Batch File Renamer

Tag every file with the name of the folder it sits in.

Music and photo collections, no more loose Track 03.mp3 files orphaned from their album.

Walk through every subfolder of a folder you pick, and prefix every file inside with the subfolder's name. One pass, and a messy music or photo collection turns into a self-describing flat list.

What it does

Point Batch File Renamer at a top-level folder. It descends into every subfolder and renames every file inside by prepending the subfolder's name to the filename. The original filename is preserved — only the prefix is added.

Example

You have a folder called ELO containing:

01 KING OF THE UNIVERSE.MP3
02 BLUEBIRD IS DEAD.MP3
03 OH NO NOT SUSAN.MP3
04 NEW WORLD RISING.MP3
05 SHOWDOWN.MP3

After Batch File Renamer:

ELO - 01 KING OF THE UNIVERSE.MP3
ELO - 02 BLUEBIRD IS DEAD.MP3
ELO - 03 OH NO NOT SUSAN.MP3
ELO - 04 NEW WORLD RISING.MP3
ELO - 05 SHOWDOWN.MP3

Now if you flatten the collection into a single playlist folder, you still know which album each track belongs to.

Best for

  • Music libraries imported from CDs with generic Track NN filenames
  • Photo folders dumped from a camera with IMG_NNNN filenames
  • Document archives where folder = project name
  • Any nested directory tree where folder context matters more than filenames

System requirements

  • Windows 7, 8, 10, 11
  • A few MB of free RAM
  • Under 1 MB of disk space

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49 small, sharp Windows utilities. All freeware. All by the same author.