Retrieving the original date of a .JPG

Question

I know a similar question was posted here before - which I will provide a link for below - but despite that, the exiftool.exe in the thread could not really retrieve the original date. The file in question is a .jpg that I received from a friend which I then saved to my PC.
The date of creation according to the exiftool is the same date I copied the file to my PC and not the actual date the photo was taken in. The exiftool.exe could only display similar information which file properties in Windows already showed.

Is there any -hopefully an easy- way on Windows to extract the "hidden" original date when the photo was taken ?
Any tool that would retrieve the ORIGINAL date a photo was created on even after it has been processed?

StarGeek · Answer

As the comments say, there's no "hidden" data.  From the looks of that output, all the data has been stripped away. Everything that's left is properties of the file system (file permissions, file create/modify date) or properties of the image itself (width/height, encoding, bits).
This is common for images/videos that have passed through social media type websites/apps.  Personally identifiable data is removed for privacy.

John · Answer

So here is what I found out. The "compressed" picture that my friend sent me through Whatsapp has its original creation date changed to the time I stored it on my PC. However, the same "full-sized" picture was emailed to me today and it showed the original date it was created in. Apparently, it really depends on the medium through which you send the image and whether any compression was done to it.

Answered by John on April 28, 2021

Retrieving the original date of a .JPG

2 Answers

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question