Yet Another GoPro File Renamer

This is a simple Java tool for renaming GoPro files (Hero6, Hero7, Hero8, Hero9, Hero10, Hero11, Hero12).

Why rename GoPro files?

When recording longer takes, GoPro cameras split the videos into shorter clips or "chapters" (typically of size 2-12 GB) in regular intervals. Unfortunately, the resulting files are named in a rather peculiar way, such that their temporal order does not correspond to the lexicographic order of the filenames. For example, the successive chapters of video 0527 are named

GH010527.MP4        // video 0527
GH020527.MP4
GH030527.MP4

and the chapters of video 0528 are

GH010528.MP4        // video 0528
GH020528.MP4
GH030528.MP4

Thus the chapter numbers 01, 02, 03 etc. are placed before the corresponding video number. If the recorded files are listed in lexicographic order, the result is

GH010527.MP4
GH010528.MP4
GH020527.MP4
GH020528.MP4
GH030527.MP4
GH030528.MP4

that is, chapters of different videos are intertwined and the chapters belonging to the same video do not show in succession!

One could argue that this is no big deal because files can be listed by creation time instead, thus preserving the temporal order. However, GoPro cams are quite prone to loosing their time setting. Just removing the battery briefly (at least on a Hero 7 black) may easily cause the camera to reset its internal clock, rendering all subsequent file dates wrong. Under such circumstances the correct order of files is difficult to restore.

Remark: I have no idea what motivated GoPro to adopt this peculiar naming scheme. If it was not simply a mistake its real intentions are well hidden.

What this tool does

This program renames GoPro files in a specified root directory (recursively) to

GH010527.MP4 ---> 052701-GH010527.MP4
GH020527.MP4 ---> 052702-GH020527.MP4
GH030527.MP4 ---> 052703-GH030527.MP4
...

thereby returning them to proper lexicographic order while still preserving the original file names. In addition, all associated GoPro files are renamed as well, including .MP4, .THM and .LRV files. The creation dates of the files are not changed. Renamed GoPro files can be restored to their original names if necessary.

Notes:

• This tool only works for files produced with GoPro Hero6 to Hero12 ( and hopefully later) cams. Earlier models using different file naming conventions are not supported (see https://community.gopro.com/s/article/GoPro-Camera-File-Naming-Convention for details).
• No backup copies of the files are made during renaming because of the large size of the video files. To be safe, users should make their own backups before running this program.

How to use

• This software should run on Windows, macOS and Linux (untested yet).
• A Java runtime must be installed (min. Version 1.8) on your machine and the java executable must be on the path.
• Download file renamer.jar from the latest release to your local file system. This is an executable JAR file which includes all dependencies.
• Double-click on renamer.jar to run the program.

This should open a GUI window for choosing the root directory of the video files, which includes a few options to select. For example (on Win11):

• Click Find to select the start (root) directory of your GoPro files.
• Activate Recursive to traverse the directory tree recursively (otherwise only the start directory is processed).
• Activate Dry run only to see all renaming actions without actually modifying any files.
• Activate Show absolute paths to list absolute directory paths.
• Click Rename Files to start renaming GoPro files.
• Click Revert Files to restore GoPro files to their original names.
• Use Clear Output to clear the console.
• Use Quit to exit the program.
• Clicking the information button i should open this web page.

Run in command window or shell

Alternatively, run the program by opening a command or shell window in the same location, then type

java -jar renamer.jar

Test data

A set of test data is provided in data/test-data.zip. Unzip the data to a file location of your choice. Note that these are no real video files but contain only random data. There is also the shell script that was used to create these files.

How to build

This is a Maven-based Java project, which is built by simply running

mvn clean package

in the top-level directory. The project has no dependencies on any non-standard libraries.

Disclaimer

This is a private project with no industry affiliations or commercial interests. Use this software at your own risk (see LICENSE).