Google Camera 7.5 does away with storing Pixel Portrait pairs in individual folders

Abner Li | Aug 22 2020 - 9:48 am PT

It emerged this week that the latest Google Camera app introduces a new, simplified “PXL” file naming scheme. Google Camera 7.5 is also responsible for Pixel Portrait images no longer being stored in individual folders.

When you take a Portrait, Pixel phones save the blurred version and the original shot for more editing opportunities. At the moment, with Camera 7.4, each pair generates and is stored in a standalone folder. Average users that just use and share from Google Photos will never encounter this distinction.

However, those that use a different backup service or handle files directly are annoyed by this storage structure that isolates Portrait images from all other types of captures. The file names are not particularly descriptive and standout even when moved to a unified folder.

Version 7.4

Portrait: 00100trPORTRAIT_00100_BURST20191026124922209_COVER.jpg
Blurred: 00000PORTRAIT_00000_BURST20191026124922209.jpg

Android Police today notes that Google Camera 7.5 gets rid of the folders and directly stores both Portrait images in the main “Camera” directory. This preserves chronology and just requires users to check the end of the file name.

Version 7.5

Portrait: PXL_20200820_143019420.PORTRAIT-01.COVER.jpg
Non-blurred: PXL_20200820_143019420.PORTRAIT-02.ORIGINAL.jpg

As you can compare above, file naming has also been simplified as part of the broader PXL change. Google Camera 7.5’s change to Portrait captures is only available on Android 11 as the updated app/client does not work on Android 10. The new OS is currently in beta but should be coming sometime next month.