MoviePilot Movie Renaming Format

I changed this format because two resolutions of the same movie weren't being grouped together in Emby. The problem wasn't just whether the suffix said 1080p or 2160p — it was that the start of every filename had to match the movie folder exactly.

The Key to Emby Multi-Version Detection

Emby's official naming guide requires multiple versions of the same movie to sit in the same folder, with each filename starting with the full folder name, followed by - and a version description.

花样年华 (2000) [tmdbid=843]/
├── 花样年华 (2000) [tmdbid=843] - 1080p.mkv
└── 花样年华 (2000) [tmdbid=843] - UHD SDR(2160p) - beAst.mkv

Here the year, spaces, and ID are all part of the prefix — not a single character can be missing. Different cuts have other restrictions too, so you can't assume every "version" just means a different resolution.

Movie Template

MoviePilot uses Jinja2 templates. The current custom renaming docs still list tmdbid, but it can be empty when you're using another metadata source. So the ID goes inside a conditional, and the folder and filename share the same prefix.

{{title}}{% if year %} ({{year}}){% endif %}{% if tmdbid %} [tmdbid={{tmdbid}}]{% endif %}/{{title}}{% if year %} ({{year}}){% endif %}{% if tmdbid %} [tmdbid={{tmdbid}}]{% endif %}{% if edition and videoFormat %} - {{edition}}({{videoFormat}}){% elif edition %} - {{edition}}{% elif videoFormat %} - {{videoFormat}}{% else %} - Default{% endif %}{% if part %} - {{part}}{% endif %}{% if releaseGroup %} - {{releaseGroup}}{% endif %}{{fileExt}}

The old template put part before the ID, which meant split-movie filenames might not preserve the full folder prefix. Now it's moved after the prefix, then version, resolution, and release group are appended.

Default is a fallback description for missing metadata — it won't guarantee that two genuinely different files get different names. Before doing a batch cleanup, check your duplicate-name and overwrite policies, and run a preview test on a few files.

TV Template

For TV shows, keep the show folder, season folder, and a filename containing the season/episode number and technical parameters. Missing fields like English title or year no longer leave stray separators behind:

{{title}}{% if year %} ({{year}}){% endif %}{% if tmdbid %} [tmdbid={{tmdbid}}]{% endif %}/Season {{season}}/{{title}}{% if en_title %}.{{en_title}}{% endif %}{% if year %}.{{year}}{% endif %}.{{season_episode}}{% if part %}.{{part}}{% endif %}{% if videoFormat %}.{{videoFormat}}{% endif %}{% if edition %}.{{edition}}{% endif %}{% if videoCodec %}.{{videoCodec}}{% endif %}{% if audioCodec %}.{{audioCodec}}{% endif %}{% if customization %}.{{customization}}{% endif %}{% if releaseGroup %}.{{releaseGroup}}{% endif %}{{fileExt}}

For example: 黄石.Yellowstone.2018.S01E01.2160p.WEB-DL.H265.DDP 5.1.mkv. The folder-prefix requirement for multi-version movies doesn't carry over to the naming rules for all TV episodes.

Check Before You Save

In the current version's renaming settings, preview a regular movie, a missing year, a non-TMDB source, and a split release before testing on a small scale. MoviePilot V3 changed its metadata model — upgrading and editing templates are two separate things. Don't run a full migration on your existing library just to apply the templates in this article.

This Emby page shows how to pick between multiple versions of a movie — it's not a MoviePilot settings page.

References: MoviePilot template variables, configuration guide, upgrade notes, Emby movie naming. The templates were checked with local rendering; no renaming was performed on your library.