Does the Windows version of Emby Server have a file path length limitation?

[acer1204 3]

I have a disk and directory structured as: channel folder name / video name / (files, preview images). During testing, I found that some folders cannot be scanned and no files are detected. My library is using a custom configuration.

These files were downloaded from YouTube, and the video titles are used as the filenames.

After adding this path in Emby and clicking “Scan,” no content appears.

Some of them can be displayed normally.

The attached file contains the log after clicking “Scan.”

embyserver.txt ffmpeg-transcode-f2e3ebdd-5a16-4656-827a-cebe2e734cef_1.txt

[Apotropaic 69]

The logs don't seem to suggest it is a file path limit, it suggests that the directory path is wrong, maybe been changed by another app since you added it into the library? Maybe remove and re-add the library entry.

It's looking for example - ''D:\YTDownload\downloads\FilmsByJosh\Bikini Flavors ｜ Miami Swim Week 2024 ｜ Full Show 4k Powered by EXA Models'

But someone more knowledgeable about emby logs may see something more, but in general Windows has a limit of 256 characters, although it can be increased in Windows 11 so that could be something you could look into and see if it is resolves the issue.

The particular filesystem you are using will also have a limit.

[pünktchen 1415]

The problem is the pipe symbol "|". It's an illegal character and not allowed for file or folder names under Windows.

[brothom 218]

There's so much that can go wrong with your paths. From special characters like "[", "|" and "®" to the "TM" symbols. Your current naming structure is very unconventional.

Try to completely discard any non standard characters like the previously mentioned characters and also non-alphabet characters like ç, ß, etc.

I would suggest simplifying your structure to something like:
D:/YTDownload/downloads/On Fashion TV/New York Swim Week (2025)/Designs by Porshia Swimwear/filename - 4K.mkv

Or if you prefer the structure slightly flatter:
D:/YTDownload/downloads/On Fashion TV - New York Swim Week (2025) - Designs by Porshia Swimwear/filename - 4K.mkv

Considering these are real life events it might be easier to manage if you also add the date of the event:
D:/YTDownload/downloads/On Fashion TV/New York Swim Week/2025/04/Designs by Porshia Swimwear/filename - 4K.mkv

---

Since you download from this channel, using Youtube's names is pretty much a nogo. Rename every folder/file to be safe regardless of the Operating System.

 

Edited April 22 by brothom

[js28194 43]

Even if you clean up your file names, Windows itself has a 256 limitation so this is not an Emby issue, it's a Windows issue.  You can change this but ironically, this is something you have to "opt-in" to.

 

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/fileio/maximum-file-path-limitation?tabs=registry

 

 

Edited April 22 by js28194

[acer1204 3]

2 hours ago, js28194 said:

Even if you clean up your file names, Windows itself has a 256 limitation so this is not an Emby issue, it's a Windows issue.  You can change this but ironically, this is something you have to "opt-in" to.

 

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/fileio/maximum-file-path-limitation?tabs=registry

 

 

 

4 hours ago, brothom said:

There's so much that can go wrong with your paths. From special characters like "[", "|" and "®" to the "TM" symbols. Your current naming structure is very unconventional.

Try to completely discard any non standard characters like the previously mentioned characters and also non-alphabet characters like ç, ß, etc.

I would suggest simplifying your structure to something like:
D:/YTDownload/downloads/On Fashion TV/New York Swim Week (2025)/Designs by Porshia Swimwear/filename - 4K.mkv

Or if you prefer the structure slightly flatter:
D:/YTDownload/downloads/On Fashion TV - New York Swim Week (2025) - Designs by Porshia Swimwear/filename - 4K.mkv

Considering these are real life events it might be easier to manage if you also add the date of the event:
D:/YTDownload/downloads/On Fashion TV/New York Swim Week/2025/04/Designs by Porshia Swimwear/filename - 4K.mkv

---

Since you download from this channel, using Youtube's names is pretty much a nogo. Rename every folder/file to be safe regardless of the Operating System.

 

 

4 hours ago, pünktchen said:

The problem is the pipe symbol "|". It's an illegal character and not allowed for file or folder names under Windows.

 

5 hours ago, Apotropaic said:

The logs don't seem to suggest it is a file path limit, it suggests that the directory path is wrong, maybe been changed by another app since you added it into the library? Maybe remove and re-add the library entry.

It's looking for example - ''D:\YTDownload\downloads\FilmsByJosh\Bikini Flavors ｜ Miami Swim Week 2024 ｜ Full Show 4k Powered by EXA Models'

But someone more knowledgeable about emby logs may see something more, but in general Windows has a limit of 256 characters, although it can be increased in Windows 11 so that could be something you could look into and see if it is resolves the issue.

The particular filesystem you are using will also have a limit.

 

5 hours ago, Apotropaic said:

The logs don't seem to suggest it is a file path limit, it suggests that the directory path is wrong, maybe been changed by another app since you added it into the library? Maybe remove and re-add the library entry.

It's looking for example - ''D:\YTDownload\downloads\FilmsByJosh\Bikini Flavors ｜ Miami Swim Week 2024 ｜ Full Show 4k Powered by EXA Models'

But someone more knowledgeable about emby logs may see something more, but in general Windows has a limit of 256 characters, although it can be increased in Windows 11 so that could be something you could look into and see if it is resolves the issue.

The particular filesystem you are using will also have a limit.

It looks like I'll have to seriously rename the files after all. I originally wanted to keep them in their original form.

Since the file names across different channels aren't standardized, I wrote my own crawler to download them.

It seems the only option now is to go through them one by one and rename them properly.

[RanmaCanada 515]

16 hours ago, js28194 said:

Even if you clean up your file names, Windows itself has a 256 limitation so this is not an Emby issue, it's a Windows issue.  You can change this but ironically, this is something you have to "opt-in" to.

 

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/fileio/maximum-file-path-limitation?tabs=registry

 

 

You can bypass the 260 character limitation as an official option from Microsoft, but most apps absolutely refuse to recognize it, and Emby is sadly one of them in my experience. If the app doesn't recognize it, then it doesn't matter if you have bypassed it. I've run into this problem when archiving large data sets and had to use 7zip explorer to copy files across to preserve their paths properly as windows explorer is dumb and failed when characters hit 400+...gotta love engineers who are verbose in directory names.

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to-enable-or-disable-win32-long-paths-in-windows-11-10