Snapchat Overlays in Your Export: What They Are and How to Merge Them
In a Snapchat data export, the text and stickers you added are not part of the photo — they arrive as a separate transparent PNG. Here is how the files fit together and what you can do with them.
Drop your mydata~….zip files: the fixer writes the capture date and location into each matched JPEG photo and MP4/MOV video, keeps each overlay PNG in an overlays/ folder named after its photo, and lists anything it can't match in report.csv. Nothing is uploaded.
Open the Snapchat Memories fixer →What an overlay is
When you add a caption, a sticker or a drawing to a Snap and save it to Memories, Snapchat keeps the original photo or video and the overlay separately. A current export (the media is inside the ZIP) shows that directly in the memories/ folder:
…-main.jpgor…-main.mp4— the photo or video without your edits;…-overlay.png— a transparent image with the caption, stickers and drawing, sharing the same name prefix as its-mainfile.
Snapchat does not merge the two in the export. Long videos can also be split into several segments and, according to some export tools, several segments can share one overlay.
Snapchat Memories export with metadata
Overlays are one of two things Snapchat leaves separate. The other is the metadata: date and location are listed in json/memories_history.json; the location is not in the files, and the date often isn't either. Fixing the metadata is what makes your Memories sort correctly in a gallery — fix Snapchat Memories dates explains how.
What the fixer does with overlays today
The Snapchat Memories downloader pairs every overlay with its photo or video, fixes the date and GPS of the main file, and puts the overlay in an overlays/ folder with the same date-based name (for example overlays/2024-07-14_20-30-05_cca127ec-overlay.png). Merging overlays into photos is planned and will be released after testing on real exports.
FAQ
Why are my captions and stickers missing from my Snapchat export?
They are not missing — Snapchat exports them as a separate transparent image. A Memory with a caption, sticker or drawing comes as a …-main.jpg (or .mp4) file plus a matching …-overlay.png with the same name prefix. Snapchat does not combine the two.
Does this tool merge the overlays?
Not yet. Merging is in development and will be added once it has been checked against real exports. Today the tool fixes the date and location of each matched Memory and keeps each overlay as a PNG in an overlays/ folder, named after the photo it belongs to, so nothing is lost.
Does the Snapchat export include metadata?
The metadata is in json/memories_history.json: the date (UTC), the media type and the location of each Memory. The location is not written into the files, and the date often isn't either, which is why they need fixing after the export.
Can I merge an overlay myself?
Yes: open the photo in any image editor that supports layers, add the …-overlay.png on top at the same size and position, and export the result. For videos it needs a video editor.