File Naming Best Practices: Separators, Case, Dates and the Mistakes Nobody Mentions

What makes a file name vague?

A vague name only makes sense to the person who made it, on the day they made it. Names like final_v2_fix, hero NEW use this.mp4, untitled-3 or export (1).mov tell you nothing about the client, the asset, the version or why the file exists.

A useful test: could someone else on your team find this file by searching, and know what it is without opening it? If not, the name is vague. A clear name answers a few fixed questions in the same order every time, for example project, asset, description and version: ACM_HERO01_Launch_v03.mp4.

Is ALL CAPS file naming a bad idea?

Usually, for whole names. All caps is harder to read because words lose their shape, and long names like ACM HERO LAUNCH FINAL CUT.MP4 blur together. It can also collide with how different systems treat case (more on that below).

Caps work well for short, fixed codes that act as markers, like a project code or asset ID: ACM_HERO01_launch-teaser_v03.mp4. The capitalized fields stand out, and the descriptive part stays readable. Whatever you choose, keep it consistent so ACM, Acm and acm never appear side by side.

Does upper or lower case matter to the computer?

Yes, and this one catches people out. Windows and macOS (by default) treat Hero.mp4 and hero.mp4 as the same file. Linux, which runs most web servers and many render and storage systems, treats them as two different files. A project that works on your Mac can break when it moves to a server, or two files can overwrite each other when moved the other way.

The safe habit is to never rely on case alone to tell two files apart, and to pick one case style per field and stick to it.

Underscore, hyphen or space: which is better?

Each has trade-offs:

• Spaces are the most readable to humans and fine for files that stay on your desktop. They cause trouble in web addresses (they become %20), on the command line, and in some scripts, render managers and pipeline tools that split names on spaces.

• Underscores are safe almost everywhere. Many apps treat launch_teaser as one word when you double-click it, which makes the whole name easy to select and copy.

• Hyphens are also safe almost everywhere and read cleanly. For anything that becomes a web address, Google recommends hyphens over underscores to separate words, because it reads hyphens as word breaks.

A popular approach uses both with different jobs: underscores separate fields, hyphens separate words inside a field. In ACM_HERO01_launch-teaser_v03.mp4, you can always tell where one field ends and the next begins. Prisma Scanner doesn't require any of these. What matters is that you choose one rule and your names follow it.

Which characters should I avoid?

Some characters are reserved by operating systems or break when files move:

• Avoid / \ : * ? " < > |. Windows doesn't allow them, and / and : cause problems on macOS too.

• Avoid # % & + @ and similar symbols in anything that might end up in a URL, an email link or a script.

• Avoid leading or trailing spaces and names ending in a period. They're easy to miss and some systems strip or reject them.

• Be careful with accented letters and emoji. They can display or sync differently between systems and tools. Plain letters, numbers, underscores and hyphens are the safest set.

How should I write dates in file names?

Use year, month, day: 20261019 or 2026-10-19. This format (based on the ISO 8601 standard) sorts in true date order in every file browser. Formats like 10-19-26 or 19.10.26 sort wrong and mean different things in different countries.

How should I number versions?

Pad your numbers with zeros: v01, v02 … v10 or v001. Without padding, many tools sort v1, v10, v11, v2, which puts versions in the wrong order. Pick a padding width you won't outgrow on a project.

Drop words like final, new, latest and use this. They stop being true the moment someone makes another version. Let the version number do the work.

What order should the parts of a name go in?

Put the part you sort or search by most often first. Studios that work by client usually lead with a project or client code. People who work by date often lead with the date. Either works, as long as every file in the project follows the same order, so sorting a folder groups things the way you expect.

How long should a file name be?

Long enough to answer your fixed questions, and no longer. Very long names get cut off in file browsers and app panels, and the full path (every folder name plus the file name) can hit length limits on some systems, especially older Windows setups. Short, consistent codes like ACM and HERO01 carry a lot of meaning in a few characters.

What best practices do people often miss?

• Keep the extension honest. Don't rename .mov to .mp4, and avoid double extensions like logo.png.png.

• Keep the name and folder in agreement. If a file lives in 03_Renders, its name shouldn't suggest it's a source file.

• Name it when you save it, not later. Renaming after the fact breaks links in project files and almost never happens.

• Don't rename linked files casually. Adobe® After Effects®, Adobe® Premiere® Pro and other apps link to files by path, so renaming or moving them can cause missing media.

• Write the rules down in one short place, and keep them short enough that people actually read them.

• Make it easy to follow. The best convention is the one people use on their busiest day, which usually means making the right name the easy one.

How does Prisma Scanner help?

Prisma is built around the idea that you define your own rules, including your separators, case and field order. You set your rules once in Prisma Hub. The free Prisma Scanner checks the names and folders you paste and shows where they break good naming practice. The Prisma plugins for your creative apps suggest names that follow your rules for you to copy. One-click Apply rename is on the paid Creator and Studio plans. Prisma Hub and the Prisma plugins run on your Mac and work offline; Prisma Scanner checks the names and paths you paste, in your browser.

How can I check my file names for free?

Paste a few of your current file names into Prisma Scanner and see how they score. It is free and needs no signup. The score is a heuristic read of the text you paste, not a full audit, but it's a quick way to spot vague names, mixed separators and missing versions.

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