How to name movies and TV shows for Plex

Plex matches your files to movies and episodes by their folder and file names. Get the names right and every poster, summary and episode title appears on its own. Here is what Plex expects, with examples. Jellyfin, Emby and Kodi read the same names, so a library named this way works in all of them.

Updated 2026-10-29

On this page

One library per kind of media
Movies
TV shows
Anime
Subtitles
Extras and trailers
Common mistakes

1. One library per kind of media

Keep movies and TV shows in separate top folders, and add each as its own Plex library (type Movies or TV Shows). Plex uses different rules for each, so a movie inside a TV library won't match.

D:\Plex\Movies\
D:\Plex\TV Shows\
D:\Plex\Anime\        (a TV Shows library of its own, if you like)

2. Movies

Give every movie its own folder, and name both the folder and the file with the title and the release year in parentheses:

Movies\
  Dune (2021)\
    Dune (2021).mkv
  The Matrix (1999)\
    The Matrix (1999).mkv

The year matters. It tells remakes apart, like Dune (1984) and Dune (2021).
Quality tags can follow the year, for example Dune (2021) 1080p H.264.mkv.
Still matched wrongly? Add the movie's IMDb or TMDB id in curly braces: Dune (2021) {imdb-tt1160419}.
Loose files directly in the Movies folder work too, but a folder per movie is what Plex recommends, and it's needed for extras.

Editions (Director's Cut, Extended…)

Mark a cut of a movie with {edition-Name}. When each movie has its own folder, give each edition its own folder too, with the tag in both names:

Movies\
  Blade Runner (1982) {edition-Final Cut}\
    Blade Runner (1982) {edition-Final Cut}.mkv
  Blade Runner (1982) {edition-Director's Cut}\
    Blade Runner (1982) {edition-Director's Cut}.mkv

Editions need the current Plex Movie agent, and the server owner needs Plex Pass. Without them the tag is simply ignored.

Several versions of one movie

A 1080p and a 4K copy of the same movie can share its folder; Plex shows them as one movie with a choice of versions:

Dune (2021)\
  Dune (2021) - 1080p.mkv
  Dune (2021) - 2160p.mkv

3. TV shows

Use a folder per show, a folder per season, and season and episode numbers in every file name:

TV Shows\
  Band of Brothers (2001)\
    Season 01\
      Band of Brothers (2001) - S01E01 - Currahee.mkv
      Band of Brothers (2001) - S01E02 - Day of Days.mkv

S01E01 is the part that counts. The episode title is optional, and upper or lower case doesn't matter.
Add the year to the show's folder, especially when shows share a name: Doctor Who (2005) and Doctor Who (1963).
IDs help with stubborn matches: Doctor Who (2005) {tvdb-78804} also works with {tmdb-…} and {imdb-…}.

Multi-episode files

One file holding two episodes gets both numbers: Show (2005) - S02E18-E19.mkv. Plex lists both episodes; playing either plays the whole file.

Specials

Specials are season 0: put them in a Season 00 (or Specials) folder and number them S00E01, S00E02, as listed on the show's database page.

Daily and talk shows

Shows listed by air date use the date instead of an episode number:

The Daily Show\
  Season 2024\
    The Daily Show - 2024-05-17.mkv

4. Anime

Anime goes in a TV Shows library and follows the same rules. The catch is numbering: fansub releases often count episodes straight through (Show - 1071), while the TV databases Plex uses split them into seasons. Either rename to the season numbering the database uses, or set the show's episode ordering to absolute in Plex.

PathRenamer reads names like [Group] Show - 12 (1080p) [ABCD1234].mkv, looks the show up on TVmaze and AniDB, and writes season numbers (S01E12) or absolute numbers, whichever you choose.

5. Subtitles

A subtitle file sits next to its video and has the same name, plus a language code before the extension:

Avatar (2009)\
  Avatar (2009).mkv
  Avatar (2009).en.srt
  Avatar (2009).es.srt
  Avatar (2009).en.forced.srt
  Avatar (2009).en.sdh.srt

Language codes can be two letters (en) or three (eng). Without one, Plex shows the track as Unknown.
forced marks subtitles for the foreign-language parts only.
sdh (or cc) marks subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.
Subtitles named only by their language, like the Subs\2_English.srt many releases ship with, aren't tied to the video. The reliable way: name them after the video and keep them next to it.

6. Extras and trailers

Bonus material goes in sub-folders of the movie's folder, named after the kind of extra: Trailers, Featurettes, Behind The Scenes, Deleted Scenes, Interviews, Scenes, Shorts or Other.

Dune (2021)\
  Dune (2021).mkv
  Trailers\
    Official Trailer.mkv

7. Common mistakes

Keeping the release name: Dune.2021.1080p.WEBRip.x264-RARBG.mp4 often matches, but releases with odd names, foreign titles or missing years don't.
Sample files next to the movie (sample.mkv) can be picked up as the movie. Delete them.
Episodes without season numbers, like Show - 05.mkv, are guesswork for Plex.
Two shows with the same name without a year in the folder.
Subtitles without a language code, which show up as Unknown.

Let PathRenamer do it. PathRenamer turns release names into exactly these names: it finds the title, year and episode, looks up episode titles, builds the folders, gives each edition its own folder, and renames subtitles from Subs folders with the right language code. You see every new name before anything moves.

Download PathRenamer for Windows

Sources

Plex's own articles: Naming and organizing your Movie files, Naming and Organizing Your TV Show Files, Multiple Editions, Multi-Version Movies, Local Files for Movie Trailers and Extras and Adding Local Subtitles to Your Media.