media and its XMP or AAE companion in the same selected folder. Handoff Desk matches a sidecar to a single same-folder filename or basename. It also recognizes a Google Takeout JSON file named after a media file, with or without .supplemental-metadata. A sidecar with no unique match is kept in _review-sidecars inside the ZIP—not deleted.

Filename pairing is only a filing aid. Apple’s Live Photo association uses a content identifier in the media, so matching IMG_1001.HEIC and IMG_1001.MOV does not prove they are a valid Live Photo pair. See Apple’s Live Photo metadata documentation.

3. Review date sources, not just sorted folders

The organizer prefers capture metadata from a still image. If that is absent, an exactly matched JSON photoTakenTime.timestamp may supply the date. Otherwise it uses file-modified time, which can change during copying. The preview labels each date source and lets you correct it. Conflicting JSON dates are flagged rather than silently chosen. XMP and AAE contents are preserved unchanged; their edits or metadata are not applied to the photo.

4. Download and verify the receipt

Check the planned paths and sidecar warnings, then download the ZIP. manifest.json lists original paths, output paths, date sources, exact SHA-256 duplicates, and sidecar matches or warnings. Duplicate detection is byte-for-byte only; visually similar edits are not automatically removed. Open a few originals and their companions after extracting the ZIP before retiring the source export.

Open the free photo organizer →

What it cannot do

It does not rebuild Apple Photos libraries, apply XMP or AAE edits, verify Live Photo identifiers, recognize every Takeout sidecar variant, repair corrupt media, or replace a backup. Use smaller batches if the browser cannot handle the archive in memory.

Updated 13 October 2026