How to Rename Photos by Keywords and IPTC Metadata on Mac

If you tag your photos in Lightroom, Photo Mechanic, or Capture One, all that work, the keywords, the star ratings, the location and copyright, lives inside the files. This guide shows how to turn that embedded IPTC and XMP metadata into real filenames on macOS.

How do you rename photos by their keywords?

Add an EXIF Metadata rule in Batchio and set the field to Keywords. The app reads the embedded IPTC keywords and writes them into the name, joining multiple keywords with hyphens, for example beach-sunset. Set the position to Prefix, Suffix, or Replace Name.

The keywords, ratings, and captions you add in a photo editor are stored as IPTC and XMP metadata right inside each image. Batchio reads them with the native macOS image framework, so the tags you already spent time adding become something you can rename by. Drag your exported photos in, add the EXIF Metadata rule, choose Keywords, and the live preview shows the result for every file.

Rename by rating, location, or copyright

Beyond keywords, Batchio reads star rating, headline, caption, creator, city, country, and copyright from a photo's IPTC and XMP data. Pick any one as the EXIF Metadata field to rename by it.

A star rating is perfect for pushing your keepers to the front of a folder, prefix the filename with the rating and your best shots sort to the top. City and country turn a travel shoot into location-named files, and creator or copyright stamps every image with who made it, which is handy when you deliver files to a client or agency.

Because rules are composable, you can combine any of these with the date the photo was taken and a sequence number to build a filename like 2026-03-01 Paris beach-sunset 001.jpg in one pass. Our EXIF Metadata feature page lists every field the rule can read.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are IPTC and XMP fields?

IPTC and XMP are metadata standards for descriptive information embedded inside an image, separate from the camera's EXIF data. They hold things like keywords, star rating, headline, caption, creator, copyright, city, and country. Photographers add them in apps like Adobe Lightroom, Photo Mechanic, and Capture One, and the values travel inside the file itself.

Which IPTC fields can Batchio rename by?

Batchio reads star rating, keywords, headline, caption, creator (byline), city, country, and copyright from a photo's embedded IPTC and XMP metadata, alongside the standard EXIF fields. Each is a separate token you can place as a prefix, a suffix, or use to replace the whole name.

How are multiple keywords written into the filename?

When a photo has several keywords, Batchio joins them with hyphens, so keywords like beach and sunset become beach-sunset in the name. The live preview shows the exact result for every photo before you rename anything.

Do these fields work if I did not tag my photos?

They only work when the photo actually contains the metadata. If you have never added keywords or a rating in an editor, those fields will be empty, and Batchio leaves such photos unchanged or uses your fallback text. Photos exported from Lightroom or Photo Mechanic with keywords and ratings will rename perfectly.

Turn Your Photo Tags Into Filenames

Batchio reads the keywords, ratings, and IPTC metadata embedded in your photos and writes them into the name, with a live preview and full undo. Free with all 12 rule types, Pro upgrade $4.99.

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Marcel Iseli

Creator of Batchio · Indie App Developer

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Marcel Iseli is an indie app developer and the creator of Batchio. He builds native macOS utilities focused on productivity and file management.