How to Change the Date on a Photo (5 Methods)

Quick answer: The fastest way to change a photo's date is to drop the JPEG into a free browser-based EXIF date editor like our Change Photo Date tool, type the new date, and click Apply. iPhone users can adjust dates directly in Apple Photos (Image → Adjust Date and Time). Power users can use the open-source ExifTool command line for batch shifts and scripted fixes. Five methods compared below, ranked from easiest to most powerful.

If you've ever scanned an old print, fixed a camera with the wrong timezone, or organised a project folder by date, you've needed to change a photo's capture date. The metadata block inside the JPEG (EXIF) records when the shutter fired, and most apps sort and search by that field. Here are the five ways to change it, ranked from easiest to most powerful.

Quick comparison

Method	Time per photo	Cost	Batch	EXIF written to file?
iPhone Photos	10 sec	Free	No	No (library only)
Our web editor	3 sec	Free	Yes	Yes
Adobe Lightroom	5 sec	$10/mo	Yes	Yes (on export)
ExifTool CLI	1 sec	Free	Yes	Yes
Python piexif	0.1 sec	Free	Yes	Yes

Method 1: iPhone Photos app

The fastest way for one or two photos when you're already on your phone.

1. Open Photos, tap a photo to view it full-screen
2. Tap the (i) info icon (bottom of screen on iOS 16+, top-right earlier)
3. Tap Adjust next to the date
4. Pick a new date and time, tap Done

Pros

• Built into iOS, no install
• Free
• Works for a single photo in seconds

Cons

• Doesn't change the EXIF on the source file. The date only updates in Apple's library index. If you export the photo (AirDrop, Mail, save to Files), the original EXIF date is what travels with it.
• One photo at a time. No batch.

When to use

For organising your own library when you don't plan to export. For sharing a photo with the corrected date, use one of the methods below that actually writes EXIF.

Method 2: Our free web EXIF date editor

Built for exactly this case, browser-only, no install.

1. Open /edit-photo-date
2. Drop one JPEG, or drop a folder for batch
3. Type the new date (Set mode) or pick a delta (Shift mode for timezone fixes)
4. Download the updated file (or a ZIP of all of them)

The browser uses piexif.js to write DateTimeOriginal, DateTimeDigitized, and the IFD0 DateTime tag in sync. No re-compression: pixel data stays byte-for-byte identical.

Pros

• Free, no accounts, no daily caps
• No upload: the file never leaves your device
• Set mode (specific date) and Shift mode (offset) cover both common cases
• Batch a whole folder, get a single ZIP back
• Works on any device with a modern browser, including phones and Chromebooks

Cons

• JPEG only. For PNG, WebP, or HEIC see the EXIF Tag Reference for format-specific notes.

When to use

Default choice for one to a few hundred photos when you don't already have Lightroom or comfort with the command line.

Method 3: Adobe Lightroom Classic

If Lightroom is part of your workflow already, the built-in capture-time editor is excellent for big batches.

1. Select photos in Library
2. Menu: Metadata > Edit Capture Time
3. Pick one of three modes:
   • Adjust to a specified date and time (apply same date to selection)
   • Shift by set number of hours (timezone or DST fix)
   • Change to file creation date (use OS file mtime)
4. Click Change All

Lightroom changes EXIF on export, not on the source RAW or JPEG until you re-export. If you sync the catalogue to a cloud service, the new date travels with the catalogue.

Pros

• Handles 1000s of photos
• Shift mode is excellent for "all my photos from this trip are off by 5 hours"
• Integrates with your existing catalogue, keywords, ratings

Cons

• Requires Lightroom subscription ($10/month minimum, more for the photo bundle)
• Changes catalogue first, files only on export
• Steeper learning curve if you don't already use it

When to use

Photographers and studios with a Lightroom workflow.

Method 4: ExifTool (command line)

The gold standard for power users. Free, open-source, scriptable, handles every metadata edge case.

Install

# macOS (Homebrew)
brew install exiftool

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt install libimage-exiftool-perl

# Windows
# Download the standalone .exe from exiftool.org

Set one photo to a specific date

exiftool -DateTimeOriginal='2026:05:21 14:30:00' photo.jpg

Shift every JPEG in a folder by +3 hours

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

Sync all three EXIF date fields

exiftool \
  -DateTimeOriginal='2026:05:21 14:30:00' \
  -CreateDate='2026:05:21 14:30:00' \
  -ModifyDate='2026:05:21 14:30:00' \
  photo.jpg

Recursive batch shift

exiftool -r -DateTimeOriginal-='0:0:0 5:0:0' /path/to/photos

(Subtracts 5 hours from every JPEG in the folder and its subfolders.)

Pros

• Free, open-source, runs on every OS
• Handles every EXIF, IPTC, XMP, and maker-note tag
• Trivially scriptable
• Backs up originals by default (photo.jpg_original)

Cons

• Terminal only, no GUI
• 100+ pages of documentation; the learning curve is real

When to use

You're comfortable in a terminal and need to do this often or on a tight schedule. ExifTool is what most photo metadata blog posts (including this one) use under the hood.

Method 5: Python + piexif (automated workflows)

Best when changing the date is one step in a larger pipeline: renaming files based on the new date, exporting from a database, generating a report.

import piexif
from datetime import datetime

photo = "photo.jpg"
new_date = datetime(2026, 5, 21, 14, 30, 0)
formatted = new_date.strftime("%Y:%m:%d %H:%M:%S").encode("ascii")

exif_dict = piexif.load(photo)
exif_dict["Exif"][piexif.ExifIFD.DateTimeOriginal] = formatted
exif_dict["Exif"][piexif.ExifIFD.DateTimeDigitized] = formatted
exif_dict["0th"][piexif.ImageIFD.DateTime] = formatted

exif_bytes = piexif.dump(exif_dict)
piexif.insert(exif_bytes, photo)

Batch shift example

import piexif
from datetime import timedelta, datetime
import glob

offset = timedelta(hours=3)

for photo in glob.glob("/path/to/photos/*.jpg"):
    exif_dict = piexif.load(photo)
    raw = exif_dict["Exif"].get(piexif.ExifIFD.DateTimeOriginal)
    if not raw:
        continue
    dt = datetime.strptime(raw.decode(), "%Y:%m:%d %H:%M:%S")
    new = (dt + offset).strftime("%Y:%m:%d %H:%M:%S").encode("ascii")
    exif_dict["Exif"][piexif.ExifIFD.DateTimeOriginal] = new
    exif_dict["Exif"][piexif.ExifIFD.DateTimeDigitized] = new
    exif_dict["0th"][piexif.ImageIFD.DateTime] = new
    piexif.insert(piexif.dump(exif_dict), photo)

Pros

• Most flexible; integrate into any workflow
• Free, well-documented (the same piexif we use in the browser)
• Easy to combine with other Python image libraries (Pillow, OpenCV)

Cons

• Python required
• Writing the script takes time even if it's short
• No GUI

When to use

You're processing photos at scale (hundreds of thousands), or the date change is one step in a multi-step pipeline (rename, sort, upload to S3, write a database row).

Which method should you pick?

• One photo, on your phone: iPhone Photos (Method 1) if you'll only view it in Photos; our web editor if you'll share or export.
• A handful of photos on your laptop: our web editor. Free, instant, no install.
• A whole shoot (50-500 photos) with timezone issue: our web editor in Shift mode, or Lightroom if you already have it.
• Thousands of photos, regular workflow: ExifTool (Method 4).
• Automation, integration with other systems: Python piexif (Method 5).

A note on integrity

EXIF dates are easy to change by design. The format is meant to be editable by photo software. If you need a tamper-evident timestamp (for legal evidence, insurance, journalism), the EXIF date alone isn't enough. See our piece on whether timestamp photos hold up as legal evidence for the chain-of-custody pieces that matter.

For the underlying tag definitions, our EXIF Tag Reference covers DateTimeOriginal, DateTimeDigitized, OffsetTime, and every other date field in EXIF.

Tools mentioned in this guide

• Free web EXIF date editor: browser-only, no upload.
• Free EXIF editor: edit any EXIF field, not just dates.
• Free EXIF viewer: read the existing date before changing it.
• EXIF tag reference: every EXIF date field, in depth.
• ExifTool: exiftool.org
• piexif (Python and JS): github.com/hMatoba/piexifjs
• Adobe Lightroom: adobe.com/lightroom