How to sort video clips by person

Hundreds of video files from a single session, split into folders named after each person — you only ever look at four frames per clip. Nothing to install, no account, and no upload.

Before you start — you need Chrome or Edge

Open it in Chrome or Edge. Reading and writing a folder on your own computer (the File System Access API) only works in those two. Safari and Firefox don't have it yet, so they get a notice instead of the tool.

Phones don't work either — Chrome on Android included. There is simply no folder access in a mobile browser. Open it on the computer where your videos are.

Sorting videos into folders by person, in three steps

1. Choose a folder — pick the folder your clips are sitting in. When Chrome asks about editing files, allow it. Only files directly inside that folder are read; subfolders are left alone.
2. Sort — each clip shows up as four frames. Say who's in it and you move straight to the next one.
3. Organize — the button at the top right shows a summary first. Run it and folders named after each person are created, with the files moved into them.

Controls and keyboard shortcuts

The number keys work whenever the name box is empty. Typing a name and pressing Enter empties it again, so you can keep going on numbers alone — your hands barely have to move.

How the four preview frames are picked

The clip is cut into six parts, the first and last are thrown away, and the middle of each remaining part is captured — 25% · 41.7% · 58.3% · 75% of the way through.

The reason for dropping the head and tail is simple. In surf footage those stretches are usually paddling or waiting around, where nobody is recognisable. Four points through the middle are far more likely to catch the actual ride.

When several people are in one clip

Use Shift+number or the ＋ button to assign more than one person. When you organize, the original moves into the first person's folder and copies go to the rest.

Choosing copy mode on the organize screen puts a copy in every folder and leaves the original exactly where it was. That costs you the disk space, but it's useful when you'd rather not disturb the source folder at all.

Close the window mid-way and continue later

Your sorting is saved in the browser as you go. If you close the window by accident, picking the same folder again asks whether you want to continue. Once organizing succeeds, that record is deleted.

Records are told apart by a fingerprint mixed from the whole file list, not by the folder name alone. Every GoPro card is called 100GOPRO and even the file names (GX010001.MP4) repeat from card to card, so going by folder name would let one card's work be restored onto a completely different card's clips.

Speed, disk space and duplicate file names

• Speed — pulling four frames out of a clip takes a few seconds. The next two are prepared in advance, so in practice you rarely wait.
• Moving is instant — a move within the same drive is just a rename, so file size doesn't matter. The copies made for clips with several people do take time proportional to size.
• Name collisions become name (2).mp4 automatically. Nothing is ever overwritten.
• Videos are never uploaded — the browser reads them off the disk and draws them on screen. The details are in the privacy policy.

If a clip shows no preview

That means the browser can't decode that codec. Assigning names and organizing folders still work normally — you just don't get the thumbnails, and clicking the panel tries to play the file.

Which cameras and codecs do and don't work is written up under camera support.