The Memory Palace

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Free photo tool

When was this photo taken?

For a digital photo, choose the file and see the date taken that the camera or phone wrote into it, and whether that date is really there. For a photo on paper or a scan, answer a few questions about what you see and get an estimated period with the reasons behind it.

Or drag them onto this box. JPEG, HEIC, PNG, TIFF or WebP, up to 500 at once.

Your photos are read in this browser and are never uploaded. Privacy

Put the year in the file name

A year in the file name stays with the photo when it is copied, sent or sorted, even when the date inside the file is lost. Nothing is renamed here: copy the name and use it when you save or rename the file.

Fill in a year to see a name.

Date taken, file date and the other dates

A digital photo can carry several dates. The date taken (EXIF DateTimeOriginal) is written by the camera or phone at the moment of the photo. That is the one you want.

The digitised date (CreateDate) is when the image became a file: the same moment for a phone photo, but the scan date for a scanned print. The modified date (ModifyDate) is the last time a program saved the file.

The file date you see in a folder or on a website is something else again: the moment this copy was made, downloaded or saved. It changes every time a photo is copied, sent or exported, so it is rarely the moment of the photo.

Why a photo loses its date

  • Scans: a scanner makes a new file on the day of scanning and cannot know when the print was made.
  • Messaging apps: WhatsApp, Messenger and similar apps usually strip the information from the file to save space. The photo you receive carries the day it arrived.
  • Downloads from social media and screenshots: these are new files without the original details.
  • A camera clock that was never set: then even the date taken is wrong, often 1 January of the year the camera was made.

Dating a photo on paper

A print has no file to read, but the object itself is a clue. Each type of photo belongs to its own period, and the card, the corners, the back and the colour narrow it further.

  • Daguerreotype, a mirror-like image on silver in a small case: 1839 to the early 1860s.
  • Ambrotype, an image on glass: early 1850s to the 1880s. Tintype, on a thin iron plate a magnet sticks to: 1855 into the 1940s.
  • Carte de visite, a small photo card: late 1850s to about 1910, square corners early and rounded corners from the 1870s. Cabinet card, the larger card: 1866 to about 1914.
  • Colour prints: from 1942. Square prints from a Kodak Instamatic: from 1963. Self-developing instant photos with a wide bottom border: from 1972.
  • Back printing on Kodak colour paper: A Kodak Paper from 1961 to 1972, This Paper Manufactured by Kodak from 1972 to about 1989.

What the tool reads, and what it does not

Only the first part of each file is read, in your browser, to find the dates, the make and model of the camera and whether a location is stored. The location itself is never read, and nothing is uploaded or kept. You can choose up to 500 photos at once.

The checklist for paper photos is plain arithmetic on the periods above, with no AI. Where a period is a rule of thumb rather than a firm limit, the result says so.

Questions people ask

How can I find out when a photo was taken?

For a digital photo, look for the date taken stored inside the file. Choose the photo on this page and it shows that date, or tells you it is missing. On an iPhone you can also swipe up on the photo; in Google Photos open Details; on Windows use Properties, Details, Date taken.

What is the difference between date taken and date modified?

The date taken is written by the camera at the moment of the photo. The date modified, and the file date in a folder, change whenever the file is edited, copied, downloaded or sent. Only the date taken tells you when the photo was made.

Why does my scanned photo have the wrong date?

A scanner makes a new file on the day of scanning, so a scan carries the scan date. To date the photo itself, use the checklist for paper photos on this page, or add the year to the file name yourself.

Does WhatsApp remove the date from photos?

Usually, yes. WhatsApp and similar apps remove the date taken to save space, so the photo you receive carries the day it arrived. The file name often still holds that day, for example IMG-20190412-WA0003. Ask the sender for the original file if the date matters.

How can I tell the year of an old paper photo?

Start with the type of photo, then look at the card and its corners, the back, the colour and any printed date. Each answer narrows the period. Clothing, cars and the ages of the people help to check the result.

Is my photo uploaded?

No. The photos are read in your own browser and never leave your device. Nothing is stored, and there is no account.

Does it work with iPhone photos (HEIC)?

Yes. It reads HEIC and HEIF from iPhones, as well as JPEG, PNG, TIFF and WebP.

Is it free?

Yes, free and without an account, as often as you like.

Sources

The periods in the checklist come from these sources, checked on 6 October 2026.

  1. National Science and Media Museum (Colin Harding), How to spot a daguerreotype. Daguerreotypes, 1840s and 1850s.
  2. National Science and Media Museum, How to spot a collodion positive (ambrotype). Ambrotypes, early 1850s to the 1880s.
  3. National Science and Media Museum, How to spot a ferrotype or tintype. Tintypes, 1855 to the 1940s.
  4. National Science and Media Museum, How to spot a carte de visite. Cartes de visite, late 1850s to about 1910; square corners early, rounded corners from the 1870s.
  5. National Science and Media Museum, How to spot a cabinet card. Cabinet cards, 1866 to about 1914.
  6. Kodak, Photography history. Roll film in 1889, the Brownie camera in 1900, Kodacolor colour negative film in 1942.
  7. Gawain Weaver and Zach Long, Chromogenic Characterization: A Study of Kodak Color Prints, 1942-2008. Topics in Photographic Preservation 13 (2009), American Institute for Conservation. Back printing on Kodak colour paper (A Kodak Paper from 1961, This Paper Manufactured by Kodak from 1972 to about 1989) and the dye stability of older colour prints.
  8. Smithsonian Institution Archives, Postcard history. The divided back (message and address on one side) in the United States from 1907.
  9. The Postcard Traders Association, Picture postcard history (United Kingdom). Britain was the first country to allow the divided back, in 1902.
  10. Wikipedia, 126 film and 110 film. 126 cartridge film (Kodak Instamatic) from 1963; 110 cartridge film from 1972 (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/110_film).
  11. Wikipedia, Land Camera and Polaroid SX-70. Polaroid's first instant camera in 1948, colour peel-apart film in 1963, self-developing SX-70 film in 1972 and 600 film in 1981.
  12. FOMU, Directory of Belgian Photographers. Some 8,600 photographers active in Belgium between 1839 and 1914, with their years and addresses.

Hang this photo in your palace, with the year beneath it

The Memory Palace keeps your family's photos together with the year, the names and the story, in a private palace you walk through and share with the people you choose. Free to start.

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