How to Export Your TV Time History to Trakt (2026 Guide)
TV Time is gone, but your export file is not. How to import a TV Time GDPR zip into Trakt, what to do if you only have the browser-extension files, what transfers, what does not
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If you saved a TV Time export before the July 15, 2026 shutdown, you can move your full watch history into Trakt in about ten minutes, for free. Sign in to Trakt on the web, go to Settings, then Data, pick TV Time under Import, and upload the GDPR export zip exactly as TV Time gave it to you. Trakt matches the shows, pulls in your episode history and watchlist, and flags anything it could not identify.
The catch is which file you have. Trakt’s importer reads the official TV Time GDPR export and nothing else. If your only copy is the pair of JSON files from the TV Time Out browser extension, the direct route is closed and you need one of the workarounds below, or a destination that reads those files natively.
This guide covers both situations, what actually transfers, the gaps to check for afterward, and the honest case for where else the file could go. If you need the background on what the export contained, how TV Time data export worked has it. If you never exported at all, skip to what to do now that TV Time has shut down, because no importer can recover deleted data.
Last reviewed: August 21, 2026.
Before you start: find out which export you have
Open the folder where you saved your export and look at the file names. There are three shapes it could take.
The official GDPR export. A single .zip file from gdpr.tvtime.com. Inside are CSVs with names like tracking-prod-records.csv. This is the file Trakt’s importer wants. Do not unzip it.
The TV Time Out extension export. Two JSON files, tvtime-series-...json and tvtime-movies-...json, saved from the Refract browser extension. This was the fastest way out during the shutdown rush, and it is what Achriom imports directly, but Trakt does not accept it.
The TV Time Liberator extension export. A CSV called activity_history, produced by a different extension. Trakt users on the forums report it imported cleanly through the generic CSV tab, and some found it more complete than the GDPR zip.
If you have more than one, keep all of them. The GDPR zip gets you into Trakt with the fewest steps; the extension files are a useful cross-check.
Step 1: Sign in to Trakt on the web
Create a free account at trakt.tv if you do not have one. The importer lives on the website, so use a desktop or laptop browser. The import itself is free and does not need VIP.
Step 2: Open Settings, then Data
From your avatar, open Settings, then the Data section. This is where Trakt keeps every import source: IMDb, Letterboxd, TV Time, generic CSV, and generic JSON. Choose TV Time.
Step 3: Upload the GDPR zip as is
Trakt is explicit about this: upload the original compressed file. Do not extract it and upload the CSVs inside. Large libraries take a few minutes to process, and you can leave the page.
Before you start, look for the option to enable multiple plays. With it on, Trakt will try to log rewatches as separate plays rather than collapsing them into one.
Step 4: Review the unmatched items
When the import finishes, Trakt shows you anything it could not confidently match. Obscure titles, foreign-language shows with several English names, and very old series are the usual suspects. Pick the right match for each, or skip it. Everything it matched is already in your history and watchlist.
Two safety nets worth knowing about. Duplicates are ignored by default, so running the import twice does not double your history. And imports can be undone from the same Data section if something goes badly wrong.
What transfers, and what does not
Comes across: your watch history down to the episode, with dates, and your watchlist. For most people that is the entire point.
Comes across in part: ratings. TV Time let you score episodes out of ten alongside the emoji reactions, and the GDPR zip carries those scores. Trakt’s importer reports how many ratings it detected, keeps show and movie ratings, and ignores episode ratings, so if most of your scoring was episode by episode, expect the rating count on Trakt to be small.
Does not come across: comments, reactions, and anything social. Episode-level ratings, as above.
Check by hand: scattered episodes and rewatches. On the Trakt forums, users report the importer skipping odd episodes that are plainly present in the export file, one person missing eight episodes of a 24-episode anime, another losing the final episodes of Tulsa King. Rewatches are the bigger gap. Several people found zero rewatches of Lost after importing, even with multiple plays enabled. Open your three most-watched shows, compare against what you remember, and fix the gaps manually. If you imported both the GDPR zip and a Liberator CSV to fill holes, Data, then Clean Up, will remove the duplicates.
If you only have the TV Time Out JSON files
Trakt’s TV Time importer will reject them. You have three options.
Reformat for Trakt’s generic import. Trakt’s CSV and JSON importers accept a file with a title column and, ideally, an ID column in imdb, tmdb, or tvdb form, plus a watched_at date. Episodes need season and episode numbers. The guidelines are on the import page. If you are comfortable opening JSON in a spreadsheet or a short script, this is doable in an hour. Without an ID column, Trakt searches by title, which is where mismatches creep in.
Use the community Python script. The open-source TvTimeToTrakt project on GitHub reads the GDPR CSVs and pushes episodes and movies through the Trakt API. It wants the GDPR files rather than the extension JSON, so it helps only if you have the zip somewhere. It also requires registering a Trakt API app, so it is a developer’s route.
Bring the files to a tracker that reads them. Achriom imports the TV Time Out JSON pair directly, and it also imports the GDPR zip, so either file works there without any reformatting. More on that below.
Where else the file can go
Trakt is the most common destination, and for good reasons. It is also one of four reasonable places to put a TV Time history. Here is how they compare for this specific job.
Trakt
Best for: Automatic scrobbling and the biggest ecosystem of companion apps
Trakt has run a TV Time importer since late 2024 and rebuilt its welcome for the shutdown in July 2026, when roughly half a million TV Time users arrived. The importer takes the GDPR zip straight, matching is good on mainstream shows, and once you are in, Plex, Infuse, Jellyfin, and a long list of apps can log episodes for you automatically.
What it does well:
- GDPR zip import with no unzipping and no VIP requirement
- Automatic scrobbling from Plex, Jellyfin, Infuse and a long list of apps (free accounts can connect one community app at a time; VIP lifts the cap)
- Deep lifetime stats, calendar, and an open API
The limitation: The free tier is narrower than when Trakt was the default budget pick. Free accounts get a 250-item watchlist, five personal lists of 250 items, and since late July 2026 only one connected community app at a time (official Trakt apps do not count), so scrobbling from several apps at once needs VIP. VIP lifts all of that for $60 a year, double what it cost before 2025. And the importer’s known gaps, skipped episodes and missing rewatches, mean you should budget time for a manual check. If you are still weighing it, Trakt vs TV Time covers how the two apps differed, and the best Trakt alternatives covers the field.
Simkl
Best for: A free automatic tracker for TV, movies, and anime
Simkl is the free answer. It scrobbles through a browser extension from Netflix and other services, covers anime alongside TV and film, and does not gate the core experience. It imports from Trakt and several other trackers, so one workable path is TV Time to Trakt to Simkl if Simkl’s own intake does not take your file. The community is small and the discovery layer is thin. See Simkl vs Trakt for the head-to-head.
Serializd
Best for: Season-by-season reviews and a Letterboxd-style TV diary
Serializd is the choice if what you loved about TV Time was the reaction, the moment after an episode when you want to say something about it. It is built around reviews and a diary rather than scrobbling. It accepts imports; how to import data into Serializd walks through them, and importing Trakt into Serializd covers the two-hop route. Serializd vs Trakt lays out the tradeoff.
Achriom
Best for: Your shows in the same library as your films, books, albums, and anime
Achriom reads both TV Time export shapes. Upload the GDPR zip, or the two TV Time Out JSON files together, and it matches your shows and movies to real titles, brings across episode-level history and where you are in each series, and tracks new episodes as they air. The step-by-step is in how to move from TV Time to Achriom.
What it does differently:
- Imports the extension’s JSON files as well as the official zip, so the file you have is the file that works
- Keeps TV next to films, books, albums, and anime, with an AI librarian that reasons across all of them
- Private by default, with full export back out at any time
- Free tier with unlimited items and 10 AI messages a month; Pro is $9.99 a month for 200
The limitation: No automatic scrobbling from Plex or your streaming services; logging is manual or through the librarian. If scrobbling is the feature you cannot live without, Trakt is the better fit, and the two coexist comfortably.
This is your second forced migration in a year, and it will not be the last while your shows, films, books, and albums live in four separate apps. Achriom is one library for all of it. It imports either TV Time export as is, the AI librarian connects what you watch to what you read and hear, and you can export everything back out any time. Free to start, no card.
Consolidate once →Quick comparison
| Destination | Accepts GDPR zip | Accepts TV Time Out JSON | Scrobbling | Scope | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trakt | Yes, directly | No | Yes | TV + films | Free / $60 yr |
| Simkl | Via generic import or Trakt | No | Yes (browser ext) | TV + films + anime | Free |
| Serializd | Via its importer or Trakt | No | No | TV | Free / paid tier |
| Achriom | Yes, directly | Yes, directly | No | TV, films, books, albums, anime | Free / $9.99 mo |
Which should you use?
Use Trakt if: you have the GDPR zip, you want episodes logged automatically from Plex or a streaming app, and you do not mind a manual pass to catch skipped episodes and rewatches.
Use Simkl if: you want scrobbling for free and can live with a smaller community. Route through Trakt if its own intake balks at your file.
Use Serializd if: reviews and a TV diary were the point of TV Time for you, and scrobbling never was.
Use Achriom if: you have the extension’s JSON files and do not want to reformat them, or you are tired of keeping a TV app, a film app, a book app, and a music app that never meet.
The honest answer
Trakt is the right destination for most people reading this, because most people who exported in time have the GDPR zip, and Trakt eats that file without ceremony. Budget fifteen minutes after the import to check your biggest shows for missing episodes and rewatches, and you are done.
If your only copy is the TV Time Out JSON pair, Trakt turns into a reformatting project. Achriom imports those files as they are, so that is the shorter path, and nothing stops you from exporting from Achriom later if you change your mind.
Plenty of people will do both: Trakt for scrobbling, Achriom for the library that holds everything else. They solve different problems. If you are still choosing, the best TV tracking apps in 2026 ranks the field.
Common questions
Can I still export from TV Time?
No. TV Time shut down on July 15, 2026, removed its apps, took the website offline, and permanently deleted all account data. The only TV Time history that exists today is whatever people saved before that date.
Where in Trakt is the TV Time importer?
On the Trakt website, open Settings, then Data. The Import section lists TV Time alongside IMDb, Letterboxd, CSV, and JSON. Upload the GDPR zip there.
Do I need Trakt VIP to import?
No. Core tracking and the TV Time importer are free. VIP, at $60 a year, lifts the free limits on watchlist size, list count, and connected apps.
Why did Trakt reject my file?
Almost always because it is the TV Time Out extension export rather than the GDPR zip, or because the zip was unzipped before uploading. Trakt wants the original compressed file from gdpr.tvtime.com. If you only have the extension’s JSON, use the generic CSV or JSON import after reformatting, or take the files to a tracker that reads them directly.
Will my TV Time ratings show up in Trakt?
Some of them. TV Time had ten-point episode ratings alongside its emoji reactions, and the GDPR zip includes them. Trakt imports show and movie ratings and skips episode ratings, so a library rated mostly episode by episode arrives with only a handful of ratings. Reactions do not transfer at all. History and watchlist are what transfer reliably.
Some episodes are missing after the import. What now?
That is a known quirk of the importer. Open your most-watched shows and compare. Mark missing episodes by hand, re-import with multiple plays enabled if rewatches are gone, and run Data, then Clean Up, if you end up with duplicates.