File Naming Convention

Conventions matter most where files are exchanged: between agencies, photographers, suppliers, internal teams and partners, and between systems that read the names automatically.

Elements of a file name

A convention picks a few of these elements and fixes their order:

Element	Purpose	Example
Date	Chronological sorting	2026-03-12
Client, brand or project code	Grouping by owner	acme, PRJ0412
Product or SKU	Linking to the catalogue	SUP-123
Description	What the file shows	booth-hero, front
Variant	Colour, size, angle	red, 1080x1080
Market or language	Localised versions	fr-FR, de
Version	Order of revisions	v02

Put the element people sort by most often first: the date for project archives, the product code for packshots, the client code for agency work. Four or five elements are usually enough; a name that carries everything becomes unreadable.

Rules that make names work

• Write dates as year, month, day. ISO 8601 (2026-03-12, or 20260312) sorts chronologically in any file list. 12-03-2026 and 03-12-2026 sort by day or month and mean different dates in Europe and the US.
• Use one separator between elements and another within them. For example, underscores between elements and hyphens inside them: acme_trade-show_v02. Software can then split the name reliably.
• Avoid spaces and special characters. Spaces break in URLs and command lines. Windows does not allow < > : " / \ | ? * in file names, and accented characters can be altered when files pass through other systems.
• Pad numbers with zeros. v02 and v10 sort correctly; v2 and v10 do not.
• Keep names short. Windows paths have a traditional limit of 260 characters, including the folder path, and long names are cut off in many interfaces.
• Do not use "final", "new" or "latest". They stop being true the next day. Use a version number.
• Pick one case. Lower case avoids duplicates such as Logo.png and logo.png, which some systems treat as two files and others as one.

Examples

Instead of	Use	Why
IMG_4279.jpg	SUP-123_red_front.jpg	Says what the photo shows
brochure final v3 FINAL.pdf	2026-04_acme_brochure_en_v04.pdf	One version number, sortable date, language
Banner LinkedIn 12.03.26.png	2026-03-12_spring-launch_linkedin_1200x627.png	Date sorts, size identifies the channel format
logo new colour.svg	acme_logo_primary_rgb.svg	Variant and colour space instead of a relative word

Keep a short written version of the convention, with three or four examples, where suppliers and agencies will see it, for example in the briefing template.

Naming conventions and metadata

A file name can hold a few facts. It cannot hold the usage rights, the campaign, the products shown, the photographer and the approval status at the same time, and it cannot be filtered on. In a DAM, metadata does that work. The file name still matters for three reasons: suppliers deliver files with names that already contain useful data, people recognise files by name when they search, and the file that is downloaded needs a name the recipient can understand.

A good setup reads the useful parts of incoming names into metadata at upload, and composes a clean name from metadata when the file leaves the library.

File naming conventions in Freedam

• Freedam keeps the original file name of every upload and shows it in the asset's Technical tab. Keyword search matches file names without their extension, and the search bar suggests matching file names as you type.
• Filename parsing rules read parts of incoming file names into fields on upload. A pattern for SUP-123_red_front.jpg can fill the product reference, the colour and the shot angle. Freedam can suggest the pattern with AI from a sample name, and a rule never overwrites a value the file's embedded metadata already set.
• Export naming rules build the name of downloaded files from metadata: title, capture date, custom fields or fixed text, with the separator, date format, lower case or URL-style transform you choose. Each rule applies to single downloads, bulk download ZIP entries, share downloads or share ZIP entries, and a preview shows the result on a real asset.
• The downloaded file always keeps the extension that matches its format. Where no export naming rule applies, the original file name is used.
• Collection rules can use the file name in the path they file an asset under. See collection rules.
• Bulk paste search finds the assets for a pasted list of product codes, which helps when the codes come from file names or a spreadsheet.

See the export naming rules documentation for the full set of options.

Frequently asked questions

Should you use underscores or hyphens in file names?

Either works, as long as the convention is consistent. A common choice is underscores between elements and hyphens within an element, which lets both people and software see where each element starts. Search engines treat hyphens in web file names as word separators, so hyphens are the usual choice for images published on a website.

Where should the date go in a file name?

At the start, when files are mostly browsed by time, as in project folders and photo shoots. Elsewhere, put the element people look for first, such as the product code, and the date after it.

Do you still need a file naming convention with a DAM?

A shorter one. The DAM finds files by metadata, so names no longer have to carry everything. Names still need to identify the file once it is downloaded, sent by email or opened in another tool, and incoming names are a useful source of metadata.