File Naming Conventions
A filename is the metadata that survives every transfer; field order decides whether it sorts.
Related
After delivery, only the filename remains
Track names, bus names and notes inside the session rarely reach the other studio. The filename is what travels through the whole chain. A convention is not about tidiness; it lets a stranger tell which song, section, version and group a file belongs to without opening anything.
Field order is sort order
| Order | Field | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Project or song code | Short, unique, no spaces | PRJ07 |
| 2 | Content | Section or instrument group | CH02_DRUMS |
| 3 | Version | From v01, two digits | v03 |
| 4 | Date | YYYYMMDD | 20261031 |
| 5 | Status | MIX, STM, MST, REF | MIX |
| 6 | Technical tag | Optional rate and depth | 48k24b |
Put the version before the date and every version of one section sorts together; put the date first and the batch sorts by time. Either works if the whole batch agrees. Spaces, Chinese characters, brackets and hash marks get replaced or truncated across systems, so use underscores or hyphens and plain ASCII letters and digits.
Version numbers and status are different things
v01 and v02 count revisions; MIX, STM and MST describe what the file is. One cannot stand in for the other. "Final" is not a version, and within three months there will be final2 and final_final. Number with v, keep the old versions, and put only the current one plus a change note in the package you send. Mark client reference bounces as REF so they never sit beside a real mix.
Checks before handoff
- Field order, separators and capitalisation agree across the batch
- Version numbers run without gaps or repeats
- The date is the export date, not the session creation date
- Sample rate, bit depth and channel count appear in the name or the accompanying list
- No system cache files, thumbnails or old versions inside the archive
- Names fit the receiver's length limit and paths stay shallow
What naming cannot fix
A filename does not supply missing metadata or replace a delivery sheet; ISRCs, rights and contacts still travel separately. If the receiver has a fixed template, follow it first and argue about standardisation later. The dangerous case is files that look alike: same name with different content, or the same content under different names, either of which lets post make decisions on the wrong version.
Listen in the library
All tracks from midicn-lib — inline badge is the license tier (C1 commercial / C2 non-commercial / C3 study only).
Along the same line
Sources
- Avid Pro Tools Reference Guide，片段、文件与导出命名规则（产品文档）
- DDEX ERN 标准，电子发行元数据字段与版本（标准）
- EBU Tech 3293 EBUCore，音视频元数据与标识（标准）