Filename Cleaner
Clean up messy filenames — remove spaces, special characters, batch rename in seconds.
Messy filenames with spaces, brackets, and special characters cause problems when uploading, sharing, or scripting.
How to use
- Paste your filenames into the box, one per line.
- Choose how to handle spaces and whether to lowercase.
- Click "Clean filenames" — copy the results or use them to rename your files.
- Note: browsers cannot rename files on your disk directly. Use the cleaned names when saving or renaming.
About this tool
This tool cleans them in bulk following common safe-naming conventions.
Everything runs in your browser — your filenames never leave your device.
How it works
The cleaner replaces spaces with hyphens or underscores and strips characters that are illegal or troublesome in filenames — / \ : * ? " < > | and control characters. Accented letters are transliterated (é becomes e) so files stay portable across Windows, macOS, and Linux.
It also collapses repeated separators ("my--file" becomes "my-file") and trims leading and trailing dots and spaces, which Windows silently mangles. The result works everywhere: web servers, cloud storage, and email attachments.
Worked examples
Photo batch: "IMG_2026 Vacation (1).JPG" becomes "img_2026-vacation-1.jpg" — web-safe and sortable.
Downloads folder: Clean up "Report Final FINAL v2 (1).pdf" into "report-final-v2-1.pdf" before archiving.
Quick reference
| Removed / replaced | Becomes |
|---|---|
| Spaces | - (hyphen) or _ (underscore) |
| / \ : * ? " < > | | Removed |
| Accented letters (é, ü, ñ) | Plain letters (e, u, n) |
| Repeated separators (--) | Single separator (-) |
| Leading / trailing dots & spaces | Trimmed |
Frequently asked questions
Will this rename files on my computer?
No — browsers cannot rename files on disk for security. Copy the cleaned names and rename manually, or use them when saving new files.
Are Chinese characters kept?
Yes, Chinese characters (CJK) are preserved by default. Only unsafe symbols like brackets, quotes, and emojis are removed.
What characters are removed?
Everything except letters, numbers, underscores, hyphens, dots, and CJK characters.
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