Name your movie and TV folders

WatchMyMedia works out what each file is from its folder and file names, then looks it up on TMDB for its poster and details. Names like the ones on this page match the first time.

Movies

Give each movie a folder named with its title and the year it came out, in brackets, and name the file inside the same way.

• Movies/
  • The General (1926)/
    • The General (1926).mkv
  • Night of the Living Dead (1968)/
    • Night of the Living Dead (1968).mkv
    • Night of the Living Dead (1968).en.srt
  • Sintel (2010)/
    • Sintel.2010.1080p.BluRay.x264-GROUP.mkv
  • Silent films/
    • Nosferatu (1922).mp4

• The year matters. It tells apart movies with the same name, so put it in every movie's folder or file name.
• The folder's name comes first. When a folder's name has a year, the title is read from the folder, so the file inside can keep the name it downloaded with, as Sintel's does.
• Loose files work too. A movie can sit loose in Movies, or with others in a folder without a year, such as Silent films. Then the file's own name needs the title and year.
• Words such as 1080p, BluRay or x264, and editions such as Director's Cut or Extended Edition, are left out of the title.
• Subtitle files beside a movie, with the same name and a language code, such as Night of the Living Dead (1968).en.srt, show up in the player. .srt, .ass, .ssa and .vtt files work.

TV shows

Give each show a folder named with its title and the year it started, with a folder for each season inside, and name each episode with its season and episode number: S01E01 is season 1, episode 1.

• TV/
  • Night Shift Diner (2020)/
    • Season 01/
      • Night Shift Diner (2020) - S01E01 - Pilot.mkv
      • Night Shift Diner (2020) - S01E02 - Graveyard Special.mkv
    • Season 02/
      • Night.Shift.Diner.S02E01.1080p.WEB-DL.mkv
      • Night Shift Diner - 2x02 - Open Late.mkv
      • 03 - Closing Time.mkv

• The show's folder names the show. Its title and year are read from the folder, so episode files can keep their download names.
• Episode numbers can be written S01E01, s1e1 or 1x01. Inside a season folder, a file that starts with just the number, such as 03 - Closing Time.mkv, works too. The episode's title after the number is optional.
• Season folders can be called Season 01, Season 1, Series 1 or S01. Without them, S01E01 in the file name is enough.
• Two shows with one name? The year the show started tells them apart, and so does a country code in brackets, as in Night Shift Diner (UK).
• A miniseries with no seasons can number its episodes E01 or Part 1. WatchMyMedia counts them as season 1.

Specials and double episodes

Specials go in a Season 00 folder, or one called Specials, and are numbered as season 0: S00E01, S00E02 and so on.

A file that holds two episodes names both, as S01E05E06. A range works too: S01E07-E09 is episodes 7, 8 and 9.

• Night Shift Diner (2020)/
  • Season 00/
    • Night Shift Diner (2020) - S00E01 - Holiday Special.mkv
  • Season 01/
    • Night Shift Diner (2020) - S01E05E06 - Double Shift.mkv
    • Night Shift Diner (2020) - S01E07-E09 - Long Weekend.mkv

Shows named by date

Daily and talk shows are often named by the day each episode aired. Put the date in the file name, year first, and WatchMyMedia finds the episode that aired that day.

• The Nightly Ledger (2015)/
  • Season 2026/
    • The Nightly Ledger - 2026-10-27 - Guest Night.mkv
    • The.Nightly.Ledger.2026.10.28.1080p.WEB.mkv

• 2026-10-28, 2026.10.28 and 20261028 all work.
• A date with the year last, such as 28.10.2026, is read day first. When it could be either way round, as 05.06.2026 can, WatchMyMedia uses the one on which an episode aired.
• If two episodes aired the same day, add the episode's title after the date to pick one.
• Season folders named by year, such as Season 2026, work too, and so do numbers such as S2026E123: episode 123 of the season that aired in 2026.

Settle a match with an ID tag

When a title shares its name with another, or keeps matching the wrong one, add its TMDB number to the folder's name in curly brackets. The number is in the title's address on themoviedb.org: for themoviedb.org/movie/12345-harbor-lights it's 12345.

• Movies/
  • Harbor Lights (2019) {tmdb-12345}/
    • Harbor Lights (2019).mkv
• TV/
  • Night Shift Diner (2020) {tmdb-67890}/
    • Season 01/
      • Night Shift Diner (2020) - S01E01 - Pilot.mkv

• A folder with an ID matches that title straight away, without a search by name.
• IMDb and TheTVDB numbers work too, as {imdb-tt1234567} and {tvdb-67890}. So do square or round brackets, and the forms [tmdbid-12345] and {tvdb=67890}.
• For a show, put the tag on the show's folder. For a movie, put it on the movie's folder or in its file name. Tags in an episode's file name aren't read.
• If TMDB doesn't know the number, or it names a show in your Movies library (or a movie in TV), WatchMyMedia ignores the tag and searches by name as usual.
• To fix a match without renaming anything, open the movie or show and choose Fix match. The wrong movie or show was matched explains how.

What gets skipped

These never show up in your library, on purpose:

• Folders of extras: Extras, Featurettes, Behind the Scenes, Deleted Scenes, Interviews, Scenes, Shorts, Trailers, Other, Sample, Samples, Subs and Subtitles, in capitals or not. Keep a movie's bonus material in one of these and it stays out of the way.
• Folders whose names start with a dot or an underscore, such as _Unsorted.
• Samples and trailers: files named sample, or whose names end in -sample or -trailer, such as Sintel (2010)-trailer.mkv.
• Hidden files, whose names start with a dot, such as the ._ files a Mac leaves on some drives and network shares.
• Files that aren't video. WatchMyMedia reads .mkv, .mp4, .m4v, .mov, .avi, .wmv, .ts, .m2ts, .mts, .webm, .flv, .mpg, .mpeg, .vob, .ogm, .ogv and .divx files.
• Symbolic links. Since 0.4.4, video and subtitle files that are symbolic links are skipped, and a folder that is a link isn't followed. Titles whose files were links leave the library at the next scan: replace the links with the files, or add the folders they point to as libraries.

Recently added and file dates

The Recently added rows on the home screen go by when each file was added. The first time WatchMyMedia scans a library, it uses each file's modified date, so a collection you already have keeps the order its files arrived in. After that, a file counts as added when WatchMyMedia finds it.

So before you add a library, copy its files in a way that keeps their dates. Finder, cp -p and rsync -a keep them; plain cp gives every file the time of the copy.

Renaming a folder or moving a file within a library keeps its place in Recently added.

Coming from Plex, Jellyfin or Kodi

Folders named the way Plex, Jellyfin or Kodi ask usually work as they are. They follow the patterns on this page: Title (Year) for movies, and Season folders with S01E01 or dates for episodes.

• The ID tags those apps read in folder names work here too: {tmdb-…}, [tmdbid-…], {imdb-tt…}, [imdbid-tt…] and {tvdb-…}.
• WatchMyMedia goes by names. It doesn't read .nfo files or artwork kept in your folders: titles, posters and details come from TMDB.
• Watch history doesn't come across.

Checked with WatchMyMedia 0.4.4 on October 31, 2026.