nameer

Rename video files after what is actually inside them — codec, resolution, frame rate, bitrate, audio, languages — so a folder listing tells you which files need attention without opening a single one.

home recording.mkv   →   home_recording_H264_1080p_24fps_5819kbs_AAC_5.1ch_eng_cze.mkv

What it does

1. Drop files or folders on the window (or Add files / Add folder). Sub-folders are included.
2. Every file is probed with ffprobe in the background and the new name is previewed in the queue before anything is touched. Change the template or style and the previews update live.
3. Press Rename. Files are renamed in place; an nameer-undo.log is written next to them so a run can be reverted (Undo last run in folder…), and names that already exist get a counter instead of being overwritten.

The name is built from a template you control:

{name}_{vcodec}_{height}p_{fps}fps_{vbitrate}kbs_{acodec}_{channels}ch_{langs}_{flags}

Token	Value	Token	Value
{name}	original name, spaces → separator, earlier nameer tags stripped	{acodec} / {acodecs}	first / all audio codecs
{vcodec}	H264, HEVC, AV1, VP9 …	{channels}	2, 5.1, 7.1
{height} / {width}	1080 / 1920	{abitrate}	audio kb/s
{fps}	rounded frame rate	{langs} / {subs}	audio / subtitle languages
{vbitrate}	video kb/s (whole-file bitrate minus audio when the container hides it — MKV)	{duration} / {size}	1h42m / 4.2GB
{hdr} / {bitdepth}	HDR, DV, SDR / 8bit, 10bit	{container}	mkv, mp4
{flags}	i_frame_issue, no_audio, no_video

A token with no value disappears together with the text glued to it: a file without audio renders …_24fps_no_audio.mp4, never …_24fps_ch_.mp4. Re-running nameer on an already-named file recognises its own tags and does not stack them twice.

The I-frame check decodes the first 30 s and flags files with fewer than 3 key frames (broken or badly remuxed files) — switch it off in Checks for fast runs over large collections.

Install

Release binaries (no Python needed): download the archive for your OS from Releases, unpack, run nameer.

OS	File
Windows x64	nameer-<version>-windows-x64.zip
Linux x64	nameer-<version>-linux-x64.tar.gz
macOS arm64	nameer-<version>-macos-arm64.tar.gz

ffprobe (part of FFmpeg) must be on PATH or placed next to the nameer executable — the Tools tab shows whether it was found and lets you point at a custom binary. winget install ffmpeg / brew install ffmpeg / apt install ffmpeg.

From source: pip install -r requirements.txt then python main.py (or run.cmd / run.sh). Python 3.10+.

Settings

Tab	Setting	What it does
Naming	Template	Tokens in braces are replaced; everything else stays literal. Insert adds a token at the cursor.
	Separator	_ . - or space — replaces spaces in the original name and joins the tags.
	Codec case	H264/AAC, h264/aac, or exactly what ffprobe reports.
	Strip tags from an earlier run	Peels a trailing run of nameer tags off the original name (needs at least one unmistakable tag such as 1080p or 24fps so real short words survive).
	Collision	Counter (name_2), skip, or overwrite (asks first).
Checks	I-frame check	Seconds to inspect and the minimum count before i_frame_issue is flagged.
	Dry run	Probe and log, rename nothing.
	Undo log	Write nameer-undo.log next to renamed files.
Tools	ffprobe	Status, version, custom path, re-check.

Presets menu: Classic, Short, Scene style (dots, lower case, HDR + bit depth), Archive (everything incl. duration and size); save/load/import/export your own; save the current settings as defaults.

CLI

python nameer.py [-n] [-t TEMPLATE] [-s SEP] [--case upper|lower|keep] [--no-iframes] files-or-folders…
python nameer.py --undo FOLDER      # revert the last run in FOLDER
python nameer.py --tokens           # list template tokens

The CLI lives in nameer.py, which imports nothing from Qt. In the release archive use nameer itself only for the GUI; for scripting run nameer.py from the source tree.

Tips

Symptom	Setting
Bitrate looks like the whole file's bitrate	MKV does not store per-stream bitrates; nameer subtracts the audio bitrate from the file bitrate. Remux to MP4 if you need exact numbers.
Probing is slow on a network share	Turn off the I-frame check — it is the only part that decodes video.
A name lost a real word such as "be"	Turn off Strip tags from an earlier run for that folder.
Language shows as nothing	The stream is tagged und; tag it (mkvpropedit) or drop {langs}.

Build

pip install -r requirements.txt pyinstaller && python build.py → dist/nameer-<version>-<os>-<arch>.zip|tar.gz. Tag v<APP_VERSION> (from config.py) and CI builds all three OSes, runs the unit tests and a headless rename of a generated video against the frozen Linux binary, and attaches the archives to the release.

Changes in 2.0.2

• The Windows taskbar shows the app's own icon. The taskbar button takes its icon from the process's Application User Model ID rather than from the window, and with none of its own the process was grouped under whatever launched it and wore that program's icon. One is now set before any window exists, and it carries no version number so a pinned button survives an upgrade.

Changes in 2.0.1

• ffprobe helper processes are tracked and killed when nameer quits, is stopped, or dies (Windows Job object / Linux PDEATHSIG) — no orphaned ffprobe left behind.
• Adding files or folders never queues the same path twice; the status bar reports "n already in queue".
• Files collected from folders are in natural order (clip2.mkv before clip10.mkv, folder by folder).

Changes in 2.0

• Rewritten as a PySide6 desktop app with live name previews, presets, dry run, undo log, drag & drop of folders. The previous version was a drag-onto-exe script with no UI, no preview, and no way back.
• Template-based names — choose and order the tags; 18 tokens including HDR, bit depth, duration and size.
• Fixes: 23.976 fps is 24fps (was 23fps); MKV bitrate no longer missing; eval() on ffprobe output removed; languages tagged und no longer appear; attached cover images are not treated as the video stream; re-running no longer stacks tags; illegal filename characters dropped; 5.1ch for 6-channel audio.
• ffprobe.7z is no longer bundled in the repository — install FFmpeg or put ffprobe next to the app.
• Standalone releases for Windows, Linux and macOS; CI self-test on the frozen binary.
• Not compatible with 1.x names only in one respect: the _problem suffix is now i_frame_issue.