What's Inside the TV Time Export ZIP, and How to Open It
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The TV Time export ZIP looks a little intimidating the first time you open it. There is no app, no pictures, just a long list of files with names like tracking-prod-records.csv. But it is all readable, and once you know which files matter, it makes sense quickly.
This article walks through what is inside, how to open it, and what to be careful with.
What the file is
Before TV Time shut down in July 2026, it offered a data export through a GDPR request. What you received is a ZIP archive full of CSV files.
CSV stands for "comma-separated values". Each file is a plain table: the first line holds the column names, and every line after it is one row. Any spreadsheet app can open them.
The exports we have worked with contain 57 CSV files. Many are nearly empty or hold technical records. A handful hold your actual history.
How to open it
On a computer. Double-click the ZIP to extract it on a Mac or on Windows. Then open any CSV in Numbers, Excel, LibreOffice or Google Sheets.
On iPhone. In the Files app, tap the ZIP. Files extracts it into a folder next to it. You can preview a CSV there, though big ones are easier to read on a computer.
On Android. Most file manager apps, including Files by Google, can extract a ZIP. Open the folder it creates to see the CSVs.
One tip: keep the original ZIP even after you extract it. Import tools, including ours, expect the ZIP itself.
The files that hold your history
Here are the files worth knowing, and what each one holds.
tracking-prod-records.csv is the big one. It records watches: episodes and films, with watch dates, rewatch counts and runtimes. It also holds your film watchlist. There is a newer tracking-prod-records-v2.csv as well.
user_tv_show_data.csv lists your shows: whether you followed or favourited each one, and how many episodes you had seen.
followed_tv_show.csv records when you started following each show, and whether you had archived it.
watched_on_episode.csv notes episodes along with where you said you watched them.
ratings-live-votes.csv holds your ratings on episodes and films.
emotions-live-votes.csv holds the emotion you picked after an episode.
show_character_episode_vote.csv holds your answers to "who was your favourite?" on episodes.
comments-prod-comments.csv and episode_comment.csv hold the comments you wrote. Your comments are spread across both files, so a tool needs to read the two together.
lists-prod-lists.csv holds your custom lists.
friend.csv lists the people you followed.
user_badge.csv lists the badges you earned.
notifications-prod-notifications.csv is your notification history.
What is not in it
The Archive Team wiki notes that images and GIFs attached to comments do not appear to be included. The text of your comments is there, the pictures are not.
The export also does not include other people's comments. It is your data, not the whole community's. If you want those conversations back, see the TV Time episode comments are back.
Files to keep private
A GDPR export holds everything a company has about you, and that includes some sensitive records. Among the 57 files you will find names like access_token.csv, refresh_token.csv, ip_address.csv, user_session.csv, device_data.csv and user_personal_data.csv.
The service is closed, so old tokens should no longer work. Even so, treat the ZIP like a personal document:
- Do not post it publicly or share it in a forum to get help
- If someone asks to see an error, share a screenshot of the error, not the file
- Store it somewhere private, such as your own iCloud Drive or Google Drive
Reading it by hand
You can do a lot with a spreadsheet. Sort tracking-prod-records.csv by date to see what you watched in a given year. Filter by show name to see your history for one series.
It is slow work for a big library, though. TV Time's own files do not always agree with each other, and the same show can appear under slightly different names. That is where an import tool earns its keep.
Letting an app read it
OpenTV reads the ZIP directly. It matches each show by its TheTVDB id, the same database TV Time was built on, and fills in episode lists and artwork. It then shows an Import Summary with what came in and anything that needs a look.
Importing never duplicates anything. If you import the same ZIP twice, the second pass only fills in what is missing. The step-by-step version is in how to get your TV Time history back.
Writing the same format back out
There is one more reason we like this format. OpenTV can export your library as a ZIP in TV Time's own format, with the same file names and the same columns. Files whose data never existed on your phone, like TV Time's server logs, are included with headers only.
You will find it under Settings, then the Library tab, then Backup, then Export my data. OpenTV reads that file back without losing anything, so it works as a portable copy of your history. We wrote more about why that matters in what happens to your watch history when a tracker shuts down.
Try it with your file
OpenTV is free, with no ads and no account needed. Get it on the App Store or Google Play. Our import your TV Time history page has the short version of the steps. If you are comparing apps first, see TV Time alternatives and OpenTV vs Trakt.