Library & files
File naming
File naming is the convention behind the filenames themselves — usually artist, title and mix name. It matters because the filename is the one piece of metadata that survives when tags are missing, stripped or wrong.
In practice
Artist, dash, title, mix in brackets. The filename is your metadata backup, so make it readable by a stranger.
Use "Artist - Title (Extended Mix).ext" and keep the spaced hyphen as the separator, because it is what almost every tool splits on. Avoid characters that break on other filesystems — slashes, colons, question marks — and avoid leading track numbers, which sort your library by album position rather than by artist. If you buy from stores that name files by catalogue number, rename on import rather than promising yourself you will later.
Artist - Title
The separator that parses
(Mix)
Where the version goes
On import
When to rename
Where these come from: Naming conventions the common metadata tools parse — practice, not catalog figures. For what we can measure, see the primary source these back up.
Why it matters
Tags are the primary source and the filename is the backup, which is exactly why it should be readable. A folder full of files named after a store’s order reference is unrecoverable if the database goes; a folder of "Artist - Title (Mix).aiff" can be reimported and matched by anything.
It also decides whether automated matching works. Anything reading your library — a converter, a matcher, another DJ’s software — falls back to the filename when a tag is empty, and a consistent separator between artist and title is the difference between a clean match and a shrug.
Frequently asked
Do filenames matter if my tags are correct?+
Less, until the tags are not. A stripped file, a bad transcode or a database rebuild all leave you with filenames, and a readable one can be reimported while a catalogue number cannot.
Should the mix name be in the filename?+
Yes. Extended, radio, dub and VIP versions of the same record are different tracks with the same title, and a filename that cannot tell them apart guarantees you will load the wrong one.
Are track numbers at the start a problem?+
They are if you browse by filename, because everything sorts by album position instead of artist. Keep the number in the tag where it belongs.
Related terms
ID3 tags
ID3 tags are the metadata written inside an audio file — title, artist, album, genre, year, comment, and on DJ files often BPM and key. They travel with the file rather than with the software that read it.
Folder structure
Folder structure is how the audio files sit on disk, which is a separate question from how the library is organised inside DJ software. The software points at files; folders decide whether that pointer survives.
Duplicate detection
Duplicate detection finds the same record stored more than once — usually by comparing artist and title after normalising punctuation and case, sometimes by duration or by an identifier inside the file.
Artwork
Artwork is the image embedded in a track’s tags and shown in the browser and on the player display. It is stored inside the file, so it travels with the track and adds to its size.
Explore: MP3 metadata editor · ID3 tags · Duplicate detection · All DJ terms