Lidarr renames and organises files on import according to three configurable templates: Standard Track Format, Multi-Disc Track Format, and Artist Folder Format. There's no separate album folder template; the album folder is whatever path segment you build into Standard Track Format and Multi-Disc Track Format (for example, {Album Title}/{track:00} {Track Title}). Getting these right before you populate your library matters. Changing them later forces a full rename of every file the next time Lidarr refreshes each artist.
Changing any naming template after you have populated your library will rename every existing file the next time Lidarr refreshes that artist. Test on a small artist first, and make sure your backup is current before changing naming on a large library.
Windows enforces a 260-character limit on full file paths by default. Most users hit this limit on nested libraries. Long album titles and artist names compound fast: Root\Artist\Album\Track.flac can push 200 characters before the filename. The :N truncation syntax (see below) is the standard workaround. Most Windows-friendly naming conventions cap tokens at 100-150 characters.
Windows also prohibits these characters in file and folder names: \ / : * ? " < > |. Lidarr's Replace Illegal Characters setting handles these automatically, but be aware that Lidarr substitutes or removes characters that are valid on Linux/macOS (colons in particular) on Windows.
Linux and macOS have a 255-byte limit per path component and prohibit only / and null bytes. Long names aren't a practical problem unless you share the library with a Windows machine.
Different media servers have different expectations about music library folder structure:
Artist/Album/Track folder nesting. It reads tags for metadata and uses the folder structure as a secondary hint. Plex doesn't require the release year in the album folder but many users include it to disambiguate re-issues.Artist/Album/Track nesting, a release year in the album folder, and accurate MusicBrainz tags in the files themselves.If you run more than one media server against the same library, choose a format that the pickiest server accepts. Plex and Jellyfin tend to be the most restrictive.
Every naming change triggers a rename of all files the next time Lidarr refreshes the artist. On a large library this means thousands of file moves. All must be on the same filesystem for hardlinks (or full copies if they're not). Media servers will also need to re-scan after a mass rename. It's worth spending time upfront to pick a format you can live with permanently.
Wrap tokens in {}. Lidarr substitutes them at import time. Any token that resolves to an empty string Lidarr omits, including any surrounding literal text that's inside the same {}. This is how conditional formatting works (for example, { (Album Disambiguation)} produces nothing if there's no disambiguation string).
Truncation: append :N inside any token to cap the rendered value at N characters: {Album Title:150} truncates to 150 characters. Use this on Windows to stay within path limits.
| Token | Description |
|---|---|
{Artist Name} |
Full artist name as stored in MusicBrainz. |
{Artist NameThe} |
Artist name with a leading "The" moved to the end, for example, Beatles, The. Useful for consistent alphabetical sorting. |
{Artist CleanName} |
Artist name with illegal filesystem characters removed. |
{Artist CleanNameThe} |
Clean artist name with "The" moved to the end. |
{Artist Disambiguation} |
Disambiguation string from MusicBrainz, for example, UK band. Empty for most artists. |
{Artist Genre} |
First genre tag associated with the artist. |
{Artist NameFirstCharacter} |
First character of the artist's name, with a leading "The" moved to the end before taking the character. Useful for A-Z folder sorting. |
{Artist MbId} |
The artist's MusicBrainz identifier. |
| Token | Description |
|---|---|
{Album Title} |
Album title. |
{Album TitleThe} |
Album title with a leading "The" moved to the end. |
{Album CleanTitle} |
Album title with illegal filesystem characters removed. |
{Album CleanTitleThe} |
Clean album title with "The" moved to the end. |
{Album Disambiguation} |
Disambiguation string from MusicBrainz. Useful when an artist has two albums with the same name. |
{Album Type} |
Release group type: Album, Single, EP, Compilation, Live, Remix, Soundtrack, etc. |
{Album Genre} |
First genre tag for the album. |
{Album MbId} |
The album's (release group's) MusicBrainz identifier. |
{Release Year} |
Four-digit release year. |
| Token | Description |
|---|---|
{Track Title} |
Track title. |
{Track CleanTitle} |
Track title with illegal filesystem characters removed. |
{Track ArtistName} |
Track-level artist name. Useful for Various Artists compilations where each track has a different credited artist. |
{Track ArtistCleanName} |
Track-level artist name with illegal filesystem characters removed. |
{Track ArtistNameThe} |
Track artist name with "The" moved to the end. |
{Track ArtistCleanNameThe} |
Clean track-level artist name with "The" moved to the end. |
{Track ArtistMbId} |
The track-level artist's MusicBrainz identifier. |
{track:00} |
Track number zero-padded to 2 digits (01, 02 … 99). Use {track:000} for 3-digit padding on large releases. |
| Token | Description |
|---|---|
{medium:0} |
Disc number, single digit. |
{medium:00} |
Disc number zero-padded to 2 digits. |
{Medium Name} |
The disc's title as stored in MusicBrainz, distinct from {Medium Format} (the physical media type). |
{Medium Format} |
Physical format of the disc: CD, Vinyl, Digital Media, etc. |
| Token | Description |
|---|---|
{Quality Title} |
Quality profile name as defined in Lidarr (for example, FLAC, MP3-320). |
{Quality Full} |
Full quality string including proper/repack designation. |
{Quality Proper} |
Proper/repack designation for the track's quality, for example Proper. Empty when the release wasn't a proper. |
{MediaInfo AudioBitRate} |
Audio bitrate (for example, 320kbps). Only available after import; blank on pre-import rename previews. |
{MediaInfo AudioBitsPerSample} |
Audio bit depth (for example, 16bit). |
{MediaInfo AudioChannels} |
Number of audio channels. |
{MediaInfo AudioCodec} |
Audio codec (for example, FLAC, MP3). |
{MediaInfo AudioSampleRate} |
Audio sample rate (for example, 44100Hz). |
| Token | Description |
|---|---|
{Original Title} |
The original release title as parsed from the track file's release name. |
{Original Filename} |
The literal original filename of the imported file, unmodified. |
{Release Group} |
Ripping or encoding group tag from the file. |
{Custom Formats} |
Every Custom Format that matched the release and has "Include Custom Format when Renaming" enabled, joined by spaces. |
{Custom Format:Name} |
A single named Custom Format. Name is a placeholder for the exact Custom Format name, for example {Custom Format:FLAC}. Produces no output unless a format with that name matched and has "Include Custom Format when Renaming" enabled. |
A Custom Format that matched at grab time can stop matching at rename time. Renaming re-evaluates Custom Format conditions against the track file's stored scene name (falling back to its current filename if there's no scene name), not the original release title Lidarr grabbed. If a format's conditions only matched something present in the release title but absent from the scene name or filename,
{Custom Formats}and{Custom Format:Name}can render empty on a file that matched the same format when it was grabbed. This is a known limitation, not a bug in your naming template.
Community members contributed the following formats as tested starting points, not official recommendations. Each covers Standard Track Format, Multi-Disc Track Format, and Artist Folder Format. Read the trade-offs before adopting one wholesale.
From Davo's community guide. Puts the album folder inside the artist folder, uses underscores as separators, and includes a disambiguation token so identically named albums don't collide.
{Album Title} {(Album Disambiguation)}/{Artist Name}_{Album Title}_{track:00}_{Track Title}
{Album Title} {(Album Disambiguation)}/{Artist Name}_{Album Title}_{medium:00}-{track:00}_{Track Title}
{Artist Name}
Limits folder and file lengths to avoid Windows path-limit issues. Not recommended for Windows: the truncated paths can become inaccessible after a Lidarr rename on that OS. See OS path limits and illegal characters above. Useful for libraries containing artists with notoriously long album titles.
{Album CleanTitle:100} {(Release Year)}/{Artist CleanName:100} - {Album CleanTitle:100} - {track:00} - {Track Title:100}
{Album CleanTitle:100} ({Release Year})/{Medium Format} {medium:00}/{Artist CleanName:100} - {Album CleanTitle:100} - {track:00} - {Track Title:100}
{Artist Name}
Embeds quality and bitrate in the filename, which makes file provenance visible at a glance in any file browser. The {-Release Group} token at the end renders as nothing when no group tag is present.
{Album Title} ({Release Year})/{Artist Name} - {Album Title} - {track:00} - {Track Title} ({Quality Full} {MediaInfo AudioBitRate}) {-Release Group}
{Album Title} ({Release Year})/{Medium Format} {medium:00}/{Artist Name} - {Album Title} - {medium:00}-{track:00} - {Track Title} ({Quality Full} {MediaInfo AudioBitRate}) {-Release Group}
{Artist NameThe} {(Artist Disambiguation)}
Groups albums by type at the top level, then by year and title. Works well with Plex and avoids collisions when an artist has more than one release group sharing the same name and year. The 150-character cap on most tokens keeps paths safe on Windows. CleanNameThe moves "The" to the end for cleaner folder sorting.
{Album Type}/({Release Year}) {Album Title:150}{ (Album Disambiguation:150)}/{track:00} - {Track ArtistNameThe:150} - {Album Title:150} - {Track Title:150}
{Album Type}/({Release Year}) {Album Title:150}{ (Album Disambiguation:150)}/{medium:0}{track:00} - {Track ArtistNameThe:150} - {Album Title:150} - {Track Title:150}
{Artist CleanNameThe:150} {(Artist Disambiguation:150)}
Minimal format aligned with Plex's music folder naming recommendations. Relies entirely on tags for metadata. Only the track number and title are in the filename, which keeps names short and readable.
{Album Title}/{track:00} - {Track Title}
{Album Title}/{medium:0}{track:00} - {Track Title}
{Artist Name}