wallsort

A Bash script that sorts wallpaper images into a folder hierarchy based on aspect ratio and resolution.

Output structure

target-dir/
├── Ultrawide/        # ratio > 2.3  (e.g. 32:9, 21:9)
│   ├── Ultra_High_Res/   # width ≥ 5120
│   ├── 4K/               # width ≥ 3840
│   ├── QHD/              # width ≥ 2560
│   ├── FHD/              # width ≥ 1920
│   ├── HD/               # width ≥ 1280
│   └── Small_Files/
├── Widescreen/       # ratio > 1.3  (e.g. 16:9, 16:10)
│   └── ...
└── Other/            # everything else (square, portrait, etc.)
    └── ...

Requirements

• bash 4+
• ImageMagick (identify must be on $PATH)

Install ImageMagick:

# Arch / CachyOS
sudo pacman -S imagemagick

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt install imagemagick

# macOS
brew install imagemagick

Usage

./wallsort [-R] <source-dir> <target-dir>

Argument	Description
-R	Recursively scan source-dir for images
source-dir	Directory containing unsorted images
target-dir	Directory where sorted subfolders will be created (created if absent)

Supported formats: jpg, jpeg, png, webp, avif, jxl, tiff, bmp

Example

./wallsort ~/Downloads/walls ~/Pictures/wallpapers

To recursively scan subdirectories:

./wallsort -R ~/Downloads/walls ~/Pictures/wallpapers

Progress is shown inline while running:

[ 73%] (463/633) my_wallpaper.jpg

In recursive mode the relative path from the source directory is shown:

[ 73%] (463/633) subdir/my_wallpaper.jpg

Files that would overwrite an existing file at the destination are skipped and counted in the final summary.

Sorting complete! (633 files processed, 2 skipped due to name conflicts)
  Source: /home/user/Downloads/walls
  Output: /home/user/Pictures/wallpapers

Notes

• The source directory is not modified structurally — only the matched image files are moved out of it.
• Skipped files (name conflicts) are left in the source directory untouched.
• Running the script a second time on a partially sorted source is safe.
• In recursive mode, subdirectory structure of the source is not preserved — all images are sorted flat into the target hierarchy.