Member Avatar for Paddy

Windows 7 Enterprise x64
Windows Media Player 12.0.7600.16667

I use Windows Media Player to stream videos to my PS3, and in order to do so I have to add videos to the Videos library in Windows Media Player. This works fine most of the time, but sometimes the video I add doesn't appear in the library under its filename but instead WMP uses its title from the "Details" tab of the file's properties. For instance:

Filename: Wedding Anniversary.avi
Title: HU743J

In the above case the file's entry in the media library is "HU743J". This is obviously problematic when browsing videos on the PS3, because I don't know which videos are which. I can manually rename the file from within the library, but doing this to hundreds of videos at a time is something I'd rather not subject myself to. Is there any way of getting WMP to simply use the filename of the video instead? I've looked through every setting in the program and can't find anything relevant.

Cheers!

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by zelkea

Dani AI

Generated

Short answer: WMP is showing the file’s Title metadata instead of the filename. Windows Media Player’s library stores and displays named metadata attributes (Title, Artist, etc.), so if a file’s Title field contains "HU743J" that is what WMP will present in the library. (learn.microsoft.com)

Practical, low-risk approach (recommended)

  • Clean the Title metadata in bulk, then refresh WMP’s library. For common containers (MP4, AVI, MOV, etc.) use the cross‑platform, battle‑tested ExifTool to remove Title tags. Test on a couple of files first; ExifTool creates backups by default unless you explicitly suppress them. Example (recursively process a folder; run on a copy first):
    exiftool -r -ext mp4 -ext avi -Title= -overwrite_original "C:\Path\To\Videos"

    Docs and examples: ExifTool. (exiftool.org)

If you have MKV files only

  • Use [MKVToolNix] tools; mkvpropedit can delete the container title in‑place (fast, no remux). Example:
    mkvpropedit "C:\Path\To\file.mkv" --edit info --delete title

    Or batch with PowerShell:

    Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\Path\To\Videos" -Filter *.mkv -Recurse |
ForEach-Object { & 'C:\Program Files\MKVToolNix\mkvpropedit.exe' $_.FullName --edit info --delete title }

    Docs: mkvpropedit manual. (mkvtoolnix.download)

Refresh WMP and stop future overwrites

  • After cleaning tags, close WMP, delete the database files in
    %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Media Player and restart WMP so it rebuilds the library (this forces WMP to re-read filenames when Title is empty). Also disable Tools → Options → Library → “Retrieve additional information from the Internet” to avoid WMP pulling/writing metadata. Back up before deleting and allow time for the library rebuild. (learn.microsoft.com)

Notes and cautions

  • Work on a small folder first. Keep backups until you confirm the results. If you prefer to keep a Title but make it match the filename, you can write the filename into the Title tag instead (ExifTool can do this). As suggested, a metadata‑editing workflow is the right path for large collections; the commands above are safe when tested carefully.
Member Avatar for zelkea

Hey Paddy,

It has been a few days and no hits on your questions. So I'll throw this out there, I don't necessarily have an answer but I have a potential workaround.

A buddy of mine who has a ridiculous movie collection uses meta<browser> to clean and automatically retrieve and set the metadata.

I have not personally used this application (my arena is music) but from the sounds of your problem it is a perfect fit for you.

I also came across this link:

http://www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=8291&view=next

If you would prefer to use something else besides WMP to stream to your PS3.

Edited by zelkea because: n/a
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