BEA – Sanitize Filename
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About
Remove all punctuation and accents from the filename of uploaded files.
What It Does
BEA - Sanitize Filename strips punctuation, accents, and special characters from the names of files as they are uploaded to the WordPress media library. This produces clean, ASCII-only filenames that are less likely to cause URL encoding issues, broken links, or server-side file handling problems. It runs quietly on upload without requiring any manual configuration.
Who It's For
This plugin is a good fit for multilingual sites where contributors upload files with accented characters or non-Latin scripts, as well as agencies and document management systems that need predictable, portable filenames for SEO or compliance reasons. E-commerce shops receiving product images from varied sources will also benefit, since consistent filenames reduce friction across staging, CDN, and production environments.
Who Should Skip It
If your site only receives English-language uploads from trusted users or you already handle filename cleanup through another tool or custom code, this plugin adds no meaningful value. Sites with very low upload volume or those relying on the original filenames for accessibility metadata will also want to skip it.
The Bottom Line
BEA - Sanitize Filename is a focused, well-maintained utility that does exactly one thing and does it well, earning a quality score of 72.93 out of 100. Its perfect rating and modern compatibility are offset by an extremely small install base and a complete absence of public support activity. If filenames are genuinely causing problems on your site, install it; otherwise, the alternatives listed above address broader media concerns that this plugin deliberately ignores.
Related Plugins
Pick Safe SVG instead when your concern is safely allowing SVG uploads, not sanitizing their filenames.
Choose FileBird if you need to organize a large media library into folders rather than just clean up filenames on upload.
Opt for Media Library Assistant when you need bulk editing, custom taxonomies, and richer metadata control across your media library.
Go with Media Cleaner when your priority is finding and removing unused or orphaned media files rather than standardizing their names.
Default Featured Image is the right pick if you mainly want to assign fallback featured images to posts that lack one, a completely different use case.