# Media Library Organization

---

### 1. Goal

This guide gives a clean folder and naming system for movies, shows, music, books, and other media. A good library should be readable by humans and easy for media apps to scan.

The main rule: make filenames boring, consistent, and searchable.

---

### 2. Top-Level Layout

Start with clear categories:

```text
Media/
  Movies/
  Shows/
  Music/
  Books/
  Podcasts/
  Stand-Up/
  Documentaries/
  Unsorted/
```

Use `Unsorted` as a temporary inbox, not a permanent home.

---

### 3. Recommended Apps

The best tools depend on whether you want manual control or automation.

* **Jellyfin:** self-hosted media server for browsing and streaming your organized library.
* **FileBot:** strong paid renamer for movies, shows, and anime when you want fast batch renaming.
* **MusicBrainz Picard:** best first stop for tagging and renaming music.
* **Calibre:** best general ebook library manager.
* **MediaInfo:** quick way to inspect files before deciding where they belong.
* **MKVToolNix:** useful when you need to fix tracks, subtitles, language labels, or container metadata without re-encoding.
* **Radarr / Sonarr:** advanced automation tools for movie/show library management. Only connect them to sources and indexers you are legally allowed to use.

Official links:

* Jellyfin: `https://jellyfin.org`
* Jellyfin movie naming docs: `https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/server/media/movies/`
* FileBot: `https://www.filebot.net`
* MusicBrainz Picard: `https://picard.musicbrainz.org`
* Calibre: `https://calibre-ebook.com`
* MediaInfo: `https://mediaarea.net/MediaInfo`
* MKVToolNix: `https://mkvtoolnix.download`
* Radarr: `https://radarr.video`
* Sonarr: `https://sonarr.tv`

---

### 4. Movies

Recommended format:

```text
Movies/
  Movie Title (Year)/
    Movie Title (Year).mkv
```

Examples:

```text
Movies/
  Heat (1995)/
    Heat (1995).mkv
  Alien (1979)/
    Alien (1979) - Director's Cut.mkv
```

Keep extras in a separate folder:

```text
Movie Title (Year)/
  Movie Title (Year).mkv
  Extras/
    Behind the Scenes.mkv
```

---

### 5. Shows

Recommended format:

```text
Shows/
  Show Name/
    Season 01/
      Show Name - S01E01 - Episode Title.mkv
```

Examples:

```text
Shows/
  Example Show/
    Season 01/
      Example Show - S01E01 - Pilot.mkv
      Example Show - S01E02 - The Second Episode.mkv
```

Use two digits for season and episode numbers. It keeps sorting clean.

---

### 6. Music

Recommended format:

```text
Music/
  Artist/
    Album (Year)/
      01 - Track Title.flac
```

Examples:

```text
Music/
  Artist Name/
    Album Name (2024)/
      01 - Opening Track.flac
      02 - Second Track.flac
```

Keep album art in the album folder as:

```text
cover.jpg
```

---

### 7. Books and Audiobooks

Books:

```text
Books/
  Author Name/
    Book Title (Year)/
      Book Title - Author Name.epub
```

Audiobooks:

```text
Audiobooks/
  Author Name/
    Book Title (Year)/
      01 - Chapter Title.m4b
```

For series:

```text
Author Name/
  Series Name/
    01 - First Book/
    02 - Second Book/
```

---

### 8. Metadata IDs

When a media app keeps matching the wrong movie or show, add a metadata provider ID to the folder name when supported.

Examples:

```text
Movies/
  Movie Title (Year) [imdbid-tt0000000]/
    Movie Title (Year) [imdbid-tt0000000].mkv

Shows/
  Show Name (Year) [tmdbid-000000]/
    Season 01/
      Show Name - S01E01 - Episode Title.mkv
```

Use IDs sparingly. They are most useful for remakes, duplicate titles, anime, specials, and titles with regional naming differences.

---

### 9. Cleanup Rules

Before adding files to the library:

* remove release tags that do not help you;
* keep edition labels that do help you;
* normalize capitalization;
* remove duplicate copies;
* keep subtitles beside the video file if they are external;
* avoid dumping loose files into top-level folders.

Useful edition labels:

* `Director's Cut`
* `Extended`
* `Remastered`
* `Theatrical`
* `Unrated`

---

### 10. Maintenance Routine

Once a month:

1. Empty `Unsorted`.
2. Fix duplicate folders.
3. Check failed metadata matches in your media app.
4. Remove partial downloads.
5. Back up new additions.

A media library gets messy when intake is faster than cleanup. Keep the intake folder small.