How to remove tags like 1080p, x264 and WEB-DL from video file names

Downloaded or archived video files often carry a string of technical tags after the title:

Garden.Makeover.Guide.2022.1080p.WEB-DL.H264.AAC-GROUP.mp4
Lecture_07_Thermodynamics_720p_x265_HEVC_10bit.mkv
[GroupName] Travel Diary - Ep 04 (2160p HDR).mkv

The aim is to keep the title (and the year or episode number if it has one) and drop the rest:

Garden Makeover Guide (2022).mp4
Lecture 07 Thermodynamics.mkv
Travel Diary - Ep 04.mkv

Below are two free ways to do it in bulk on Windows, with patterns you can copy, followed by a review-first option for mixed folders.

The tags you'll usually want gone

• Resolution: 480p 576p 720p 1080p 1080i 2160p 4K UHD
• Video codec: x264 x265 H264 H.264 H265 H.265 HEVC AVC AV1 VP9 XviD DivX
• Colour: 10bit 8bit HDR HDR10 DV SDR
• Source: WEB WEB-DL WEBRip BluRay BDRip BRRip DVDRip HDTV HDRip
• Audio: AAC AC3 EAC3 DDP DTS FLAC 2.0 5.1 7.1 Atmos
• Group or encoder name: usually -Name at the very end, or [Name] at the start
• Junk: (1) copy FINAL v2 sample

None of this information is lost when you remove it from the name. Resolution, codec and audio format are stored inside the file, and Windows, media players and media servers read them from there.

Before you start

1. Work on a copy of one folder until you trust your pattern.
2. Dedupe first. Two copies of the same video will clean to the same name and clash. See how to find duplicate videos with different names.
3. Watch for real titles that contain a tag word, such as a talk called "Why 4K Matters". Rules can't tell the difference; you can.

Method 1: Bulk Rename Utility with regex (free for personal use)

In Bulk Rename Utility, select your files and use the RegEx (1) panel. Tick v2 to use the modern regex engine. The pattern applies to the name without the extension.

Pattern 1: keep everything before the first technical tag

Match:

^(.*?)[ ._\-\[\(]+(?:(?:19|20)\d{2}[ ._\)\]]+)?(?:2160p|1080[pi]|720p|576p|480p|4k|uhd|web(?:-?dl|rip)?|blu-?ray|bdrip|brrip|dvdrip|hdtv|hdrip|x26[45]|h\.?26[45]|hevc|avc|av1|10bit|hdr).*$

Replace:

\1

Then, in Replace (3), swap . for a space and _ for a space (or use a second regex pass, [._]+ to a space). Finally use Case (4) set to Title if you want capitalised words.

Pattern 2: remove a leading [Group] tag

Match:   ^\[[^\]]+\]\s*(.*)$
Replace: \1

Pattern 3: keep the year as (YYYY)

Match:   ^(.*?)[ ._\(\[]+((?:19|20)\d{2})[ ._\)\]]+.*$
Replace: \1 (\2)

Run pattern 3 instead of pattern 1 on files that have a year. Check the New Name column before clicking Rename, and use the Undo option if something goes wrong.

Method 2: PowerShell (built into Windows)

This script previews the clean names for every video in a folder, and keeps a year if it finds one:

$tags = '(?i)[ ._\-\[\(]+(2160p|1080[pi]|720p|576p|480p|4k|uhd|web(-?dl|rip)?|blu-?ray|bdrip|brrip|dvdrip|hdtv|hdrip|x26[45]|h\.?26[45]|hevc|avc|av1|10bit|hdr)\b.*$'
Get-ChildItem "D:\Video\Inbox" -File -Include *.mkv,*.mp4,*.avi,*.mov -Recurse | ForEach-Object {
  $n = $_.BaseName -replace '^\[[^\]]+\]\s*',''          # leading [Group]
  $n = $n -replace $tags,''                                 # everything from the first tag
  $n = $n -replace '[._]+',' '                              # separators to spaces
  $n = $n -replace '[ (\[]*((19|20)\d{2})[ )\]]*$',' ($1)'  # trailing year to (YYYY)
  $n = ($n -replace '\s{2,}',' ').Trim()
  if ($n -and $n -ne $_.BaseName) { Rename-Item $_.FullName ($n + $_.Extension) -WhatIf }
}

Check the preview, then delete -WhatIf and run it again. PowerShell won't overwrite an existing file, so clashes simply fail with an error you can fix by hand. There's no undo, so save the old names first: Get-ChildItem "D:\Video\Inbox" -Recurse | Select FullName | Export-Csv before.csv.

Why rules alone fall short on a mixed library

Regex is brilliant for consistent folders. In a library gathered from many sources over years, you'll hit:

• titles that legitimately contain a tag word;
• years and episode numbers in different positions;
• names with no separators at all, or several styles in one folder;
• duplicates that clean to the same name.

You end up writing more patterns and checking more exceptions than you saved.

Method 3: Review-first clean-up with SceneSort Pro

1. Scan your folders: local, external or NAS.
2. Open Clean filenames. SceneSort suggests a clean name for each file, removing resolution, codec, source, audio and group tags and fixing separators and capitals.
3. Review. Accept in bulk, edit individual names or skip them. Nothing is renamed until you approve.
4. Remove duplicates in the same session, so clean names don't collide.
5. Apply, with Undo at every step.

The technical details aren't lost. SceneSort reads resolution and codec from each file and shows them as badges in the library. It all runs offline on your PC.

Quick FAQ

Will I lose the resolution information?

No. It's stored in the video stream. In File Explorer, right-click a file, choose Properties and open the Details tab to see frame width, height and data rate. You can also add a Frame height column in Details view.

What about subtitle files?

Include *.srt and *.ass in the same run so they get the same clean name as their video. Players match subtitles by name.

The pattern removed part of my title. What now?

Undo in Bulk Rename Utility, or rename from your saved CSV in PowerShell. Then exclude that file, or remove the clashing word (for example hdr) from the pattern for that folder.

Can I keep an episode number like S01E03?

Yes. Both patterns stop at the first technical tag, so an episode code that comes before the tags is kept.

More guides: all video library guides.