[FEAT] Preserve and customise output file name

[IgitBuh]

Feature Request

I would like to be able to customize the output file names.
Right now the result looks something like this: Compressed_1775658909372.mp4
This makes it really hard to find or properly archive that file.
It would be very helpful to be able to configure the output file name.

You could either allow a custom pattern with placeholders or at least do a static version that preserves the original name. This could be configured in the main preferences, so it's valid for all files.

1. Static:
   originalname [1080p CRF20 20260408165900].mp4

2. Pattern:
   %name% [%resolution% %crf% %timestamp%].%ext%

[JoshAtticus]

Thanks for opening an issue and sorry for the delay. This issue is a duplicate of #47

[IgitBuh]

@JoshAtticus The other issue is mainly for EXIF data (which is also useful) and mentions file names as a side note. My issue targets file names in particular and suggests a pattern based naming possibility. I'm not sure if closing this issue as a duplicate will solve the issue.

[JoshAtticus]

@JoshAtticus The other issue is mainly for EXIF data (which is also useful) and mentions file names as a side note. My issue targets file names in particular and suggests a pattern based naming possibility. I'm not sure if closing this issue as a duplicate will solve the issue.

Preserving file names is absolutely something that will be added in the much awaited next release I've been procrastinating on for 2 months now, but I got a new computer that runs Android Studio WAY faster now so I'll hopefully release 1.5.3 by the end of this week.

Pattern naming will bloat the UI and is beyond the scope of my simple video compressor app.

[IgitBuh]

@JoshAtticus

Pattern naming will bloat the UI and is beyond the scope of my simple video compressor app.

I kind of understand this, but I'm not sure if a general solution can satisfy all users. A pattern solution would be optional (as you can set the default pattern) and would require only one text field and maybe a link/button to show a list of available placeholders.

If you are planning a hardcoded new file name, what exactly do you have in mind?
I believe we all can agree that it should be starting with the original file name. But what suffix are you going to add? Please don't use something indefinable like "compressed" as suggested in the other issue. Also please don't to a prefix to the original file name for not mixing up any sorting mechanisms based on the file name.

My expectation of the output file name would be to recognize the original file and also what was changed (resolution / quality).

What do your think of something like this?:
original (1080p 40%).mp4

[JoshAtticus]

Please don't use something indefinable like "compressed"

This was what I was going to use, I don't personally see an issue with it unless you're compressing the same video multiple times for whatever reason?

What do your think of something like this?: original (1080p 40%).mp4

Definitely cannot have percentages or brackets as these break file name requirements on some other OSes, and I believe possibly Android itself? I can absolutely see where you're coming from, but this just seems absolutely overkill, especially since I believe most users simply just press a preset and go.

Now on a completely unrelated yet completely related note:

It's actually quite hard to tell what users want without any analytics, my GitHub userbase (at least those who create issues) seem to be the power users who love my app but want more control, while my Google Play userbase loves my app but is the complete opposite to GitHub and just want a super simple app.

Because of this challenge, I mostly ignore it entirely, I don't try and specifically cater to one userbase over the other, I stick to adding features I would actually use. I still listen to feedback, people ask for features sometimes that I believe are a great idea, and so I add them, other times people demand a feature I do not want to add because it would go against my core principles/tenets.

This is one of those features. I think some of these ideas are great, others not so much. I don't want to deliberately make anybody angry or unhappy, but you are one of two people who have asked for this, out of all 34,222+ users. My reasoning for just adding something like _compressed to the end of the file name is that it seems completely overkill to add something like this, that others could actually find annoying.

Ultimately, my goal for Compressor is to keep it a single-purpose utility. Adding a custom naming engine with placeholders and logic patterns introduces a level of complexity that 99% of my users will never touch, but 100% of the code will have to carry. It’s not just about 'one text field'; it's about the maintenance, the edge-case handling for illegal characters on various file systems (which brackets and percentages can break when syncing to older Windows/NAS environments), and the UI bloat.

Now I understand this might not be the 'perfect' solution for a high-level archival workflow like yours, but it's the right balance for a super simple mobile app I created for myself and chose to share with the world, designed to be fast and easy. Apologies for the textwall, this is half response to your issue and half rant about maintaining open source software.

[IgitBuh]

Thank you for the detailed response, I genuinely appreciate it!

One thing upfront: regardless of what I or other users wish for, your overall vision is what ultimately matters. Software (and open-source software in particular) thrives on external feedback and the variety of use cases that come with it. Not everything can be implemented, either because of the effort involved or because it simply doesn't fit the broader concept. As long as you're generally open to different perspectives, think them through carefully, weigh the trade-offs, and then make a decision. That's the only right approach. The only unfortunate thing is when features aren't thought through properly, or when requests are dismissed without consideration.

Personally, I'm a big fan of UIs that are clean and uncluttered by default, but that allow for detailed personal customization in the settings when needed. That also addresses the fundamental problem that you can never please everyone.

I'd like to share a few thoughts and reasons behind my perspective. If you understand where I'm coming from but still see it differently, that's completely fine. I'm just grateful that you built this app at all. I've been looking for something like it for years and never found anything useful. Thank you!

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1. While testing the app, I compressed various videos at different quality levels. Afterwards, I watched them on my PC monitor to figure out which compression level works best for which type of video. In doing so, I realized there was no way to tell which settings had been applied to which of the 20 output files. I was particularly surprised that even the original filename gets lost in the process (though I understand you're planning to fix that).

2. After a family gathering, I often want to both archive videos (and photos) and share them privately with family. For the archive, I want full resolution with as little visible quality loss as possible. The originals are simply too large, so that would be the first compression pass. For the family web gallery, I only need 720p, so that would be the second pass.

So what do I end up with? VID_20260416_104522_compressed.mp4 and VID_20260416_104522_compressed (2).mp4? Or does the first one get overwritten? Or are you thinking of appending a timestamp to make the filename unique (e.g. VID_20260416_104522_compressed_20260416115212.mp4)?

Something like VID_20260416_104522 (1080p-40).mp4 would be unambiguous, self-explanatory, and my preferred option. Personally, I don't see any disadvantage of "(1080p-40)" compared to "compressed". Users who don't look at the file names, don't care anyway.

3. There are occasional situations where I want to send a short video as an email attachment, which means compressing it heavily. But I also save a less-compressed version locally. It would be very helpful to be able to tell from the filename alone which version I'm looking at.

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Two ideas as alternatives to a pattern-based approach:

1. The resulting filename could be displayed above the Share/Save buttons. Tapping on it would allow you to edit the name before sharing or saving. This is additional effort I would like to avoid, but it would be better than nothing.

2. The compression details could (additionally) be stored in the video file's metadata. Even if the filename doesn't reflect the settings, at least you'd have somewhere to look to identify which version it is.

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I apologize for my text wall as well. Have a nice day. :)