Descriptive file names make it easier to search for and identify files. A descriptive file name usually consists of a short description of the contents of the image; descriptive but concise. File names should be in sentence case - only capitalize proper nouns and make sure words are separated. Additionally, the extension should be lowercase (.png, .jpg, .gif). It is especially helpful to include the following if they apply:
- The name of one or more prominent characters, locations, items, products, etc. in the image.
- The activity or mood depicted in the image; if a character is speaking, a quote (in single or double quotes) may be appropriate.
- The season and episode the image is from, preferably at the end of the file name (e.g. S1E1, S02E04, S3E05, etc.). The suffix for My Little Pony Equestria Girls is preferably "EG".
A special case is images depicting fan labor, which should be prefixed with "FANMADE " (without the quotes).
Please note that all of the naming guidelines on this page also apply to videos. Video names should not have meta-descriptions or unnecessary details such as "HD", "720p", "MLPFIM - ", etc. Non-fanmade videos of songs from the show should follow the format: File:Song name - language name in English (if the language is anything other than English).
Other guidelines
Further reading for those interested in more details.
- Cropped show images uploaded for the purpose of use as profile images on list of ponies, characters, a character's page, etc. should contain only the character's name and "ID" immediately preceding the S&E tag. (Be careful you do not upload over an existing image if it is used on other pages - add something like "2" after "ID" when necessary to avoid this.)
- Normally, show images should not be cropped. If they are cropped for a particular reason (other than profile images as detailed above), it may be appropriate to add "crop" or "cropped" before the S&E tag. This is also useful in order to include more detail in a profile image name, when desired.
- There are other exceptions; for example, images for use in Template:Episodes, films, and shorts follow the format "Navbox S##E## thumb.png".
- Side note: there is currently no standard on how much S&E tags should be zero-padded, so that is up to personal preference. Tags should, however, always be at the end of the file name (before the extension), and there should be no space between the two parts of the tag. The "S" and "E" should always be uppercase.
- Names for fanmade images should be descriptive but, as always, not overly wordy; including some form of attribution is also good.
- There are many other categories of image which have no specific naming policy. In general, it is usually helpful to include some kind of description or keyword, such as "promotional", "error", "comics", "game", "sketch", etc. Follow existing consistency whenever possible; for example, covers for IDW comics follow the format "Comic issue/micro # cover X".
- For images not related to MLP, still try to give it some kind of descriptive name following the general idea of these guidelines.
- For consistency, the file extension should always be lowercase: "png", "jpg" (not "jpeg"), "gif", etc.
The ability to generate good file names with ease comes with experience and familiarity with this wiki's file namespace and patterns of file usage. Please ask an administrator or imagecontrol member if you would like advice or have questions. Looking at names of other files in the same category as the one you want to upload may also help, though not all file names conform to these guidelines yet.
Remember that this is the MLPFiM wiki, so you do not need to specify "MLPFiM" or any other type of context importation in the file name. Refer to entities as they are referred to on the wiki (officially used abbreviations and the like are also fine to use); for characters with multiple official names, use the most official one (i.e. the page title).
Examples
A few examples of good file names:
- Show image with single quotes: File:Twilight 'How do I fit in' S1E11.png
- Show image with double quotes: File:Sweetie Belle "we gave up too quickly" S02E23.png
- Show image describing an action: File:Lyra Heartstrings grabbing a newspaper S02E23.png
- Profile image: File:Apple Dumpling ID S3E08.png
- Cropped image: File:Applejack about to leave for Canterlot cropped S2E14.png
- Animation error image: File:Rainbow Dash missing mane error S02E16.png
- Promotional image: File:Just for Sidekicks promotional postcard S3E11.jpg
- Image from the comics series: File:Comic issue 1 Third Eye Comics cover.png
- Fanmade image: File:FANMADE Derpy Hooves flying by sierraex.png
- Non-MLP image: File:Flag of the Philippines.svg