Unicode Batch Renamer

A small Python tool for safely batch-renaming image and video files. It uses a two-step rename process so existing names such as 1.jpg or 2.png do not collide with the final output names.

Built with AI coding models. Designed from real workflow problems.

Screenshots

Download

Download source archives and future packaged builds from GitHub Releases, or run directly from this repository with Python.

Features

• Graphical interface built with Python's standard tkinter
• English is the default interface language
• Built-in UI translations: English, Chinese, French, German, Japanese
• Unicode file names and templates, so names can contain most world languages
• Custom naming templates such as {n}, photo_, or trip_{n}_final
• Preserves original file extensions
• Preserves leading zeroes in the start number, for example 001
• No third-party dependencies

Supported Formats

Images:

jpg, jpeg, png, gif, bmp, tiff, webp, svg, ico

Videos:

mp4, avi, mov, mkv, wmv, flv, m4v, mpg, mpeg, 3gp, webm

Quick Start

Run the graphical interface:

python batch_rename_gui.py

On Windows, you can also double-click:

start_gui.bat
一键重命名.bat

The older Python files with Chinese names are kept as compatibility launchers, but the maintained entry point is batch_rename_gui.py.

Naming Templates

Use {n} where the number should appear:

{n}              -> 1.jpg, 2.png, 3.mp4
photo_           -> photo_1.jpg, photo_2.png
trip_{n}_final   -> trip_1_final.jpg, trip_2_final.png

If the template does not include {n}, the number is appended automatically.

Set the start number to 001 if you want padded output:

photo_001.jpg, photo_002.jpg, photo_003.jpg

Command Line

Preview and confirm before renaming:

python rename_images_simple.py "C:\path\to\folder" --template "photo_" --start 001

Rename without confirmation:

python rename_images_simple.py "C:\path\to\folder" --template "{n}" --yes

Use another console language:

python rename_images_simple.py --language fr

Internationalization

Translations live in i18n.py. To add a new UI language:

1. Add a language code and display name to LANGUAGES.
2. Add that language's strings to TRANSLATIONS.
3. Missing strings automatically fall back to English.

The rename engine itself is Unicode-safe because it uses Python 3 pathlib paths and does not restrict letters from other writing systems. It only blocks characters that are unsafe in cross-platform file names, such as /, \, ?, *, and :.

Safety Notes

Always back up important files before bulk renaming. The tool performs a temporary rename phase first and tries to roll back if an error occurs, but no bulk file operation can guarantee recovery from every filesystem or permission failure.