diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c8adb69..0dae700 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -90,6 +90,10 @@ podtx format --all --readable --cleanup
 
 - Data (SQLite state, transcripts, temp audio): `~/.local/share/podcast-transcriber/`
 - Optional config: `~/.config/podcast-transcriber/config.toml`
+- Transcript filenames: `{YYYY-MM-DD}_{episode:03d}_{slug}`. Episode comes from
+  RSS `itunes:episode` when present; otherwise a clear leading number in the title
+  is used (`860 - …`, `#860 …`, `Episode 860: …`). Section-style ids like `1.1 - …`
+  are ignored (fallback `000`).
 
 ```toml
 engine = "parakeet"
diff --git a/src/podtx/naming.py b/src/podtx/naming.py
index 2d70b46..cb0068d 100644
--- a/src/podtx/naming.py
+++ b/src/podtx/naming.py
@@ -7,6 +7,18 @@
 
 _SLUG_RE = re.compile(r"[^a-z0-9]+")
 
+# "Episode 860:", "Ep. 25", "Ep 9 — …"
+_EPISODE_WORD = re.compile(
+    r"(?i)^\s*(?:episode|ep\.?)\s*#?\s*(\d+)\b",
+)
+# "#860 …"
+_HASH_NUM = re.compile(r"^\s*#\s*(\d+)\b")
+# "860 - Title" / "860: Title" / "860 | Title" / "860 — Title"
+# Reject section ids like "1.1 - …" / "5.6.3 …" via (?!\.\d).
+_LEADING_NUM = re.compile(
+    r"^\s*(\d+)(?!\.\d)\s*[-–—|:]\s+\S",
+)
+
 
 def slugify(text: str, *, max_length: int = 80) -> str:
     slug = _SLUG_RE.sub("-", text.lower()).strip("-")
@@ -15,9 +27,28 @@ def slugify(text: str, *, max_length: int = 80) -> str:
     return slug[:max_length].rstrip("-")
 
 
+def parse_episode_number_from_title(title: str) -> int | None:
+    """Extract a leading episode number from a title, if clearly present.
+
+    Recognizes patterns like ``860 - …``, ``#860 …``, ``Episode 860: …``.
+    Rejects section-style ids such as ``1.1 - …`` / ``5.6.3 …``.
+    """
+    if not title or not title.strip():
+        return None
+    for pattern in (_EPISODE_WORD, _HASH_NUM, _LEADING_NUM):
+        match = pattern.search(title)
+        if match:
+            return int(match.group(1))
+    return None
+
+
 def episode_number(episode: Episode) -> int:
+    """Prefer RSS ``itunes:episode``; else parse a clear number from the title."""
     if episode.episode_num is not None and episode.episode_num >= 0:
         return episode.episode_num
+    parsed = parse_episode_number_from_title(episode.title)
+    if parsed is not None and parsed >= 0:
+        return parsed
     return 0
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_naming.py b/tests/test_naming.py
index 2ad0627..f406b39 100644
--- a/tests/test_naming.py
+++ b/tests/test_naming.py
@@ -3,7 +3,13 @@
 from datetime import datetime, timezone
 
 from podtx.models import Episode
-from podtx.naming import slugify, transcript_basename, unique_basename
+from podtx.naming import (
+    episode_number,
+    parse_episode_number_from_title,
+    slugify,
+    transcript_basename,
+    unique_basename,
+)
 
 
 def _ep(**kwargs: object) -> Episode:
@@ -26,10 +32,41 @@ def test_transcript_basename_padded_episode() -> None:
     assert transcript_basename(_ep()) == "2026-03-15_003_interview-with-ada"
 
 
-def test_transcript_basename_missing_episode() -> None:
+def test_transcript_basename_missing_episode_without_number_in_title() -> None:
     assert transcript_basename(_ep(episode_num=None)) == "2026-03-15_000_interview-with-ada"
 
 
+def test_parse_episode_number_from_title_common_patterns() -> None:
+    assert parse_episode_number_from_title("860 - Module Federation") == 860
+    assert parse_episode_number_from_title("860: New APIs") == 860
+    assert parse_episode_number_from_title("#702 Potluck") == 702
+    assert parse_episode_number_from_title("Episode 122: The Bitter Lesson") == 122
+    assert parse_episode_number_from_title("Ep. 25 Why ML Needs a New Language") == 25
+    assert parse_episode_number_from_title("Ep 9 — Inside look") == 9
+
+
+def test_parse_episode_number_from_title_rejects_section_style() -> None:
+    # "1.1 - Introduction" / "5.6.3 and …" are section ids, not episode numbers.
+    assert parse_episode_number_from_title("1.1 - Introduction to Software Engineering") is None
+    assert parse_episode_number_from_title(
+        "5.6.3 and 5.6.4 - Dependency Inversion"
+    ) is None
+    assert parse_episode_number_from_title("Hasty Treat - The Future of Testing") is None
+    assert parse_episode_number_from_title("") is None
+
+
+def test_episode_number_prefers_rss_over_title() -> None:
+    ep = _ep(episode_num=3, title="860 - Module Federation")
+    assert episode_number(ep) == 3
+
+
+def test_episode_number_falls_back_to_title_when_rss_missing() -> None:
+    ep = _ep(episode_num=None, title="860 - Module Federation")
+    assert episode_number(ep) == 860
+    # Slug still includes title text as-is (slug rules unchanged).
+    assert transcript_basename(ep) == "2026-03-15_860_860-module-federation"
+
+
 def test_unique_basename_collision() -> None:
     base = transcript_basename(_ep())
     uniq = unique_basename(_ep(), existing={base})