Random Filename Generator
Generates a random placeholder filename with a common file extension — useful for UI mockups, test data or file-upload demos.
What this generator does
Produces a filename with an extension, for filling upload mockups, testing file-handling code and generating example directory listings.
How to use this tool
- Press generate for a filename.
- Generate again for another one.
Worked examples
- Format
- wild-cedar.png
Common use cases
- File-upload UI mockups
- Test data for file-management tools
- Documentation examples
How this generator works
A name is assembled from two words joined by a hyphen and one of eight extensions (.txt, .csv, .json, .pdf, .png, .md, .zip, .log), using only characters that are safe on every common filesystem. That last constraint is narrower than it sounds: Windows forbids a colon, backslash, question mark and five other characters outright, macOS treats a colon as a separator in some contexts, and a leading dash makes a file awkward to pass to a command line. What is left after all three is a conservative set of letters, digits, hyphen and underscore, and these names use only the lower-case letters and the hyphen from it.
Limitations and good to know
- The names are examples, not reservations — nothing checks whether a file of that name already exists where you intend to put it.
- Length is kept well under the 255-byte limit most filesystems impose on a single name, but a long path built from several of these can still exceed a path limit.
- Case is not varied. Some filesystems are case-insensitive and some are not, so a set of names that differ only in case is a hazard rather than a set.