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I'm wonder how to recover the original name of picture which was made by device (for example Camera or phone)? Is it possible? Let's say that someone make a photo and then change name of the .JPG file from 20110126_NX003.JPG to sunny_day.JPG. Is it possible to find this original name given by the device if we have only this sunny_day.JPG file?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ This may be documented somewhere but you could test it yourself by renaming some test files and inspecting the resulting EXIF metadata (i.e., perhaps with EXIFTool). I don't recall this being "standard" EXIF but some software that generates the EXIF and "MakerNotes" might save the original name. \$\endgroup\$
    – user31502
    Jan 15, 2019 at 14:54
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    \$\begingroup\$ vtc b/c This is a computer forensics question better asked at superuser.SE. \$\endgroup\$
    – xiota
    Jan 15, 2019 at 23:31
  • \$\begingroup\$ Were you able to resolve the issue? \$\endgroup\$
    – Tevez
    Oct 4, 2019 at 21:07

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Experimentally I can't find any reference to the file name in the JPG picture files either from my Canon 70D camera or my smartphone.

Not surprising since a filename is just a label on things.

However, pictures from my phone are named using a timestamp:

IMG_20181224_181601856.jpg

And this matches two fields in the EXIF data:

5)  DateTimeOriginal = 2018:12:24 18:16:01
6)  CreateDate = 2018:12:24 18:16:01

But the last digits (856) don't match other EXIF data:

17) SubSecTime = 918503
18) SubSecTimeOriginal = 918503
19) SubSecTimeDigitized = 918503

So this may not be sufficient to retrieve the full file name, but enough to know at what time the picture was taken, if this is what you wanted the initial filename for.

Whatever your OS, there are many tools around to view EXIF data, this is normally part of any image viewer worth its salt.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ The last 3 digits may be milliseconds (which usually are not displayed in EXIF data) \$\endgroup\$
    – Romeo Ninov
    Jan 15, 2019 at 17:30
  • \$\begingroup\$ Yes, but then I expect them to be 918 and not 856. \$\endgroup\$
    – xenoid
    Jan 15, 2019 at 19:04
  • \$\begingroup\$ 918 is digitized time, not created :) (just joke and speculation) \$\endgroup\$
    – Romeo Ninov
    Jan 15, 2019 at 19:06
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The original filename is not stored in Exif. However, Exif data may be used to reconstruct the filename. For instance, some devices name files according to date/time.

Also, some cameras store a frame number from which the filename can be guessed if filename numbering was set to continuous. If filename numbering was set to reset, the filename may be recoverable by examination of the filesystem journal, but that is way outside the scope of photography.SE.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Nor is the filename in the thumbnail buried in the JPG, at least not for the examples I checked. \$\endgroup\$
    – user10216038
    Jan 17, 2019 at 17:16
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Examine the Exif data for the file. The original filename (or a counter or something) may be stored in there. If I recall correctly, I did this with success years ago with JPG files that had come from my Canon PowerShot A70 camera.

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