If you have looked at your Snapchat data export and wondered what memories_history.json actually is, or why “Export JSON Files” is a separate checkbox from “Export your Memories,” this covers exactly what that file is, what it contains today, and how a local tool actually uses it.
When you request your data at Snapchat’s My Data page, “Export your Memories” and “Export JSON Files” are two separate options. The first gives you the actual photo and video files. The second gives you a set of JSON files containing the metadata Snapchat has on record for that media, including memories_history.json. Both need to be checked, because the media files and the metadata file serve different purposes and neither one replaces the other.
JSON stands for JavaScript Object Notation. It is a plain-text format used to structure and exchange data, built around simple key and value pairs. You can open a .json file in any text editor and read it, since it is just organized text rather than a proprietary or binary format. Companies use JSON to hand over data in a standard, portable form, which is exactly what Snapchat does with your memory metadata.
memories_history.json is the specific file inside your Snapchat export that lists every Memory in your account along with the metadata Snapchat has for it. It sits inside the json folder of your extracted My Data package, alongside the memories folder that holds your actual photo and video files. The file’s top level is a single “Saved Media” list, with one entry inside it for every Memory.
A current export looks like this:
{
"Saved Media": [
{
"Date": "2020-12-21 12:18:40 UTC",
"Media Type": "Video",
"Location": "Latitude, Longitude: 45.95817, -66.6471",
"Download Link": "",
"Media Download Url": ""
}
]
}The Date field records the capture timestamp in UTC. Media Type tells you whether the entry is a photo or a video. Location gives the GPS coordinates, when location was enabled at the time you captured it. The entry also still includes Download Link and Media Download Url fields, but in current exports these arrive empty. Earlier versions of Snapchat’s export populated a working link you could use to fetch the file from Snapchat’s servers, but that is no longer the case. Any workflow built around reading a URL from the JSON and pulling the file down from Snapchat’s CDN has nothing to fetch, since the field is present but blank. The media files now have to already exist locally, inside your extracted My Data folder, for any of this metadata to be useful.
Photo and video files have their own metadata format, generally EXIF for images and similar embedded fields for video. Snapchat’s exported media does not carry the location data in that embedded form, so it hands that information over separately, as a structured, human-readable JSON file, rather than not providing it at all. It is a plain, standard way to package data that does not depend on any particular photo app being able to read it.
No. You do not need to open, edit, or understand this file to get your Memories working correctly. It exists so that software can read it programmatically. Opening it in a text editor out of curiosity is fine, but manually matching thousands of entries to thousands of files by hand is not a practical way to fix an export.
No. Apple Photos, Google Photos, and every other gallery app read location and date information from metadata embedded inside the photo or video file itself, not from an external JSON file sitting next to it. Even if memories_history.json is in the same folder as your photos, no gallery app will connect the two on its own.
FixMyExport reads memories_history.json and matches each entry to the corresponding media file already sitting in your memories folder. Where GPS coordinates are available, it writes them into the file using your selected timezone for any related date fields. If a Memory never had location data attached in the first place, none is invented or guessed.
This only works because the app is pointed at your complete local My Data folder, with the json folder and the memories folder sitting side by side. The JSON tells the app what the data should be. The memories folder is where the actual file lives to write that data into.
Uploading or selecting memories_history.json on its own does not work. The Download Link and Media Download Url fields inside current exports are empty, so there is nothing for a tool to fetch even if it tried. Always select the full primary My Data folder, the one that directly contains both json and memories, so the app can find the actual media files the JSON is describing.
Your memories_history.json file and the media it describes are processed entirely on your own device. Nothing is uploaded to any server as part of this. The JSON only ever leaves your machine if you choose to send it somewhere yourself.
Not directly as a table. JSON is plain text structured with key and value pairs, not spreadsheet rows and columns. You can open it in a text editor to view the raw data, or use an online JSON viewer to browse it more readably, but neither one restores your photos on its own.
The fields are still there, Download Link and Media Download Url, but in current exports they arrive empty for every entry. Earlier exports populated a working link here, but that is no longer the case, so there is no URL left to fetch media from.
This usually means Export JSON Files was not selected when you requested your data. Go back to Snapchat’s My Data page, submit a new request, and make sure both Export your Memories and Export JSON Files are checked.
It depends on how many Memories you have, but since it is plain text, even a library with tens of thousands of entries usually produces a file only a few megabytes in size. The media files themselves take up the vast majority of your export’s total size.
No. Only the primary ZIP contains the memories, html, and json folders plus index.html. Additional ZIPs contain only a memories folder with more media.
Yes. Extract every ZIP. Keep the primary folder that contains json, then place each additional complete memories folder beside the primary memories folder. FixMyExport scans those sibling folders from one selected primary folder.
Per Snapchat's support documentation, it can take up to 7 days, not 24 to 48 hours as many users expect. Larger libraries may take longer.
No. The JSON file alone has no media attached to it, and its Download Link and Media Download Url fields are empty in current exports. You need the complete primary My Data folder, with json and memories sitting as direct siblings, so a local tool can match each JSON entry to its actual file.