diff --git a/client/components/cards/ItemUploadCard.vue b/client/components/cards/ItemUploadCard.vue
index 5806f105..075c0fd4 100644
--- a/client/components/cards/ItemUploadCard.vue
+++ b/client/components/cards/ItemUploadCard.vue
@@ -98,13 +98,10 @@ export default {
       if (!this.itemData.title) return ''
       if (this.isPodcast) return this.itemData.title
 
-      if (this.itemData.series && this.itemData.author) {
-        return Path.join(this.itemData.author, this.itemData.series, this.itemData.title)
-      } else if (this.itemData.author) {
-        return Path.join(this.itemData.author, this.itemData.title)
-      } else {
-        return this.itemData.title
-      }
+      const outputPathParts = [this.itemData.author, this.itemData.series, this.itemData.title]
+      const cleanedOutputPathParts = outputPathParts.filter(Boolean).map(part => this.$sanitizeFilename(part))
+
+      return Path.join(...cleanedOutputPathParts)
     },
     isNonInteractable() {
       return this.isUploading || this.isFetchingMetadata
diff --git a/client/plugins/init.client.js b/client/plugins/init.client.js
index 711c526a..a16e6fa1 100644
--- a/client/plugins/init.client.js
+++ b/client/plugins/init.client.js
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ Vue.prototype.$sanitizeFilename = (filename, colonReplacement = ' - ') => {
     .replace(lineBreaks, replacement)
     .replace(windowsReservedRe, replacement)
     .replace(windowsTrailingRe, replacement)
+    .replace(/\s+/g, ' ') // Replace consecutive spaces with a single space
 
   // Check if basename is too many bytes
   const ext = Path.extname(sanitized) // separate out file extension
diff --git a/server/controllers/MiscController.js b/server/controllers/MiscController.js
index 267db5c8..26a9d77b 100644
--- a/server/controllers/MiscController.js
+++ b/server/controllers/MiscController.js
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ const Database = require('../Database')
 const libraryItemFilters = require('../utils/queries/libraryItemFilters')
 const patternValidation = require('../libs/nodeCron/pattern-validation')
 const { isObject, getTitleIgnorePrefix } = require('../utils/index')
+const { sanitizeFilename } = require('../utils/fileUtils')
 
 const TaskManager = require('../managers/TaskManager')
 
@@ -32,12 +33,9 @@ class MiscController {
       Logger.error('Invalid request, no files')
       return res.sendStatus(400)
     }
+
     const files = Object.values(req.files)
-    const title = req.body.title
-    const author = req.body.author
-    const series = req.body.series
-    const libraryId = req.body.library
-    const folderId = req.body.folder
+    const { title, author, series, folder: folderId, library: libraryId } = req.body
 
     const library = await Database.libraryModel.getOldById(libraryId)
     if (!library) {
@@ -52,43 +50,29 @@ class MiscController {
       return res.status(500).send(`Invalid post data`)
     }
 
-    // For setting permissions recursively
-    let outputDirectory = ''
-    let firstDirPath = ''
-
-    if (library.isPodcast) { // Podcasts only in 1 folder
-      outputDirectory = Path.join(folder.fullPath, title)
-      firstDirPath = outputDirectory
-    } else {
-      firstDirPath = Path.join(folder.fullPath, author)
-      if (series && author) {
-        outputDirectory = Path.join(folder.fullPath, author, series, title)
-      } else if (author) {
-        outputDirectory = Path.join(folder.fullPath, author, title)
-      } else {
-        outputDirectory = Path.join(folder.fullPath, title)
-      }
-    }
-
-    if (await fs.pathExists(outputDirectory)) {
-      Logger.error(`[Server] Upload directory "${outputDirectory}" already exists`)
-      return res.status(500).send(`Directory "${outputDirectory}" already exists`)
-    }
+    // Podcasts should only be one folder deep
+    const outputDirectoryParts = library.isPodcast ? [title] : [author, series, title]
+    // `.filter(Boolean)` to strip out all the potentially missing details (eg: `author`)
+    // before sanitizing all the directory parts to remove illegal chars and finally prepending
+    // the base folder path
+    const cleanedOutputDirectoryParts = outputDirectoryParts.filter(Boolean).map(part => sanitizeFilename(part))
+    const outputDirectory = Path.join(...[folder.fullPath, ...cleanedOutputDirectoryParts])
 
     await fs.ensureDir(outputDirectory)
 
     Logger.info(`Uploading ${files.length} files to`, outputDirectory)
 
-    for (let i = 0; i < files.length; i++) {
-      var file = files[i]
+    for (const file of files) {
+      const path = Path.join(outputDirectory, sanitizeFilename(file.name))
 
-      var path = Path.join(outputDirectory, file.name)
-      await file.mv(path).then(() => {
-        return true
-      }).catch((error) => {
-        Logger.error('Failed to move file', path, error)
-        return false
-      })
+      await file.mv(path)
+        .then(() => {
+          return true
+        })
+        .catch((error) => {
+          Logger.error('Failed to move file', path, error)
+          return false
+        })
     }
 
     res.sendStatus(200)
@@ -691,4 +675,4 @@ class MiscController {
     })
   }
 }
-module.exports = new MiscController()
\ No newline at end of file
+module.exports = new MiscController()
diff --git a/server/utils/fileUtils.js b/server/utils/fileUtils.js
index 26578f57..ebad97db 100644
--- a/server/utils/fileUtils.js
+++ b/server/utils/fileUtils.js
@@ -308,6 +308,7 @@ module.exports.sanitizeFilename = (filename, colonReplacement = ' - ') => {
     .replace(lineBreaks, replacement)
     .replace(windowsReservedRe, replacement)
     .replace(windowsTrailingRe, replacement)
+    .replace(/\s+/g, ' ') // Replace consecutive spaces with a single space
 
   // Check if basename is too many bytes
   const ext = Path.extname(sanitized) // separate out file extension