MacOS Time Stamping Issue

[matteallsop]

I use both a self built Windows Machine and a Mac

I'd like to see if anyone else has this issue relating to Apples software failing to correctly time stamp image and video files, taken on an iPhone.

 

Let me start with the scenario; A video or photo that I took on the iPhone on 19th September 2018, is exported from the photos app on MacOS (or Air Dropped to the Mac) on the 20th November 2018. Here is the time stamp issue, the file(s) creation date will always appear as the date it was exported NOT THE DATE IT WAS CREATED.

 

I've found this time stamping issue to be correctable with third party EXIF software for images, however the issue is unresolvable for videos. This means an archive of inconsistent dates and times. Going into the Photos App Package contents reveals even stranger issues, the same image and video files created on 19th September 2018, will say created 21st September 2018, yet on the Photos App it will list time stamp creation date as 19th September? It's a serious issue that even Apple senior advisors didn't understand, calling it "Expected Behaviour". How is inconsistent time stamping "Expected Behaviour"?

 

Has anyone else noticed this and if so do you have a sensible solution for the problem in regard to video?

Thanks.    

[jj9987]

There is a difference between EXIF data and file metadata.

The photos application creates the file on the filesystem, hence file creation timestamp is the time when you export - when file is physically created on the filesystem. It doesn't copy the file's own metadata over from the phone, just the image-related data. Hence the expected behaviour.

 

Filesystem metadata (includes dates) are handled differently from EXIF data - that's the very short conclusion there.

[DrMacintosh]

Date created on macOS is relative to that specific Mac environment, not the calendar.