GoProFilenameFix

This simple shell script will rename the files produced by GoPro cameras into a proper sequence for video editing

I recently bought a GoPro Hero camera, did few recordings here and there, when I imported all GoPro files into my desktop for video editing I was shocked to see the filenames done in reverse which doesn't help editing videos in any way, when I went to GoPro website, it appears that whoever designed the file naming system might have had too much to drink at the time.

Anyway, this simple script I created as an open source resource is just a few lines that fixes filename, you can download the script as a file or just simply copy-and-paste the contents below into a Shell script,

#!/bin/sh

# 2023-11-13 10:35am - Heider: Added fail safe condition to ensure we don't process the NEW_xxxx file twice...

for file in "$@"; do
	if [ -f "$file" ]; then 
		filenameonly=$(basename "$file")
	    dironly=$(dirname "$file")

	    if [ ${filenameonly:0:4} != "NEW_" ]; then
			NewName="NEW_""${filenameonly:0:2}""${filenameonly:4:4}""${filenameonly:2:2}""${filenameonly:8:4}"
		    echo "Renaming File: " "$filenameonly" ", To: " "$NewName" 
		    mv "$dironly/$filenameonly" "$dironly/$NewName"
	    else
			echo "Skipping Already Renamed File: " "$filenameonly"
	    fi
	fi
done

Once you have copied the content above (or downloaded) into the "GoProFileFix.sh" file, then you need to execute the following command to ensure the script is executable:

 chmod 755 GoProFileFix.sh

---

To run the file, simply do the following

 ./GoProFileFix.sh (.....YOUR GO PRO FILE PATH....)/GH*.MP4

The above will rename a file with the name of GH010032.MP4 into NEW_GH003201.MP4, on the PATH provided. Same cane be done if your files are GXxxxx or GSxxxx etc.

More information on how the filenames are coded on a GoPro camera can be found on the GoPro Website below:

https://community.gopro.com/s/article/GoPro-Camera-File-Naming-Convention?language=en_US

I hope this helps, it certanly made my life much easier as importing many footage into my video editing can now appear in a serial manner.

Tested with my MacBookPro all working fine.

Doing this on the memory stick directly also works fine, note the script only rename these files, no copying involved so it's quick and does not take any additional space.

Shout if you need any further help.

Kind Regards, Heider