naming-media-files-by-datetime README

Table of contents

• Background
• File naming
• Supported file formats
• Warnings
• Installation guide
• Usage
  • Execute from Python
  • Execute from executable
  • Execute from cliAssistant.exe
  • Arguments
• Licensing
• Dependencies
• Versioning

Background

If we possess multiple photo-taking devices (e.g. a mobile phone and a digital camera), we will find that each device may have its own file naming format for the media taken. When we transfer these files to computer and place them under the same folder, there will be a mess. One solution is to rename all the files so that they all follow the same naming convention, which is what this tool doing.

File naming

<Date>_<Time>_<Datetime type>_<Editing status>_<Serial number>

1. Date
   • The photo-taking date, or the recording date of video or audio.
   • If this information was not found in the file's metadata, alternative date information will be substituted. See Datetime type for details.
   • Represented as YYYYMMDD.
2. Time
   • The photo-taking time, or the recording time of video or audio.
   • If this information was not found in the file's metadata, alternative time information will be substituted. See Datetime type for details.
   • Represented as HHMMSS.
3. Datetime type
   • The date and time fields above may not represents the actual photo-taking time, or the recording time of video or audio, due to the fact that not all media files will store this information.
   • This tool will set the Date and Time fields as the oldest time information found from time-related metadata, if the actual photo-taking time, or the recording time of video or audio cannot be found.
   • This single character Datetime type represented what type of time information was chosen for the Date and Time fields.

     Type	Description
     A	The actual photo-taking time, or the recording time of video or audio.
     B	The oldest time information found in the file's metadata, which probably not representing the actual photo-taking time, or the recording time of video or audio.
     C	A hard-coded date, provided by the user.
     X	No time information could be used.

4. Editing status
   • This field represents whether the media file is an edited one or os the original copy.
   • The file will be classified as edited if the word "edit" appears in the file name, or name of media file editing sotware exists in the files metadata.
   • Noted that most video and audio files do not contain the name of editing sotware in their metadata, so video and audio files will be classified as edited only if the word "edit" appears in the file name.

     Type	Description
     Orig	The file is the original copy, or at least no cues indicating that the file is edited.
     Edit	The file was edited.

5. Serial number
   • A 5-digit integer, starts from 00000.
   • Under burst mode of cameras, it is possible that multiple photos are taken in one second. In this case, file name duplication will exist for two independent photos. A Serial number is therefore required to prevent this situation.
   • For a file being renamed, if the tool found file name duplication, it will incremend the Serial number of the current file until no duplication is found.
   • It does not guarantee that a photo with smaller Serial number must be taken before a larger one.
   • There is no relationship between two files with same Serial number but different Editing status.

Supported file formats

Type	Supported formats
Photos	JPEG, JPG, PNG
Videos	MP4, MOV

Warnings

1. This file naming style may not suit all users' preferences. Customized file naming format is currently not supported. If you are not willing to rename your media files as descripted in Section File naming, please do not consider this tool.

Installation guide

1. Download exiftool.
   • Official document
   • Linux
     • Download the source.
   • Mac
     • Download the MacOS Package
   • Windows
     • Download the Windows Executable
2. Set up exiftool.
   • Linux
     • Unzip the downloaded file.
     • tar -xf archive.tar.gz
     • Tutorial
     • Go to the unzipped directory.
     • Build the package

       perl Makefile.PL
       make
       make test
       make install
       

     • Official tutorial
   • Mac
     • I don't know.
   • Windows
     • Unzip the downloaded file to get exiftool(-k).exe.
     • Rename exiftool(-k).exe to exiftool.exe. (The stand-alone version ("exiftool(-k).exe") should be renamed to "exiftool.exe" to allow it to be run by typing "exiftool" at the command line. Reference)
     • Move exiftool.exe to a folder you want.
3. (Windows only) Add the location of exiftool to PATH.
   • Open the Properties window of exiftool.exe.
     • Tutorial
   • Copy the Location value.
   • Open the Environment Variables window of the Windows system.
     • Tutorial
     • Tutorial
   • Edit the Path variable of User variables by double-clicking the row.
   • Click the button New on the top-right.
   • Paste the Location value previously copied.
4. Download this tool.
   • Linux / Mac
     • Clone this repository to the host machine.
       • Official tutorial
   • Windows
     • (If familiar with using Python) Clone this repository to the host machine.
     • (If want a standalone script) Download the compiled executables to the host machine.

Usage

1. Go the the tool's directory.
2. Execute the tool
   • Execute from Python
   • Execute from executable
   • Execute from cliAssistant.exe

Execute from Python

  python main.py --dir <directory> [--date <alternative date>] [-r]

• See Section Arguments for the usage of arguments.

Execute from executable

  main --dir <directory> [--date <alternative date>] [-r]

• Applicable to Windows users only.
• See Section Arguments for the usage of arguments.

Execute from cliAssistant.exe

• Applicable to Windows users only.
• Run the cliAssistant.exe by double-clicking it.

Arguments

• --dir <directory>
  • Required
  • Replace <directory> with the location of directory/folder which contains the media files you want to rename.
• --date <alternative date>
  • Optional
  • If you know the date that these media files were created, you may set this parameter.
  • If photo-taking time, or the recording time of video or audio, cannot be found in the media file's metadata, this tool may use the provided date for the Date field in File naming.
  • Replace <alternative date> with a date in ISO8601 format. (e.g. 2021-12-31)
• -r
  • Optional
  • If set, this tool will search for media files recursively. Else, only media files at the specified directory will be renamed.

Licensing

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for the full license text.

Dependencies

This project is dependent on third-party libraries or other resources listed below.

1. exiftool
   • Phil Harvey
   • Perl Licensing

Versioning

This project follows the Semantic Versioning 2.0.0