Using a custom directory structure

By default, files will be stored inside a directory that uses the id of its Media-object as a name. Converted images will be stored inside a directory named conversions.

media
---- 1
------ file.jpg
------ conversions
--------- small.jpg
--------- medium.jpg
--------- big.jpg
---- 2
------ file.jpg
------ conversions
--------- small.jpg
--------- medium.jpg
--------- big.jpg
...

Putting files inside their own folders guarantees that files with the same name can be added without any problems.

To override this default folder structure, a class that conforms to the PathGenerator-interface can be specified as the path_generator in the config file.

Let's take a look at the interface:

namespace Spatie\MediaLibrary\Support\PathGenerator;

use Spatie\MediaLibrary\MediaCollections\Models\Media;

interface PathGenerator
{
    /*
     * Get the path for the given media, relative to the root storage path.
     */
    public function getPath(Media $media): string;

    /*
     * Get the path for conversions of the given media, relative to the root storage path.
     */
    public function getPathForConversions(Media $media): string;

    /*
     * Get the path for responsive images of the given media, relative to the root storage path.
     */
    public function getPathForResponsiveImages(Media $media): string;
}

There aren't any restrictions on how the directories can be named. When a Media-object gets deleted the package will delete its entire associated directory. To avoid tears or worse, make sure that every media gets stored its own unique directory.