Unified file naming convention for different devices
Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2025 6:13 pm
I frequently use different devices for taking photos when on holiday. On a recent holiday I used a Canon R50, Olympus Tough G6 and two Google Pixel phones (mine and my wife’s). I use Canon software to download images from the Canon and Olympus camera but I simply copy the images from my phones to my PC. Consequently, my images are named using different file naming conventions. This makes it hard to sort all my images in date/time order as the files are grouped in blocks by filename.
To get around this, I’ve come up with an output filename for XnConvert which allows me to rename all my Canon/Olympus images to the same naming convention as my Google Pixel images. The reason for doing this is that the Pixel filename are built around date and time to the second.
So if you want to do the same, simply copy and paste the text below beginning with PXL in to the output filename field in XnConvert. You don’t need to select any actions and you can leave the JPEG quality at 100% to avoid any loss but I tend to set this to 95% just to get the files size down a little.
Google Pixel Image Naming Convention for XnConvert
PXL_{META:CreateDate [Ymd_HMS]}###
If you don’t want your Canon, Nikon etc photos named in the in Google filename format then you could run all the files from all the devices through XnConvert using the following output filename.
Universal Image Naming Convention for XnConvert
IMG_{META:CreateDate [Ymd_HMS]}####
Caveats:
Clocks must be syncronised across all devices. If you are in a different time zone to normal then remember to reset the clock on your Canon, Nikon etc camera otherwise the photos will not be named accurately.
To get around this, I’ve come up with an output filename for XnConvert which allows me to rename all my Canon/Olympus images to the same naming convention as my Google Pixel images. The reason for doing this is that the Pixel filename are built around date and time to the second.
So if you want to do the same, simply copy and paste the text below beginning with PXL in to the output filename field in XnConvert. You don’t need to select any actions and you can leave the JPEG quality at 100% to avoid any loss but I tend to set this to 95% just to get the files size down a little.
Google Pixel Image Naming Convention for XnConvert
PXL_{META:CreateDate [Ymd_HMS]}###
If you don’t want your Canon, Nikon etc photos named in the in Google filename format then you could run all the files from all the devices through XnConvert using the following output filename.
Universal Image Naming Convention for XnConvert
IMG_{META:CreateDate [Ymd_HMS]}####
Caveats:
Clocks must be syncronised across all devices. If you are in a different time zone to normal then remember to reset the clock on your Canon, Nikon etc camera otherwise the photos will not be named accurately.