Re: Why are photos in my phone stored in 3 places? What does vicoo mean?

micky, 2025-07-19 04:10:

[...]

I understand why they are in two places.  I have installed 2 other
camera apps, for close-ups, but in fact I only use the one that came
with the phone, a Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro.  However I do remember
thinking, what good is external storage if I never use it? so I changed
from internal to external storage a year or two ago.
 
But how come some are in DCIM and some in DCIM\camera?  Any suggestions?

Because you used apps which ignore the DCF (digital camera filesystem)
standard which *requires* to create a folder inside "DCIM" and *not*
store files directly to "DCIM".

The usual folder structure according to the standard is:

DCIM\<vendor>\<filename>

While <vendor> is often just "camera" or "Camera" most "real" camers put
their own name here like somthing with "CANON", "SONY" or similar.

[...]

2) ^^The one .png file was named vicoo20250514031511.png.   Any idea
what vicoo means?

"vicoo" is just how the app, which created the image, names the files.
Others may choose "img_" or "pic" or whatever. It has no special meaning
and totally depends on the app.

     Google so-called AI says "PNGs are commonly used for web graphics,

Please do no ask an "AI". The format of images is well documented - no
need to ask an "AI", give Wikipedia a try, at least they have references
to the canonical definitions:

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PNG>
<https://www.w3.org/TR/png/>

logos, illustrations, and screenshots, especially those needing
transparent backgrounds or high quality images" but I was apparently
trying to take a picture of my rear end, for medical reasons (I hope).
No web graphics or logos involved. I used the regular camera but could
setting on a different mode have made it use .png format?  Pro? video,
Portrait, Night, 64M, Short video, Panorama, Slow motion, Time-lapse,
Edit???  I normally just use Photo.  So what could vicoo2025....png be?

It depends on the app. I don't know any app named "Photo" only. What app
is that exactly? Do you have a Google play link for the app?

For example:

Open Camera app:

<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.sourceforge.opencamera>

Google Pixel Camera app:

<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.GoogleCamera>

--
Arno Welzel
https://arnowelzel.de