Plex Version Naming Best Practices

[TheMonitor]

I’m working with my file naming standards and the best way to name multi-version movies is just not intuitive and the Plex article is of very little help. It lists two examples:

Pulp Fiction (1994) - 1080p.mkv
Blade Runner (1982).1080p.h264 {edition-Director's Cut}.mp4

One uses a hyphen and lists a single parameter. One uses periods right after the movie file and lists multiple parameters. Which one’s better?

Doesn’t seem like it matters to Plex, it’s more for us as a user to determine which file is which. But what’s frustrating is that the multi-version naming messes with Plex’s ability to see/use relevant neighboring files. As an example, this just happened to me with The Last of Us. I had my files on Plex like so:

/The Last of Us (2023)
     show.jpg
     /Season 01
          Season01.jpg
          The Last of Us - S01E01 - When You're Lost in the Darkness - 4K.DV.mp4
          The Last of Us - S01E01 - When You're Lost in the Darkness - 4K.HDR.mkv
          The Last of Us - S01E01 - When You're Lost in the Darkness.jpg

The problem with this was that when I added it to Plex, it didn’t pick up the title card file. I refreshed metadata, rescanned the library, etc. etc. and it would never find the titlecard image. Then I renamed the titlecard image to match the file name of the Dolby Vision file and Plex found the titlecard then. This is annoying however as it’s the titlecard for the episode and it having the extra naming parameters of the file format makes no sense.

This same thing happens if you have external subtitles, which is particularly annoying because if the timing of each version of the movie is the same, you would have to have multiple copies of the same subtitle file for each version of the movie. This gets very cluttered, very fast.

So what’s the best way to manage this? Or is this just an unavoidable side effect?

[FabulousFadz]

I don’t include the resolution and codec details in my file name because Plex already does a good job of detecting that and telling me if there is more than one version of a something.

Screenshot of Avengers infinity war page. Towards the bottom version shows "4K and 1 more"

If on my computer i click on the “and 1 more”, it shows me the details about that other version.

Screenshot showing the expanded version info showing a 1080p variant

Please note that the “4K HDR” on the Poster is a result of a tool I run called Plex Meta Manager and it overlays some info on my movies and TV shows.

As a result of Plex picking up the information I don’t include extra info in the file names. This file is just

Avengers Infinity War (2018).mkv

Even before using Plex I kept my 4K files separate from the others. The naming of those folder structures seems like a weird flex but it’s an inside joke. I have a “Movies” folder and the 4K video goes in there. At the same level as that folder, I have a “Peasant Movies” folder for the non 4K. That came about when I first started ripping in 4K. I was the only one who had a device that could play 4K videos so a friend said I should keep a version for “peasants like us”. In there, it also is just “Avengers Infinity War (2018).mp4”

For TV shows I mix and match, only a few are in 4K without the resolution or codec in the name. For the lower resolution alternatives, I let Plex decide by transcoding them to 720p 2Mbps. Plex puts those in a “Plex Versions” folder so I don’t have any clashes.

The only extra information hat I include in the file name is the info regarding editions of a movie… Gladiator (2000) {edition-Theatrical Release}.mp4 and Gladiator (2000) {edition-Extended Version}.mp4

Edit 2 (1st one was to fix a typo that would have made the first sentence confusing)

I thought I should detail how plex stores the versions it manages.

\The Legend of the Seeker\Season 01\Plex Versions\Custom_Universal TV 3086\Legend of the Seeker\S01E01.mp4

I cannot tell you for the life of me what those numbers mean. All I have noticed is that if you tell it to optimize episodes one by one you’ll have different numbers. If you tell it once for the show or season it will use the same number and folder and automatically transcode new videos that come in to match the parameters you’ve chosen. I say Plex manages those because if for some reason you decide to delete the original episode 1 file from the root of the folder hierarchy, it will detect that and remove the version it transcoded as well. The show name is included in the Plex versions because you have the choice of where it goes. I typically choose the option “In folders with original items” but the other options are the corresponding folders and drives that Plex monitors for your library content.

[TheMonitor]

Hmm. Interesting, this could work I suppose. My issue here is storing two 4K HDR copies. One that’s Dolby Vision for myself and one that’s HDR10 for others and I let my server transcode 4K HDR10 to whatever it needs from there.

I suppose I could make a separate folder for Dolby Vision stuff. But alas, in my example above, that was a TV show. Maybe the difference between Dolby Vision and HDR10 isn’t even really worth the headache.

[FordGuy61]

• Don’t confuse editions and versions. They are separate things.
• Editions currently are for movies only.
• Editions has a specific syntax, {edition-any_label_you_want}.
• Versions syntax is less strict, as it is essentially ignored by Plex.

Editions
Editions are meant to show separate different cuts of movies. You can use it for other purposes, but that is the original intent.

Documentation: https://support.plex.tv/articles/multiple-editions/

Example:

/Holiday Inn (1942)/Holiday Inn (1942) {edition-B&W}.mkv
/Holiday Inn (1942)/Holiday Inn (1942) {edition-Colorized}.mkv

Viewed in Plex Web, https://app.plex.tv/desktop/:

Versions
Versions are meant to support different versions of the same movie. For example, 480p vs 1080p, HEVC vs MPEG2, etc. Info on the different versions is listed when you select “and X more” on the movie pre-play screen.

Documentation: https://support.plex.tv/articles/200381043-multi-version-movies/

As mentioned in the documentation, the naming format is: MovieName (Release Year) - ArbitraryText.ext

Here’s the key thing about “arbitrary text”: Plex ignores it. It is never displayed anywhere.

Plex analyzes the file to determine bitrate and resolution, and displays those numbers when you select “and X more.”

Unfortunately, Plex displays only the birate and resolution. There is no way, using versions, to display video/audio codec, HDR vs SDR, etc.

Example:

/Spirited (2022)/Spirited (2022) Bob's Your Uncle.mkv  <-- 720p
/Spirited (2022)/Spirited (2022) Suzy is your Mum.mkv  <-- 1080p

Viewed in Plex Web, https://app.plex.tv/desktop/:

[FabulousFadz]

I understand the difference between versions and editions… I was just pointing out that the only time I put extra info in the name is with editions because of that syntax.

My versions don’t include resolution or codec info and I have the happy coincidence of not having the same extension for them if they are in the same folder. But since I don’t include the resolution in the name I have almost always kept them in separate folders so that 4K will be in one folder and 1080p/720p can exist in the same folder hierarchy.

@FordGuy61

Unfortunately, Plex displays only the birate and resolution. There is no way, using versions, to display video/audio codec, HDR vs SDR, etc.

For me (and my users apparently) the information it displays about the currently selected version suffices.

Here the 4K file has 2 audio tracks and that's enough info for my needs

[FabulousFadz]

@TheMonitor

I suppose I could make a separate folder for Dolby Vision stuff. But alas, in my example above, that was a TV show.

If, based on your example, your HDR & DV versions have different extensions they can sit side by side without the codec info and Plex can still pick that up even for a TV show. I think for “The Falcon and Winter Soldier” I have 4KHDR versions and 1080p versions in the same folder side by side with the only difference being the extension. It was only after this that I started making Plex optimize a show with 4K to a lower resolution so that clients that can’t stream the 4K version will pick up the other version which will be in H.264

[TheMonitor]

Don’t confuse editions and versions. They are separate things.

Yeah, I use editions a lot. This post is specifically about versions. I just used the one file named with editions & versions from the Plex article as an example of its inconsistency with example naming practices for versions.

To boil it down, the problem here is that when adding arbitrary text to a file with different versions, Plex doesn’t ignore that arbitrary text when pairing external files like subtitles or title cards. As an example, if you had:

/Spirited (2022)/Spirited (2022) Bob's Your Uncle.mkv  <-- 720p
/Spirited (2022)/Spirited (2022) Suzy is your Mum.mkv  <-- 1080p
/Spirited (2022)/Spirited (2022).en.srt

Plex will not use the external subtitle because it’s name does not match the arbitrary text in either video file.

If, based on your example, your HDR & DV versions have different extensions they can sit side by side without the codec info and Plex can still pick that up even for a TV show.

@FabulousFadz That is a good point. For my initial example specifically, the files are two different extensions and it does not matter. Real facepalm there.

I do have other situations where they are the same file extension.

Really, the issue here is as state above. Plex does not ignore the arbitrary text when pairing external files. Subtitles, Titlecards, etc. Not sure if intentional, or a bug, or just a default behavior and thus something that could not be fixed.

[FabulousFadz]

@TheMonitor

Plex does not ignore the arbitrary text when pairing external files. Subtitles, Titlecards, etc.

I get you on this point. For this reason the only arbitrary text I ever use (when I’m not too lazy) is the episode title. However, I often include the subtitles inside my high res versions. The lower res version will have the external srt files. In some cases I just have the 1080p HEVC video for my TV shows and let Plex transcode for anyone who needs it.

@TheMonitor

I do have other situations where they are the same file extension.

Here I think having them in separate folder hierarchies will help. In my case I have considered moving the 4K movies to a different library just for 4K movies but decided against it. If I ever do it though, it’ll be quite simple because I just have to exclude the movies folder from my movies library. My structure is like this…

Videos\
    Liverpool\
    Movies\
    Peasant Movies\
    Peasant TV\
    Tech\
    TV

I really should rename those “peasant” folders… These days I don’t separate the TV shows since I don’t save many in 4K.

I have never checked if the subtitles can be shared across different folders if the names would otherwise match. I have solved it by embedding them in the mkv high res videos and when Plex creates it’s own version it extracts them into srt files. If I have created the lower res (or sometimes just H264) version myself, I have the subtitles in external srt files so I’ve never had the issue of matching that kind of metadata across different video files.

[OttoKerner]

Best practice for versions is IMHO to put all extraneous info into square brackets
(to minimize the chance that any of it has an influence on matching):

/Spirited (2022)/Spirited (2022) [Bob's Your Uncle].mkv
/Spirited (2022)/Spirited (2022) [Suzy is your Mum].mkv

And don’t use more than one pair of brackets:
(because Plex will only ignore the first pair)

/Spirited (2022)/Spirited (2022) [Bob's] [Your] [Uncle].mkv

(^^^ I’ve seen that one more than once in the wild)

[TheMonitor]

Yeah, I plan to go through and mux external subs into my video files at some point. The real issue is image files (the titlecards for Last of Us is what spawned this whole thread).

Best practice for versions is IMHO to put all extraneous info into square brackets
(to minimize the chance that any of it has an influence on matching)

@OttoKerner Interesting. And Plex will ignore the bracketed information when matching posters, subtitles, etc.? If I had:

/The Last of Us (2023
     The Last of Us - S01E01 [4K-DV].mkv
     The Last of Us - S01E01 [4K-HDR].mkv
     The Last of Us - S01E01.jpg

Would Plex pick up that title card? I suppose I’ll give it a shot right now.

[OttoKerner]

@TheMonitor

Would Plex pick up that title card?

I don’t think so. It’s the same as with the subtitles mentioned above.
The names must match, except for the file name extension. As described in https://support.plex.tv/articles/200220717-local-media-assets-tv-shows/

[PunkleJones]

Having some isses with this (editions) too.
First. Is the Edition tab in the “edit movie” removed again? (As it is listed here https://support.plex.tv/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2022/08/EditModal.png
(Plex web app version is 4.99.2)

Also “editions” of movie does not have any indication of what version it is in the library.

(one of them is a Workprint, the other “normal” version)

[FabulousFadz]

I’m not sure what’s going on there… I just opened my locally installed web player (version 4.87.2) and it didn’t show edition information from this view

Edition information not displayed on landing page

but when I opened one of the files the info was displayed.

Edition information present in details page

When I went to app.plex.tv (which at this time is version 4.99.2) I got this view…

Please not the information appearing on the top left corner is from a tool called Plex Meta Manager so I could still see which edition was which.

[Edit] Also note, in both cases (both versions of the web player I tried) the edit details dialog had the editions text box right where I expected to find it and the edition information included.

[OttoKerner]

@FabulousFadz

it didn’t show edition information from this view

Which one is “this view”? You have both cropped crucial information from your screen shots.
Don’t use the local web app to try new features. Always verify with the hosted web app.

[FabulousFadz]

Sorry about that. That’s on my home page. What I see the moment I open Plex.

Here I have just scrolled past the continue watching section to show just the part with recently added movies.

Edit

@OttoKerner

Always verify with the hosted web app.

The last screenshot of my previous post is from the host web app. I just wanted to see if there’s a difference between both. In both cases the edit dialog had edition information. It was only missing from the home view in my locally installed one.

[OttoKerner]

That the home page hubs don’t show edition info has been like that since the introduction of the feature.

[FabulousFadz]

I’m seeing it on the web app at plex.tv. Likewise the home page hub on my Xbox and the desktop player shows that. Only the locally installed one which admittedly is a few versions behind what plex has live. Perhaps there was a new change in the apps that now shows it. I never noticed it before.