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Clean Filenames

By Samuel Aguilera

Site Administration & Utilities / URL Redirects & 301 Management

Reviewed by Omar Dabbas

Trusted WordPress expert with 20+ years of experience evaluating plugins for the WP ecosystem.

Clean Filenames Review - In-Depth Analysis

Clean Filenames plugin sanitizes filenames by removing special characters. It ensures compliance with server requirements during uploads.

Performance Overview

WPS Score

6.74/10

User Rating

4.6/5 (based on 8+ reviews)

Active Installations

3,000+

Update Frequency

Below Average It is calculated using the weighted average of same category plugins.

Security Score

1 / 10 (Very Low Risk) It is calculated using the weighted average of all versions.

What It Does

The Clean Filenames plugin helps to create cleaner and safer filenames by removing or replacing special and international characters. This is essential for compatibility with servers that may not support international locales and filenames.

It takes several steps to ensure filenames are compliant. Special characters are replaced, plus signs are converted to dashes, and periods before the file extension are also replaced. After these adjustments, the filename is filtered to only include letters, numbers, underscores, dashes, and dots, with all characters converted to lowercase.

This plugin operates during the file upload process, ensuring that only files uploaded after activation are affected. It supports a wide range of international characters, making it versatile for various languages.

Comparing to Alternatives

Clean Filenames is a specialized plugin focused on sanitizing filenames with support for Spanish and other languages, offering a unique approach compared to other filename sanitization tools.

Top alternatives

Strengths

Effectively replaces special characters including Spanish and other language diacritics.
Preserves media titles while sanitizing filenames, unlike some alternatives.
Simple activation with automatic filename cleaning on upload.
No known security vulnerabilities, ensuring safe use.
Highly rated for reliability and language support.

Weaknesses

Limited to filename sanitization without additional media management features.
No pro version, so lacks advanced customization options.
Support for some languages like Turkish is uncertain based on user queries.
Does not modify media titles, which may be a limitation for some users.

User Sentiment Analysis

With a strong 4.6 out of 5 rating from 8 reviews and no low-star ratings, users generally express high satisfaction with Clean Filenames.

Positive highlights

"Does exactly what it says it would, safety net included" - Larzans
"Very nice! Only renames filename, not media title 🙂" - Bjarne Oldrup
"Great! This plug-in do exactly what I expect and there is no problem with Czech diacritics." - floydik
"Muy útil! Previene problemas con tildes..." - Elías
"Works very well out of the box... Just activate and forget 🙂" - Ishko

Common complaints

Weaknesses

Uncertainty about support for Turkish characters.
Lacks advanced features beyond filename sanitization.
No paid version limits feature expansion.
Does not alter media titles, which some users might expect.

Who Should Use This?

Best for

Users who need a reliable and straightforward plugin to sanitize filenames, especially with support for Spanish and other accented characters, without altering media titles.

Not ideal for

Those who require extensive media management features, advanced filename customization, or support for languages not clearly supported like Turkish may find this plugin insufficient.

Pricing & Value

Free version includes

The free version offers comprehensive filename sanitization with language-specific character replacements and safe filename filtering upon upload.

Final Verdict

Clean Filenames stands out as a dependable and user-friendly plugin for sanitizing filenames with excellent support for Spanish and other accented characters. Its focus on preserving media titles while cleaning filenames is a notable advantage, and the absence of security vulnerabilities adds to its appeal.

While it lacks a pro version and some advanced features, its free offering is robust and well-suited for users seeking simplicity and reliability. Those needing broader language support or more customization might consider alternatives, but for its niche, Clean Filenames is a top choice.

Other Notable Features

Here are a few other notable features of this free Clean Filenames plugin.

Filename

International Characters

Sanitize

FAQ

No. The plugin does its job just after a file is uploaded and before it’s saved to your server, so it’ll change only filenames for files being uploaded after plugin activation.

Since 1.2.2 version, you can use the scf_friendly_filename filter to perform additional changes to the filename after all the changes done by the plugin.

Example:

add_filter ('scf_friendly_filename', 'first_character_uppercase', 10, 1); function first_character_uppercase ( $friendly_filename ){     // Make sure first character is always uppercase.      $friendly_filename = ucfirst( $friendly_filename );           return $friendly_filename; }