How to batch rename photos and files
Turn IMG_4821.jpg into names that sort, search and make sense.
Cameras and phones name photos IMG_4821.jpg, DSC00193.JPG or a long string of numbers. That is fine until you need to send forty of them to a client, upload them to a website, or find one again next year. Renaming them one by one is tedious. Renaming them all at once takes a minute.
Step by step
- Drop the files into the batch rename tool, in the order you want them numbered.
- Set a name pattern, a start number and how many digits to pad to.
- Run it and check the new names in the results list.
- Download the renamed files individually or together as one ZIP.
Naming patterns that work
| Use | Pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Client delivery | client-project-number | smith-kitchen-01.jpg |
| Website images | descriptive-words-number | blue-linen-dress-front-01.webp |
| Archive | date-event-number | 2026-09-12-wedding-001.jpg |
| Documents | surname-document-type | smith-payslip-august.pdf |
Rules for good file names
- Pad the numbers. Use 01, 02 up to 99, or 001 for hundreds. Otherwise 10 sorts before 2.
- Dates year first. 2026-09-12 sorts correctly; 12-09-2026 does not.
- Lower case and hyphens. No spaces or special characters, which break some websites, upload forms and older systems.
- Descriptive words for web images. Search engines read image file names. blue-linen-dress.webp says more than IMG_4821.webp.
Photos out of order?
Files are numbered in the order they are listed. If your photos come from several cameras or phones, sort them by date first in your file manager, then drop them in, so the numbering follows the order they were taken.
Sending the renamed files
Downloading as one ZIP keeps the whole set together for emailing or uploading. For many large photos, compress them before zipping with the image compressor, since ZIP barely shrinks photos that are already compressed.
Privacy
Renaming happens in your browser. The files are read, given new names and saved again on your device, without being uploaded.