Original file names of pictures changed by default?

Question

Level 1

6 points

Original file names of pictures changed by default?

Starting to use Photos and iCloud Photo Library more extensively I now noticed that exported originals seem to have altered filesnames. Instead of the standard iPhone naming scheme for example and exported original from my library now contains a much longer random filename. What struck me as odd is that doesn't seem to happen consistently. Old pictures taken with now extinct cameras seem to retain their original names – same is true for very recent iPhone pictures taken with the model I use now. Those that do seem to be altered for example come from formerly used iPhones.

It would be great to clarify if Photos changes filenames by default or if this is suspicious behaviour.

Thanks for helping

Kim

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on Jun 10, 2015 12:46 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

The Swan Author

Level 1

6 points

Jun 11, 2015 3:24 AM in response to LarryHN

Thank you very much for your answer, LN,

I did same more digging today and managed to clarify things. I am perfectly aware that filenames cannot be altered manually from within the application. Fact is though, that at some point in the history of me using iCloud Photo Library an identifiable bunch of photos were modified. My library currently starts Mid 2014 and has pictures taken by my old iPhone 5s, a short iPhone6 period and up to current iPhone 6 plus shots. From exporting orginals I learned that on Feb 6. something has happend 🙂:

All pictures taken with the i5s changed creation, modification dates to Feb 6 and filenames modified to something like this:

6F7BB732-3F5F-4F8F-A251-EFCA44C69E8D.JPG

All pictures taken with iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 plus had only their creation, modification dates changed – again to Feb 6

All pictures taken after that miraculous date have their original names and obviously newer file creation, modification dates.

Having pulled one iPhone 5s shot I had backed and comparing that to the exported original from the cloud I was happy because I found the byte count to be the same and metadata intact. So the only thing that happend is the described name change. Check screenshot for comparison...

I don't think there is a way to find out what happend and it is not overly important since nothing happend to the pictures or the metadata. The one thing is still interesting I think: Looking at recent shots I see this behaviour: originals exported from the cloud do have creation, modification dates that are later - a day or so then the times they are taken. Do they get the date data from the time they were uploaded to the cloud?

Again - thank you very much for caring!

Kim

Reply

Answer 2

LarryHN

Level 10

106,124 points

Jun 10, 2015 1:39 PM in response to The Swan

suspicious behavior and inductivity of some problem in the past

It is impossible to change a file name within either iphoto or Photos - once you import a photo the file name can not possibly be changed until you export it and the change is done during export

In Photos you can see the file name in the Info window below the title

LN

Reply

Answer 3

Jim144

Level 1

99 points

Jun 11, 2015 4:59 AM in response to The Swan

Kim,

Every photo uploaded to iCloud Photo Library is given a long, randomized filename. The original filename, however, still remains as part of the image metadata. You will see the long, randomized filename or the original filename depending on how you export, download, or which device you email the file from. It's nothing to worry about. This is done to ensure every image has a unique filename in your iCloud Photo Library no matter where it came from. If you have more than one device, each of those devices start out with their first image being named IMG_0001.JPG and then both are going to upload that image with the same filename. Or on your Mac if you manually give an image a name, you don't want to keep track of whether you've used a filename already.

If you email an edited or unedited image from your Mac, the recipient will see the original filename. If you email the same edited image from your iPhone, the filename will be FullSizeRender.jpg. The unedited image emailed from the iPhone will have the long filename. If you are emailing a recently taken photo from your iPhone, the short filename, e.g., IMG_0123.JPG, will be used because it's still on-device and did not have to be retrieved from the cloud.

It would be nice if the original filename were used when sharing photos and perhaps Apple could change this in the future, but I wouldn't worry about the long filenames.

Jim

Reply

Answer 4

The Swan Author

Level 1

6 points

Jun 12, 2015 10:39 AM in response to Jim144

Jim,

greatly appreciate the time you invested in writing the informed reply and helping me understand more clearly. I do understand – and better now from your explanation – the reason for the cloud databases "tagging" uploaded files with new unique identifiers. Still positive about the idea that something went wrong with a bunch of my specific files simply because of clear reproducible behavior. The "normal" shots – when exported specifically as "unmodified originals" download with their respective original filename while the "missbehaving" bunch come down from the cloud with the long string name and with no mention of original filename in otherwise complete metadata. I – by now – attribute the behaviour to the betaphase in which things might habe been handled slightly different from now. Most importantly all the pictures are of full original resolution so I don't have any problems with them... Will stop worrying about the issue.

Thanks again and a good time with memories in the cloud.

Kim

Reply

Quick Links

Original file names of pictures changed by default?