diff --git a/tubearchivist/home/src/download/yt_dlp_handler.py b/tubearchivist/home/src/download/yt_dlp_handler.py
index 6d17a33..be71049 100644
--- a/tubearchivist/home/src/download/yt_dlp_handler.py
+++ b/tubearchivist/home/src/download/yt_dlp_handler.py
@@ -212,6 +212,9 @@ class VideoDownloader:
         host_uid = self.config["application"]["HOST_UID"]
         host_gid = self.config["application"]["HOST_GID"]
         channel_name = clean_string(vid_dict["channel"]["channel_name"])
+        if len(channel_name) <= 3:
+            # fall back to channel id
+            channel_name = vid_dict["channel"]["channel_id"]
         # make archive folder with correct permissions
         new_folder = os.path.join(videos, channel_name)
         if not os.path.exists(new_folder):
diff --git a/tubearchivist/home/src/index/video.py b/tubearchivist/home/src/index/video.py
index 240a1b3..00db3f6 100644
--- a/tubearchivist/home/src/index/video.py
+++ b/tubearchivist/home/src/index/video.py
@@ -125,6 +125,10 @@ class YoutubeVideo(YouTubeItem):
         """build media_url for where file will be located"""
         channel_name = self.json_data["channel"]["channel_name"]
         clean_channel_name = clean_string(channel_name)
+        if len(clean_channel_name) <= 3:
+            # fall back to channel id
+            clean_channel_name = self.json_data["channel"]["channel_id"]
+
         timestamp = self.json_data["published"].replace("-", "")
         youtube_id = self.json_data["youtube_id"]
         title = self.json_data["title"]