How to export your whole Google Photos library with Takeout
This gets every photo and video out as files you can hold. It does not move you to a new app, and it does not copy the Photos interface.
Before you start
- Use a computer, and sign in to the Google account that owns the library.
- You need free space for the download. The export can be larger than the storage number Google shows, because older “High quality” uploads still come out as files.
- Do a small album first if you have never used Takeout. The steps are the same.
Create the export
- Open takeout.google.com.
- Click Deselect all. Tick only Google Photos. Leave Mail, Drive, and everything else off.
- Leave All photo albums included selected, unless you are running a test album.
- Click Next step.
- Under delivery, choose Send download link via email. Do not send the export to Drive if Drive is already full.
- Frequency: Export once.
- File type: .zip.
- Archive size: 10 GB on a normal connection. Use 2 GB if downloads often fail. Use 50 GB only on a fast line that does not drop.
- Click Create export.
Download every part
Google emails you when the archive is ready. That can take hours, or days for a large library. There is nothing to do until the email arrives.
- Download every zip in the email, not only the first.
- Keep the zip files. Do not extract a huge library on a laptop that does not have about twice the free space.
- The download link expires. If one part fails, retry that part.
What the export does not keep
- Album folders are not a perfect copy of the Photos app. Shared albums, partner sharing, and face groups do not come along as people.
- Dates and other details can sit in a sidecar file next to the photo. Do not delete those extra files.
- This page does not tell you to turn backup off. The library in Google Photos stays until you delete it yourself.
Checked against Google’s Takeout flow in October 2026. Labels move. If a button is missing, the job is still: Photos only, email the zip, export once.