If the first or last episode was multi parts aired at the same time I just keep the file as a single. How do I get plex to recognize this instead of just displaying multiple episodes that play the same file? It can’t be that the only solution is to split the episodes up? Thanks.
name_(year)_SxxExx-Exy
eg. if episodes 1 and 2 are in a single file:
Scrubs (2001) S01E01-E02.mp4
…but this is all documented if you google “Plex file format TV”
1 Like
or did you mean it the other way round, in which case:
Scrubs (2001) S01E01 part1.mp4
Scrubs (2001) S01E01 part2.mp4
…also documented in that same link 
Yes I understand that. What I was wondering is if there is a way to not make the same episode display twice. In your example with that file, Scrubs (2001) S01E01-E02.mp4, you will not get one entry in the library. It will show it as episode 1 and episode 2, but both episodes path back to the same file. So its the same episode twice.
1 Like
agh - sorry, I don’t know how to do that.
Yeah There probably isn’t a way. I’ve been trying to figure it out for a while. Don’t think plex supports it in any manner. On their naming page they have this note:
“Multi-episode files will show up individually in Plex apps when viewing your library, but playing any of the represented episodes will play the full file. If you want episodes to behave truly independently, you’re best off using a tool to split the file into individual episodes.”
Was hoping some guru knew a work around. 
well, I am definitely not a guru!
If they would just allow you to delete an entry in the library without deleting it from the disk this would be so simple.
It’s either split the files with software or manually enter all the info on each episode as far as I can tell… 
1 Like
Is there a reason why you wouldn’t just name the file as the first episode in the pair, so it would show up once? Continuing the current example:
Scrubs (2001) - S01E01.mp4
You can then edit the title in Plex to show that it’s both episodes, if you like. I understand that’s not what you were initially asking for, but it would accomplish the goal.
Simply name it Scrubs (2001) - S01E01 - Includes episode 02.mp4
The part after the second dash is just to remind you that the episode includes E02 Plex will not display it.
Leave out E02 completely in the library directory. Plex does not care at all if there are episodes missing.
You can edit the metadata to include the description for E02 if you wish and you can even change the shown title to include the episode numbers.
It really is that simple.
Yeah it is simple. It’s just an annoyance at most because it then looks like you have gaps or missing episodes in your season.
As I said “Plex does not care.” And even I, with my small dose of OCD, do not care. It is a small annoyance and, for me, a much smaller annoyance that the double episode listing.
I thought Plex was going to fix this bug, in fact I thought they had, but, since you are describing it as current, I guess they have not felt it was important enough to fix.
BTW: Emby handles double episodes correctly in that if you play one of the double episodes, which really plays both, it marks both as played and moves on to the one after them. I do not know if Plex is now handling double episodes the way Emby does because I, long ago, adjusted my library to never show the second of such episodes.
I label them as (S01E02-E03) seems to work…
1 Like
Elijah’s solution is the only way I’ve found, as well. Yeah, it’s a minor like to my OCD because it seems like a simple bit of logic for Plex to fix, but it’s better than having two entries play the exact same file.
Plex now does it just like this.
That is a good thing. It means that if I were to be setting up my libraries in Plex now I would not need to make any changes to the naming but I have already set up my libraries as I said so there is nothing to fix. But, when I get new double episodes I do not need to do anything to them now so Plex will handle them correctly.
This has not been the case for me. Two different shows now have played the same file of a double episode back to back. Is this a setting somewhere? Thanks.
How old is your server software version?
Oh maybe that’s what it is. Version 1.18.3 so a couple months out of date.
This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
