How to Name Anime Files for Plex, Jellyfin, Emby, and Kodi

Anime is the hardest thing to organize in a media library, and the cause is nearly always numbering. Many anime file names count episodes absolutely (episode 137), while metadata providers usually group them into seasons (S04E11). When the two disagree, your server matches the wrong episode or none at all.

Absolute and seasonal numbering

• Absolute numbering counts every episode of a series in one run: 1, 2, 3 … 137.
• Seasonal numbering splits the same run into seasons: S01E01, S02E01 and so on.

Long-running shows are where this hurts most. A file labelled - 137 means nothing to a scanner expecting S04E11, so it guesses, and often guesses wrong.

Match your provider's order

Name files in the same order your metadata provider uses. Most media-server agents expect seasonal numbering:

Shows/Series Title (Year)/Season 04/Series Title (Year) - S04E11 - Episode Title.mkv

If your files use absolute numbers, map each one to its season and episode before renaming. Providers such as TVDB publish both orders, so the mapping exists; it has to be applied the same way across the whole series.

Rules that prevent mismatches

• Pick one order per series and keep it. Mixing absolute and seasonal numbers in one show guarantees mismatches.
• Zero-pad season and episode numbers (S04E11, not S4E11).
• Put specials, OVAs and movies in Season 00, or file them as separate movies, not inside the main run.
• Keep the series year in the folder name to separate reboots and series with the same title.
• Watch for sets that renumber episodes, such as a box set that merges two seasons; those need remapping most often.

Let identification do the mapping

Mapping hundreds of episodes from absolute to seasonal by hand is slow and easy to get wrong, so it is worth automating. A media manager that knows anime can read absolute numbers, look up the series' episode order, and propose seasonal names for you to review before anything is renamed.

MetaTana reads absolute numbers (Show - 05) and places them using the show's episode order, and you can keep a show in absolute order if your server prefers it. For files that names alone cannot place, AI Vision (Pro) can identify them from a few frames.

For general naming rules, see how to bulk rename movie and TV files. For each server, see the Jellyfin, Plex, Emby and Kodi pages.