How to Batch-Change Photo Dates (Fix Hundreds at Once)

Quick answer: To change the date on many photos at once, you have three good options: a free browser EXIF date editor that handles multiple files at once, Adobe Lightroom's Edit Capture Time, or the ExifTool command line for full control (with one example offset command below). The most common triggers are scanned photos that all carry the scan date and dates that reset after a phone transfer. For a fast, no-install, no-upload fix, the browser editor is usually the place to start.

Fixing one date is easy. Fixing three hundred is a different problem, and doing it one photo at a time is not realistic. Here is how to do it in bulk, and how to choose between setting an exact date and shifting by an offset.

When you need a batch fix

Batch date changes come up in a few recurring situations:

• Scanned prints. A box of old photos scanned in one sitting all get stamped with today's scan date instead of the year they were actually taken.
• Phone or computer transfers. Copying photos to a new phone, or saving them out of a chat app, often resets the file dates so a whole album lands on the same wrong day.
• Wrong camera clock. A camera set to the wrong date stamps every shot in a trip incorrectly, so they all need the same correction.
• Timezone shifts. You shot in another timezone and every photo is off by the same number of hours.

The first two usually need an absolute date. The last two usually need an offset. More on that distinction at the end. If you are not sure which is wrong, start with why is my photo date wrong.

Browser EXIF date editor for batches (no install, no upload)

The simplest option, especially when every photo should get the same new date:

1. Open the EXIF date editor in any browser.
2. Select all the photos you want to fix (JPEG, HEIC, or PNG).
3. Set the date and time to apply.
4. Apply and download the corrected files.

This writes DateTimeOriginal into each file directly, so the new date sticks everywhere the photos go. It runs entirely in your browser, which means there is nothing to install and your photos never upload to a server. That is the right pick for a stack of scans that all need the same year, and for anyone who does not want to learn a command line.

Lightroom Edit Capture Time (shift or set)

If you already use Adobe Lightroom (Classic), it has a solid batch tool:

1. Select all the photos to change in the grid.
2. Open Metadata, then Edit Capture Time.
3. Choose one of the modes:
   • Adjust to a specified date and time sets the first selected photo to a date you type and moves the rest to keep their spacing.
   • Shift by set number of hours adds or subtracts a fixed offset, ideal for a timezone fix.
   • Change to file creation date pulls the date from the file itself.
4. Click Change All.

Lightroom keeps the relative order and gaps between shots when you set an absolute date, which is the behavior you want for a trip where only the starting point was wrong.

ExifTool for power users

ExifTool is a free command line tool that gives you total control over the batch. Once installed, open a terminal in the folder of photos. To add three hours to every JPEG (a common timezone correction):

exiftool "-DateTimeOriginal+=0:0:0 3:0:0" *.jpg

The format is Y:M:D h:m:s, so 0:0:0 3:0:0 means zero years, months, and days, plus three hours. Use -= instead of += to subtract.

To set an absolute date on every file instead:

exiftool "-DateTimeOriginal=2019:07:04 12:00:00" *.jpg

ExifTool writes the change into the files in place (it keeps a backup copy by default), so the new dates travel with the photos. It is the most flexible option, but it does require installing a tool and typing commands carefully.

Absolute date vs offset: which one you want

The single most important choice in any batch is this:

• Set an absolute date when you want every photo to land on one specific date, or when one known correct date should anchor the rest. Good for scans and for albums that all reset to the same wrong day.
• Shift by an offset when the dates are correct relative to each other but all wrong by the same amount, such as a timezone difference or a camera clock that was off by a fixed number of hours. The offset preserves the real gaps between shots.

Get this backwards and you will flatten a whole trip onto one timestamp, or nudge already-correct photos out of order. When you are done, open one file in the EXIF viewer to confirm DateTimeOriginal moved the way you expected.

For the single-photo version of all this, see how to change the date on a photo, and to understand which date you are even editing, see date taken vs date created vs date modified.