What is "Date taken" and how can it be earlier than Date created?

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What is "Date taken" and how can it be earlier than Date created?

RustyDawn 40

I'm confused what this "Date taken" is (see photo). This is not a photograph taken from camera. It's just a screenshot of my desktop that I took during the day on July 30.

But date taken shows 12:00 AM (which is a perfect time makes it even more strange). What is it and how can this image exist even before created?

Screenshot 2025-07-31 024103

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Answer 1

Hi,

When you take a screenshot, some apps like Snipping Tool or using PrintScreen save it in formats like JPEG or PNG, which can include metadata like "Date Taken." If Windows sees that info, it tries to fill in the date and time based on when the screenshot was saved. But if the metadata only has a date and no time, Windows cannot leave the time blank, so it fills in the default which is zero or midnight (00:00:00). In plain terms, if the metadata only gives Windows the date, it just fills in the missing time with zero.

Date Taken = The timestamp embedded in the file's metadata usually from a camera or app

Date created = The date the file was written to the current disk