Plex Naming Convention: The Complete Guide for Movies and TV Shows

Plex identifies your media almost entirely from file and folder names. Get the convention right and Plex fills in posters, summaries and cast on its own. This guide covers the full convention, including the provider ID hints most guides skip.

Separate library folders

Keep each library type in its own root folder, and never mix them:

Media/
  Movies/
  TV Shows/

Pointing one Plex library at a folder that holds both is one of the most common causes of bad matches.

Movies

One movie per folder. Put the year in parentheses, and give the file the same name as the folder:

Movies/
  Batman Begins (2005)/
    Batman Begins (2005).mkv

The year matters more than anything else. Without it, remakes and films with the same title collide, and Plex cannot tell a 1994 film from its 2014 remake.

Editions of the same movie

Plex reads an edition tag in curly braces, which keeps cuts apart instead of merging them:

Movies/
  Blade Runner (1982)/
    Blade Runner (1982) {edition-Theatrical Cut}.mkv
    Blade Runner (1982) {edition-Final Cut}.mkv

Plex shows editions as separate versions with a Plex Pass.

TV shows

Three levels: series folder, season folder, then episodes with SxxExx:

TV Shows/
  Band of Brothers (2001)/
    Season 01/
      Band of Brothers (2001) - s01e01 - Currahee.mkv

Rules that matter:

• Zero-pad season and episode numbers: s01e01, not s1e1.
• Put specials in Season 00.
• Multi-episode files use a range: s01e01-e02.
• Keep the series year in the folder name to tell reboots from originals.

Provider IDs in the name

If a title still matches wrong, you can force it. Plex reads a provider ID in curly braces and uses it instead of its own guess:

Movies/
  Batman Begins (2005) {tmdb-272}/
    Batman Begins (2005) {tmdb-272}.mkv

{tmdb-272}, {imdb-tt0372784} and {tvdb-123456} all work. For TV, put the ID on the series folder.

This is the most reliable fix for stubborn titles, and it lasts longer than Fix Match because it lives in the file name and survives a library rebuild.

.plexmatch files

For TV series, Plex also reads a .plexmatch file in the series folder. It accepts hints such as tvdbid, tmdbid and imdbid, which override the title and year Plex reads from the folder name. Useful when you cannot rename folders.

Artwork and subtitles beside your files

With Use local assets turned on in the library's advanced settings, Plex picks up artwork and subtitles saved next to your media:

Movies/
  Batman Begins (2005)/
    Batman Begins (2005).mkv
    poster.jpg
    fanart.jpg
    Batman Begins (2005).en.srt

Plex's own agents do not read NFO files, so names, IDs and these local files are what count.

Common mistakes

• No year: the top cause of wrong matches.
• Extra tags in the file name that give the matcher more noise than signal.
• Several movies in one folder, which Plex often merges or misreads.
• Movies and shows under one root.
• Episode numbers that disagree with the provider's order.

Renaming an existing library

Applying this convention to a library you already have is where things go wrong: a careless batch rename leaves artwork and subtitles behind, with no undo. Preview every change, move sidecars with their media, and make sure each batch can be undone. How to bulk rename movie and TV files covers that step.

After renaming, scan your library. If a few titles still resist, that is a matching problem rather than a naming one: see how to fix Plex showing the wrong movie or the Plex metadata manager page. Using another server? There is a Jellyfin naming guide too.