diff --git a/strip_vs_from_filenames.py b/strip_vs_from_filenames.py
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..3882c1c4d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/strip_vs_from_filenames.py
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+#
+# Copyright 2017 Google Inc. All rights reserved.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+import argparse
+import glob
+import os
+from os import path
+import sys
+
+"""Rename image files based on codepoints to remove the emoji variation
+selector from the name.  For our emoji image data, this codepoint is not
+relevant."""
+
+EMOJI_VS = 0xfe0f
+
+
+def str_to_seq(seq_str):
+  return tuple([int(s, 16) for s in seq_str.split('_')])
+
+
+def seq_to_str(seq):
+  return '_'.join('%04x' % cp for cp in seq)
+
+
+def strip_vs(seq):
+  return tuple([cp for cp in seq if cp != EMOJI_VS])
+
+
+def strip_vs_from_filenames(imagedir, prefix, ext, dry_run=False):
+  prefix_len = len(prefix)
+  suffix_len = len(ext) + 1
+  names = [path.basename(f)
+           for f in glob.glob(
+               path.join(imagedir, '%s*.%s' % (prefix, ext)))]
+  renames = {}
+  for name in names:
+    seq = str_to_seq(name[prefix_len:-suffix_len])
+    if seq and EMOJI_VS in seq:
+      newname = '%s%s.%s' % (prefix, seq_to_str(strip_vs(seq)), ext)
+      if newname in names:
+        print >> sys.stderr, '%s non-vs name %s already exists.' % (
+            name, newname)
+        return
+      renames[name] = newname
+
+  for k, v in renames.iteritems():
+    if dry_run:
+      print '%s -> %s' % (k, v)
+    else:
+      os.rename(path.join(imagedir, k), path.join(imagedir, v))
+  print 'renamed %d files in %s' % (len(renames), imagedir)
+
+
+def main():
+  parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
+  parser.add_argument(
+      '-d', '--imagedir', help='directory containing images to rename',
+      metavar='dir', required=True)
+  parser.add_argument(
+      '-e', '--ext', help='image filename extension (default png)',
+      choices=['ai', 'png', 'svg'], default='png')
+  parser.add_argument(
+      '-p', '--prefix', help='image filename prefix (default emoji_u)',
+      default='emoji_u', metavar='pfx')
+  parser.add_argument(
+      '-n', '--dry_run', help='compute renames and list only',
+      action='store_true')
+
+  args = parser.parse_args()
+  strip_vs_from_filenames(args.imagedir, args.prefix, args.ext, args.dry_run)
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+  main()