Media File Renamer gives your files real names. IMG_4471.jpg becomes golden-pavilion-kyoto.jpg, from its title, its ALT text, or what AI sees in the photo, and every link to it on your site follows. Better for search engines, nicer for you, and safe to undo.

1. See what needs a better name

The dashboard compares each file’s name with the name it should have, and lists the ones that differ as Pending, with the new name next to them. Rename one, a selection, or everything with one click. Files you want to keep as they are can be locked.

2. Choose how names are built

In Renaming Methods, choose what the name comes from. The free version uses the media title or the ALT text. Pro adds the title of the post the image is attached to, an ACF field, an anonymous name, and AI Vision, which looks at the photo itself. You can chain them: a primary method, then fallbacks when the first one has nothing to offer.

Then decide when renaming happens: when you click, on upload (so new files never get a camera name), when you save a post (its images follow its title), or when an attachment is updated. There are also options for unique names, prefixes and suffixes, replacement rules and transliteration.

More in the docs: automatic renaming ↗, on upload and on update ↗ and advanced rules ↗.

3. Let AI name your photos (Pro)

With AI Engine installed, AI Vision looks at each photo and suggests a name, a title and an ALT text that describe what’s in it. It’s the fastest way to clean a library full of DSC_0192.jpg, and the ALT texts are good for accessibility and search too.

Using Claude or ChatGPT with your site? Ask it to write titles and ALT texts through AI Engine’s MCP server, and with Attachment Update turned on, each file is renamed to match as soon as its title changes.

More in the docs: get started with AI renaming ↗.

4. Keep titles and ALT texts in sync

A good name is useful in more than one place. In Sync Fields, choose what fills the title, the ALT text, the caption and the description: copied from the file name or the title, or written by AI Vision. You write it once.

5. Rename one file by hand

Manual renaming is free and on by default: type the name you want, in the Media Library or on the attachment’s page, and press Enter. Everything that points to the file is updated.

6. Safe by design

• References followLinks in your posts, excerpts, post meta and options are updated to the new file name.
• LockA locked file is never renamed again, whatever your settings do.
• History and UndoEvery rename is recorded, and you can go back to the original name.

Before renaming a whole library for the first time, make a backup, as with any bulk change. More in the docs: reference updates ↗ and undo and history ↗.

For developers: WP-CLI (Pro)

Everything works from the command line too, with wp media-file-renamer or its short alias wp mfrh. Run wp mfrh help for the full list. The most useful commands:

wp mfrh list                                 # the files waiting for a new name
wp mfrh rename_auto 123                      # rename one file with your methods
wp mfrh rename_all --dry-run                 # preview, then run it without --dry-run
wp mfrh rename_manual 123 kyoto-temple.jpg   # the name you want
wp mfrh lock 123                             # never rename this file again
wp mfrh set_methods media_title alt_text     # primary, then fallback

Questions or something odd? The common questions and issues page and the docs ↗ cover most cases, and our support is here for the rest.