RunLocalTools

File Sorter — Separate a Mixed File Dump by Type, Free

Drop a folder full of mixed downloads — photos, videos, PDFs, docs, audio, archives — and File Sorter separates them into lanes by type instantly. Export sorted into real folders or a manifest sheet. 100% free, runs entirely in your browser.

What it does

File Sorter takes a messy pile of downloads — the kind of folder where movies, screenshots, invoices, songs, and random zip files all end up mixed together — and separates every file into its own lane by type: Images, Video, Audio, Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations, Archives, Code & Text, and Fonts, with anything unrecognized landing safely in Other rather than causing an error. Drop in a single file, a pile of files, or an entire folder (nested subfolders included), and watch it sort itself in real time.

Once it’s sorted, export it however you actually need it: one ZIP file with a real subfolder per type, a single lane as its own ZIP, or a manifest sheet (CSV) listing every file’s name, type, size, and last-modified date — handy as a record of what you had before you moved or deleted anything. If your Images lane comes back huge, shrink those photos down with Compress before you archive or send them anywhere.

How it works

Every file is classified by its extension first, then by its browser-reported MIME type as a fallback for files with no extension or an unfamiliar one — so a photo saved without a .jpg still lands in Images instead of Other. Files that genuinely don’t match anything are never forced into the wrong lane; they go to Other, where you can see them and re-sort manually if needed.

Dropping a folder uses the browser’s native File System Entry API to recurse through every subfolder and pull out every file inside — this is different from a plain file picker, which can’t see inside folders at all. If your browser doesn’t support that API, File Sorter falls back to a flat file selection automatically, so it never just silently drops your folder.

Duplicate files are flagged two ways: an exact-content match (a SHA-256 hash computed locally on files under 20MB) and a same-name-and-size match for anything larger, so you can spot repeats before you export rather than after. Everything you sort is saved to this browser’s local storage as you go, so a refresh or an accidental tab close doesn’t lose your work — clear it anytime with the “Clear saved files” button.

How to use it

  1. Add your files. Drag a folder or a batch of files onto the drop zone, or use “Add files” / “Add a folder” to pick them with your file browser.
  2. Let it sort. Files appear in their lane automatically — Images, Video, Audio, Documents, and so on — with a running count and total size per lane.
  3. Fix anything that landed wrong. Use the small dropdown on any file to move it to a different lane, or create your own custom lane (like “Invoices” or “Screenshots”) for files you want grouped your own way. If your dump came out of an old backup full of cryptic filenames, clean those up afterward with Batch rename rather than renaming everything by hand.
  4. Check for duplicates. Files flagged as an exact or likely duplicate show a small badge right on the card.
  5. Export. Download everything as one ZIP (each lane becomes its own folder inside), download a single lane, or export a CSV manifest of everything that was sorted. Once your PDFs are separated out in the Documents lane, combine the ones that belong together with PDF merge / split.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this upload my files anywhere?

No. Everything — reading, classifying, hashing, zipping — happens in your browser. Nothing is sent to a server, which is also why it works offline after the page has loaded once.

Can it read a folder I drag in, including subfolders?

Yes, in any Chromium-based browser (Chrome, Edge, Brave) and current Firefox and Safari. It recurses through nested folders automatically. If your specific browser doesn’t support folder drag-and-drop, use the “Add a folder” button instead, which uses your OS’s native folder picker.

Why did my .ts file end up in Code & Text instead of Video?

.ts is ambiguous — it’s used for both TypeScript source files and MPEG transport-stream video. Since this tool is aimed at general downloads more than raw camera transport streams, .ts is classified as code. If yours is actually a video transport stream, just drag it (or use the move-to dropdown) into the Video lane — real .m2ts/.mts files are already classified as video automatically.

Will it survive if I close the tab or refresh?

Yes — your sorted files are saved in this browser’s local storage automatically, so they’re still there when you come back. Use “Clear saved files” whenever you want a clean slate.

What happens to file types it doesn’t recognize?

They land in the Other lane rather than causing an error or getting dropped. You can always move them into a custom lane you create yourself.

Is there a limit on how many files I can add?

No hard limit — you’ll get a gentle warning if the count or total size gets very large (mainly relevant if you’re sorting hundreds of full-size video files), but nothing is blocked or silently truncated.

Can I do anything with the exported manifest besides open it?

It’s a plain CSV, so it opens in any spreadsheet app. If you’re feeding it into something else first, run it through CSV cleaner to trim stray whitespace or fix encoding issues before you use it.

Privacy

Every step — reading files, classifying them, hashing for duplicate detection, and building ZIPs — runs locally in your browser using standard Web APIs. Your files are never uploaded, and the only thing saved is a local copy in this browser’s own storage, which you control and can clear at any time.