Could not convert photo created date to local timezone (1969-12-31 19:00:00)

[CreativePR]

Using latest windows build of iCloudPD, received the following error

Could not convert photo created date to local timezone (1969-12-31 19:00:00)
1%|#2 | 1/68 [00:00<00:22, 3.01it/s]Traceback (most recent call last):
File "starters\icloudpd.py", line 6, in
File "click\core.py", line 1161, in call
File "click\core.py", line 1082, in main
File "click\core.py", line 1443, in invoke
File "click\core.py", line 788, in invoke
File "icloudpd\base.py", line 752, in main
File "icloudpd\base.py", line 1356, in core
File "icloudpd\base.py", line 911, in download_photo_
KeyError: <AssetVersionSize.ORIGINAL: 'original'>
[PYI-37180:ERROR] Failed to execute script 'icloudpd' due to unhandled exception!

Script stops and remaining photos/videos are not able to be downloaded.

[CreativePR]

Here is an additional file that was generated by iCloudPD - icloudpd-photo-error.json I removed the userRecordName, recordname and deviceID for possible privacy reasons from the text

{"master_record": {"recordName": "", "recordType": "CPLMaster", "fields": {"isDeleted": {"value": 1, "type": "INT64"}, "isExpunged": {"value": 1, "type": "INT64"}, "dateExpunged": {"value": 1735224690706, "type": "TIMESTAMP"}}, "pluginFields": {}, "recordChangeTag": "csea", "created": {"timestamp": 1732632690738, "userRecordName": "", "deviceID": ""}, "modified": {"timestamp": 1732632690738, "userRecordName": "", "deviceID": ""}, "deleted": false, "zoneID": {"zoneName": "PrimarySync", "ownerRecordName": "", "zoneType": "REGULAR_CUSTOM_ZONE"}, "expirationTime": 1736088690}, "asset_record": {"recordName": "", "recordType": "CPLAsset", "fields": {"isDeleted": {"value": 1, "type": "INT64"}, "isExpunged": {"value": 1, "type": "INT64"}, "masterRef": {"value": {"recordName": "", "action": "DELETE_SELF", "zoneID": {"zoneName": "PrimarySync", "ownerRecordName": "", "zoneType": "REGULAR_CUSTOM_ZONE"}}, "type": "REFERENCE"}, "dateExpunged": {"value": 1735224690706, "type": "TIMESTAMP"}}, "pluginFields": {}, "recordChangeTag": "cse9", "created": {"timestamp": 1732632690739, "userRecordName": "", "deviceID": ""}, "modified": {"timestamp": 1732632769352, "userRecordName": "", "deviceID": ""}, "deleted": false, "zoneID": {"zoneName": "PrimarySync", "ownerRecordName": "", "zoneType": "REGULAR_CUSTOM_ZONE"}, "expirationTime": 1736088690}}

[CreativePR]

This was the output when the json file above was created.

ERROR Could not convert photo created date to local timezone (1969-12-31 19:00:00)
1%|#2 | 1/68 [00:00<00:23, 2.81it/s]KeyError: <AssetVersionSize.ORIGINAL: 'original'> attribute was not found in the photo fields.
icloudpd has saved the photo record to: ./icloudpd-photo-error.json
Please create a Gist with the contents of this file: https://gist.github.com
Then create an issue on GitHub: https://github.com/icloud-photos-downloader/icloud_photos_downloader/issues
Include a link to the Gist in your issue, so that we can see what went wrong.

2025-01-05 17:21:28 ERROR Could not convert photo created date to local timezone (1969-12-31 19:00:00)
1%|#2 | 1/68 [00:00<00:23, 2.81it/s]KeyError: <AssetVersionSize.ORIGINAL: 'original'> attribute was not found in the photo fields.
icloudpd has saved the photo record to: ./icloudpd-photo-error.json
Please create a Gist with the contents of this file: https://gist.github.com
Then create an issue on GitHub: https://github.com/icloud-photos-downloader/icloud_photos_downloader/issues
Include a link to the Gist in your issue, so that we can see what went wrong.

[pstoll]

FYI to save others the same journey I just went on:

this log is a red herring / misleading:

 2025-01-05 17:21:28 ERROR Could not convert photo created date to local timezone (1969-12-31 19:00:00)

but maybe the fact that it can’t get the right date may suggest something is wrong with the files

The errors that ORIGINALS is somehow not in the versions dict at line 911 seems to be leading to the unhanded exception causing the program to fail.

icloud_photos_downloader/src/icloudpd/base.py

Line 911 in 35d93c9

version = versions[download_size]

so the logic above somehow fails.

my suspicion is a corrupt or deleted or somehow problematic file.

Can you share the command line you are using?

it’s hitting this error on the first of 68 items.

Are any of the items in the library marked as deleted? The timestamps in the JSON suggest this could be a photo that was marked for deletion but not yet fully removed from the account.

[CreativePR]

icloudpd --directory "//test/test" --username test@test.com --password testpassword --smtp-username "test@testsmtp.com" --smtp-password "test" --smtp-host "0.0.0.0" --smtp-port 25 --smtp-no-tls --notification-email "test@test.com" --notification-email-from "test@test.com" --album "Recently Deleted" --size adjusted

This is what generated the JSON and output I last wrote about

Below is what generated the error in my 1st post of this issue

icloudpd --directory "//test/test" --username test@test.com --password testpassword --smtp-username "test@testsmtp.com" --smtp-password "test" --smtp-host "0.0.0.0" --smtp-port 25 --smtp-no-tls --notification-email "test@test.com" --notification-email-from "test@test.com" --album "Recently Deleted" --size adjusted --size original

All private details have been replaced by test here fyi

[AndreyNikiforov]

KeyError was reported in #926. I was able to reproduce it, but haven't fixed it yet.

[CreativePR]

KeyError was reported in #926. I was able to reproduce it, but haven't fixed it yet.

Thanks for the update. Looking forward to the fix.

[haakonwibe]

I'm encountering the same issue on Windows when using the precompiled .exe version of icloudpd.

The tool crashes during set_utime() when it tries to apply a timestamp from a photo dated before 1980 1970, like 1967-12-24. Since Windows file systems don't support file dates before Jan 1, 1980 1970, the call to os.utime() fails with:

OSError: [WinError 87] The parameter is incorrect: 'D:\\iCloudPhotos\\1970\\01\\01\\19671224-593_engelen.JPG'

Here's a snippet from the traceback:

File "icloudpd\download.py", line 39, in set_utime
OSError: [WinError 87] The parameter is incorrect

Would it be possible to:

• Add a fallback timestamp (e.g., 1970-01-01) for files with pre-1970 dates?
• Or offer a flag like --skip-file-timestamps to avoid this crash?

This is the only thing blocking my full download — everything else works beautifully. Let me know if you'd like me to test a fix or PR.

[haakonwibe]

Update: Going from the error message above I patched download.py with the following, and it's working fine now all the older photos download without crashing or stopping:

def set_utime(download_path: str, created_date: datetime.datetime) -> None:
    """Set date & time of the file"""
    try:
        # Windows doesn't allow timestamps before 1970-01-01
        min_valid_date = datetime.datetime(1970, 1, 1)
        safe_date = created_date if created_date >= min_valid_date else min_valid_date

        ctime = time.mktime(safe_date.timetuple())
        os.utime(download_path, (ctime, ctime))
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"Failed to set timestamp on {download_path}: {e}")

Hope this helps! Thanks for an awesome tool though! Real life saver! let me know if you'd like me to submit a PR or test anything further.

[AndreyNikiforov]

fixed in v1.27.2