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Organize files

This guide explains how to use custom naming patterns to organize your media library exactly how you want it.

Overview​

Cinephage automatically organizes files using customizable naming patterns. You control:

  • Folder structure - How movies and shows are organized
  • File names - How individual files are named
  • Special handling - Multi-episode files, specials, etc.

Understanding Naming Patterns​

Naming patterns use tokens (variables) that get replaced with actual values:

{Movie Title} ({Release Year}) - {Quality} - {Group}
↓
The Matrix (1999) - 1080p BluRay - YIFY

Available tokens​

Movie Tokens​

TokenDescriptionExample
{Movie Title}Full movie title"The Matrix"
{Movie Title:EN}Title in English"The Matrix"
{OriginalTitle}Title in original language"七人の侍"
{OriginalCleanTitle}Original title, special chars removed"七人の侍"
{Release Year}Release year"1999"
{IMDb Id}IMDb identifier"tt0133093"
{TMDB Id}TMDB identifier"603"
{Quality}Quality string"1080p BluRay"
{Quality:Full}Full quality details"1080p BluRay x264"
{Group}Release group"YIFY"
{Edition}Edition tag"Director's Cut"
{Codec}Video codec"x264"
{Audio}Audio codec"DTS"
{Audio:Channels}Audio channels"5.1"
{HDR}HDR format"HDR10"

TV Show Tokens​

TokenDescriptionExample
{Series Title}Show title"Breaking Bad"
{Season:00}Season number (2 digits)"01"
{Episode:00}Episode number (2 digits)"05"
{Episode Title}Episode title"Pilot"
{Absolute:000}Absolute episode number"001"
{Air Date}Original air date"2008-01-20"
{Series Year}Series start year"2008"

Configuring Naming Patterns​

Access naming settings​

  1. Go to Settings > Media Management > Naming
  2. Configure patterns for Movies and TV separately

Movie folder pattern​

Controls how movie folders are named:

Default Pattern:

{Movie Title} ({Release Year})

Examples:

  • "The Matrix (1999)"
  • "Inception (2010)"
  • "Parasite (2019)"

Custom Patterns:

# Include IMDb ID for easy matching
{Movie Title} ({Release Year}) [{IMDb Id}]
→ The Matrix (1999) [tt0133093]

# Quality in folder name
{Movie Title} ({Release Year}) [{Quality}]
→ The Matrix (1999) [1080p]

# First letter organization (A, B, C...)
{Movie Title:First}/{Movie Title} ({Release Year})
→ T/The Matrix (1999)

Movie file pattern​

Controls how movie files are renamed:

Default Pattern:

{Movie Title} ({Release Year}) - {Quality} - {Group}

Examples:

  • "The Matrix (1999) - 1080p BluRay - YIFY.mkv"
  • "Inception (2010) - 2160p UHD BluRay - SPARKS.mkv"

Custom Patterns:

# Include edition info
{Movie Title} ({Release Year}) - {Edition} - {Quality}
→ The Matrix (1999) - Director's Cut - 1080p BluRay.mkv

# Group and codec
{Movie Title} ({Release Year}) [{Quality}][{Codec}]-{Group}
→ The Matrix (1999) [1080p BluRay][x264]-YIFY.mkv

# Minimal naming
{Movie Title} ({Release Year})
→ The Matrix (1999).mkv

# Maximum info
{Movie Title} ({Release Year}) - {Quality:Full} [{Codec} {Audio} {Audio:Channels}] [{Group}]
→ The Matrix (1999) - 1080p BluRay x264 [x264 DTS 5.1] [YIFY].mkv

TV show folder pattern​

Controls series and season folder naming:

Series Folder Pattern:

{Series Title} ({Series Year})

Season Folder Pattern:

Season {Season:00}

Combined Structure:

Breaking Bad (2008)/
  Season 01/
    Breaking Bad - S01E01 - Pilot.mkv
    Breaking Bad - S01E02 - Cat's in the Bag.mkv

Custom Patterns:

# Alternative season naming
Season {Season}          → Season 1
S{Season:00}             → S01
{Season:00}x##           → 01x##

# Year-based seasons
{Series Title}/Season {Season:00} ({Air Date:YYYY})
→ Breaking Bad/Season 01 (2008)

# Quality in season folder
{Series Title}/Season {Season:00} [{Quality}]
→ Breaking Bad/Season 01 [1080p]

Episode file pattern​

Controls how episode files are named:

Default Pattern:

{Series Title} - S{Season:00}E{Episode:00} - {Episode Title}

Examples:

  • "Breaking Bad - S01E01 - Pilot.mkv"
  • "Breaking Bad - S01E02 - Cat's in the Bag.mkv"

Custom Patterns:

# Dot notation
{Series.Title}.S{Season:00}E{Episode:00}.{Episode.Title}
→ Breaking.Bad.S01E01.Pilot.mkv

# Include quality
{Series Title} - S{Season:00}E{Episode:00} - {Episode Title} [{Quality}]
→ Breaking Bad - S01E01 - Pilot [1080p WEB-DL].mkv

# Absolute numbering (for anime)
{Series Title} - {Absolute:000} - {Episode Title}
→ Attack on Titan - 001 - To You, in 2000 Years.mkv

# Minimal
S{Season:00}E{Episode:00}
→ S01E01.mkv

# Date-based
{Series Title} - {Air Date} - {Episode Title}
→ The Daily Show - 2024-01-15 - Guest Name.mkv

Advanced Naming Techniques​

Conditional tokens​

Some tokens only appear when applicable:

{Movie Title} ({Release Year}){if Edition} - {Edition}{end}
→ The Matrix (1999) - Director's Cut
→ Inception (2010)  [no edition, so no extra text]

Multi-Episode files​

Handle episodes that span multiple files:

# Double episode
{Series Title} - S{Season:00}E{Episode:00}-E{Episode:00}
→ Show - S01E01-E02 - Special Two-Parter.mkv

# Range notation
{Series Title} - S{Season:00}E{Episode:00}-{End Episode:00}
→ Show - S01E01-03 - Three Episode Arc.mkv

Specials and extras​

Naming for non-standard episodes:

# Specials folder
{Series Title}/Specials/{Series Title} - S00E{Episode:00} - {Episode Title}
→ Breaking Bad/Specials/Breaking Bad - S00E01 - Minisodes.mkv

# Bonus content
{Movie Title} ({Release Year})/Extras/{Type} - {Title}
→ The Matrix (1999)/Extras/Behind the Scenes - Making Of.mkv

Custom format token​

Use custom format scores in naming:

{Movie Title} ({Release Year}) [CF:{Custom Format}]
→ Movie (2024) [CF:Remux][CF:HDR10].mkv

Folder Structure Examples​

Standard movie structure​

/movies/
  Avatar (2009)/
    Avatar (2009) - 2160p BluRay.mkv
    Avatar (2009) - 2160p BluRay.en.srt
    poster.jpg
    fanart.jpg
  
  The Godfather (1972)/
    The Godfather (1972) - 1080p BluRay.mkv
    The Godfather (1972) - 1080p BluRay.en.srt
    The Godfather (1972) - 1080p BluRay.fr.srt

By quality structure​

/movies/
  2160p/
    Avatar (2009)/
      Avatar (2009) - 2160p.mkv
  1080p/
    The Godfather (1972)/
      The Godfather (1972) - 1080p.mkv
  720p/
    Old.Movie (1990)/
      Old.Movie (1990) - 720p.mkv

By first letter structure​

/movies/
  A/
    Avatar (2009)/
    Avengers Endgame (2019)/
  B/
    Back to the Future (1985)/
    Blade Runner (1982)/
  C/
    Casablanca (1942)/

Standard TV structure​

/tv/
  Breaking Bad (2008)/
    Season 01/
      Breaking Bad - S01E01 - Pilot.mkv
      Breaking Bad - S01E02 - Cat's in the Bag.mkv
      Breaking Bad - S01E03 - ...And the Bag's in the River.mkv
    Season 02/
      Breaking Bad - S02E01 - Seven Thirty-Seven.mkv
    Specials/
      Breaking Bad - S00E01 - Minisodes.mkv
    poster.jpg
    fanart.jpg

Anime structure​

/anime/
  Attack on Titan (2013)/
    Season 01/
      Attack on Titan - 001 - To You, in 2000 Years.mkv
      Attack on Titan - 002 - That Day.mkv
    Season 02/
      Attack on Titan - 026 - Beast Titan.mkv

Applying Naming Patterns​

To new downloads​

Naming applies automatically to new downloads:

  1. Configure patterns in Settings
  2. Download content via search
  3. Cinephage organizes files automatically
  4. Names follow your patterns

To existing files​

Rename existing library:

  1. Go to Library (Movies or TV)
  2. Select items to rename
  3. Click Organize or Rename
  4. Preview changes
  5. Confirm rename

Bulk Rename:

  1. Select multiple items
  2. Click Organize Selected
  3. Preview all changes
  4. Confirm batch rename
Rename Carefully

Renaming affects file paths. If you have:

  • Hardlinks from torrent clients (may break seeding)
  • Media server libraries (may need rescan)
  • Scripts referencing file paths

Preview changes before applying!

Troubleshooting Organization​

Files not renaming​

Check Pattern Syntax:

  • Ensure all { have matching }
  • Tokens are case-sensitive
  • Invalid tokens are ignored

Check Permissions:

# Verify write permissions
ls -la /path/to/media

# Fix permissions
chmod -R u+w /path/to/media

Check Disk Space:

  • Renaming requires temporary space
  • Ensure destination has room

Wrong folder structure​

Review Root Folders:

Ensure Root Folders are configured:

**Settings > Media Management > Root Folders**

Check Path Separators:

# Correct (uses /)
{Movie Title}/{Movie Title} ({Release Year})

# Incorrect (uses \ on non-Windows)
{Movie Title}\{Movie Title} ({Release Year})

Special characters​

Cinephage sanitizes filenames automatically:

CharacterReplacementExample
/-"A/B Testing" → "A-B Testing"
\-Same as above
: -"Movie: Subtitle" → "Movie - Subtitle"
*``Removed
?``Removed
"'"Movie"Title"" → "Movie'Title'"
< >``Removed
``-

Best Practices​

For movies​

  1. Include year - Prevents confusion between remakes
  2. Keep it simple - Don't over-complicate patterns
  3. Quality optional - Can be in filename or folder
  4. Group optional - Useful for some, clutter for others

For TV shows​

  1. S00E00 format - Most compatible with all players
  2. Include episode titles - Makes browsing easier
  3. Separate specials - Use S00 for special episodes
  4. Consistent season folders - Season 01, not Season 1

General tips​

  1. Test patterns first - Use preview before applying
  2. Document your pattern - Keep a note of your settings
  3. Backup before bulk rename - Protect against mistakes
  4. Consider your players - Ensure patterns work with your media server
  5. Stay consistent - Don't change patterns frequently

Common Naming Patterns​

Movie pattern example​

{Movie Title} ({Release Year}) - {Quality:Full}

TV show pattern example​

{Series Title} - S{Season:00}E{Episode:00} - {Episode Title} [{Quality:Full}]

See Also​