Ant Renamer vs ExifRenamer

Ant Renamer is a free Windows program for applying rules to large batches of file and folder names. Its actions include changing extensions, replacing or inserting text, moving or deleting characters, numbering names, and changing letter case. It can build names from MP3 ID3 v1.1 tags, modification dates and times, EXIF information, regular expressions, or names in a supplied list or file. The program changes names only, not file contents. It supports Unicode names, including Japanese, Chinese, and Arabic characters, on NT systems. The interface is available in English and numerous other languages, including French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, and Tamil. Ant Renamer is free software under the GNU General Public License version 2 or, at the user’s option, a later version. Version 2.13.0 is offered as an installer and as a portable ZIP package. The project began in 2003 and is still maintained, though its maker describes it as based on old tools and not using newer Windows features. The maker points users to the included help file, online manuals, a forum, or email support.

ExifRenamer is a free macOS app that renames photos, movie clips and audio clips from embedded date and time information. Its suggested YYYY-MM-DD_hh-mm-ss pattern gives filenames chronological order in Finder. Users can drag files onto the app icon or configure it as an automatic task in Apple Image Capture. A preview appears before renaming, with controls for naming styles, prefixes, suffixes, time-difference correction and sequence counters. The app can create a destination folder, move renamed files there and forward them to other applications. Listed formats include JPEG, TIFF, MOV, MP4, M4V, AVI, AIFF, AIF, WAV, MRW, NEF, CRW, CR2 and THM, with camera support including Casio, Olympus and Canon. ExifRenamer changes only filenames, not file contents. Some cameras may omit the required date and time metadata in supported formats, so extraction can fail. The page lists version 2.4.0 (15) and compatibility with macOS Sequoia. The plan is free, with optional donations.