MediaOrganizer

A fast, cross-platform media file organizer that automatically sorts photos and videos by date into a hierarchical folder structure.

Features

• Smart Date Detection: Extracts creation dates from EXIF data (JPEG/JPG) and MP4 metadata
• Hierarchical Organization: Creates YYYY/YYYY_MM_DD/ folder structure for easy browsing
• Fast File Operations: Uses filesystem move operations (no copying) for speed
• Duplicate Handling: Automatically renames duplicate files with numeric suffixes
• Metadata-Only Mode: Option to skip files without extractable metadata dates
• Hidden File Filtering: Ignores hidden directories and files (starting with .)
• Cross-Platform: Supports Windows, Linux, and ARM architectures

Supported File Types

• Images: JPEG, JPG (with EXIF date extraction)
• Videos: MP4 (with metadata date extraction)

Installation

Download Pre-built Binaries

Download the appropriate binary for your platform from the releases page:

• mediaorganizer-windows-x64.exe - Windows 64-bit
• mediaorganizer-linux-x64 - Linux 64-bit
• mediaorganizer-linux-arm - Linux ARM (ARMv5+)

Build from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone <repository-url>
cd MediaOrganizer

# Install dependencies
go mod tidy

# Build for current platform
go build -o mediaorganizer ./cmd

# Or build for all platforms
make

Usage

Basic Usage

# Organize media files
./mediaorganizer /path/to/source /path/to/destination

# Windows
mediaorganizer.exe C:\Photos C:\Organized

# Show help
./mediaorganizer --help

# Show version
./mediaorganizer --version

Metadata-Only Mode

# Only process files with extractable metadata dates
./mediaorganizer -m /path/to/source /path/to/destination

Command Line Options

• <source> - Source directory containing media files
• <destination> - Output directory for organized files
• -m - Metadata-only mode (skip files without metadata dates)
• --help - Show help information
• --version - Show version information

Output Structure

Files are organized into a hierarchical structure:

destination/
├── 2023/
│   ├── 2023_01_15/
│   │   ├── IMG_001.jpg
│   │   └── VIDEO_001.mp4
│   └── 2023_12_25/
│       └── holiday_photo.jpg
└── 2024/
    └── 2024_03_10/
        └── spring_video.mp4

Date Detection Priority

1. EXIF Data (JPEG/JPG files) - Original photo timestamp
2. MP4 Metadata (MP4 files) - Video creation timestamp
3. File Modification Time (fallback, unless -m flag is used)

Examples

Organize All Media Files

./mediaorganizer ./unsorted ./organized

Process Only Files with Metadata

./mediaorganizer -m ./photos ./sorted

Cross-Platform Paths

# Linux/macOS
./mediaorganizer /home/user/photos /home/user/organized

# Windows
mediaorganizer.exe "C:\Users\Name\Pictures" "D:\Organized Photos"

# Relative paths
./mediaorganizer ../photos ./sorted

Building

Prerequisites

• Go 1.21 or later
• Make (optional, for cross-compilation)

Build Commands

# Build all platforms
make

# Build specific platforms
make build-windows  # Windows x64
make build-linux    # Linux x64
make build-arm      # Linux ARM

# Clean build artifacts
make clean

# Install dependencies
make deps

# Run tests
go test ./organizer

Manual Cross-Compilation

# Windows x64
GOOS=windows GOARCH=amd64 go build -o mediaorganizer-windows.exe ./cmd

# Linux x64
GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 go build -o mediaorganizer-linux ./cmd

# Linux ARM
GOOS=linux GOARCH=arm GOARM=5 go build -o mediaorganizer-arm ./cmd

Dependencies

• github.com/rwcarlsen/goexif - EXIF data extraction

Performance

• Fast: Uses os.Rename() for same-filesystem moves (no data copying)
• Memory Efficient: Processes files one at a time with optimized MP4 parsing
• Scalable: Handles thousands of files efficiently
• Secure: Path validation prevents directory traversal attacks

Limitations

• Only processes JPEG/JPG and MP4 files
• MP4 metadata extraction is basic (mvhd atom only)
• Cross-filesystem moves will copy data (slower)
• Hidden files and directories are skipped

License

See LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please feel free to submit issues and pull requests.