A clean, predictable directory structure is the foundation of a stable media ecosystem. Plex, Sonarr, Radarr, Lidarr, and other automation tools all assume certain filesystem behaviors — and fighting those assumptions leads to broken imports, duplicate media, and long-term frustration.
This guide covers directory layout best practices only. File naming conventions, renaming rules, and application-specific settings are covered in their respective guides.
A well-designed media library structure should:
The goal is boring predictability. If you ever need to re-point Plex or rebuild the ARR stack, the filesystem should require zero rethinking.
Follow these rules universally:
Violating these rules almost always leads to:
At the highest level, media should be separated by type, not quality, codec, or source.
Example:
These paths should be treated as final destinations only. Nothing enters these directories unless it is ready to be consumed by Plex.
Movies should live in a flat but organized hierarchy.
Recommended structure:
Why this works well:
Avoid:
Quality and format decisions belong to automation profiles, not filesystem layout.
TV content is inherently hierarchical and should reflect that clearly.
Recommended structure:
Why this works well:
Notes:
Music libraries benefit from strict separation and consistency, especially when managed by automation tools.
Recommended structure:
Why this works well:
Additional guidance:
Never allow automation tools to download directly into final library paths.
Instead, maintain three conceptual zones:
Only the final library paths should be exposed to Plex. This separation ensures:
Ensure consistent permissions across all media paths.
Best practices:
If permissions require constant fixing, the structure is likely wrong upstream.
This page does not cover:
Those topics are covered in:
Keeping these concerns separate prevents overlap and confusion.
A good media library structure should be:
If your automation stack disappeared tomorrow, you should be able to:
1. Reinstall applications
2. Point them at the same directories
3. Resume operation without reorganization
If the filesystem gets out of the way, the ecosystem works as intended.