diff --git a/src/utils/file_utils.py b/src/utils/file_utils.py
index 764f90694..987e908d9 100644
--- a/src/utils/file_utils.py
+++ b/src/utils/file_utils.py
@@ -1,19 +1,18 @@
 """File handling utilities for OpenRAG"""
-
 import os
+import re
 import tempfile
 from contextlib import contextmanager
 from typing import Optional
+from urllib.parse import unquote, urlparse
 
 
 @contextmanager
 def auto_cleanup_tempfile(suffix: Optional[str] = None, prefix: Optional[str] = None, dir: Optional[str] = None):
     """
     Context manager for temporary files that automatically cleans up.
-
     Unlike tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile with delete=True, this keeps the file
     on disk for the duration of the context, making it safe for async operations.
-
     Usage:
         with auto_cleanup_tempfile(suffix=".pdf") as tmp_path:
             # Write to the file
@@ -22,12 +21,10 @@ def auto_cleanup_tempfile(suffix: Optional[str] = None, prefix: Optional[str] =
             # Use tmp_path for processing
             result = await process_file(tmp_path)
         # File is automatically deleted here
-
     Args:
         suffix: Optional file suffix/extension (e.g., ".pdf")
         prefix: Optional file prefix
         dir: Optional directory for temp file
-
     Yields:
         str: Path to the temporary file
     """
@@ -48,7 +45,6 @@ def auto_cleanup_tempfile(suffix: Optional[str] = None, prefix: Optional[str] =
 def safe_unlink(path: str) -> None:
     """
     Safely delete a file, ignoring errors if it doesn't exist.
-
     Args:
         path: Path to the file to delete
     """
@@ -84,4 +80,69 @@ def clean_connector_filename(filename: str, mimetype: str) -> str:
     clean_name = filename.replace(" ", "_").replace("/", "_")
     if not clean_name.lower().endswith(suffix.lower()):
         return clean_name + suffix
-    return clean_name
\ No newline at end of file
+    return clean_name
+
+
+# Characters that are unsafe in filenames across Linux, macOS, and Windows
+_UNSAFE_FILENAME_CHARS = re.compile(r'[<>:"/\\|?*\x00-\x1f]')
+_MULTI_UNDERSCORE = re.compile(r'_+')
+
+
+def sanitize_filename(url: str, fallback: str = "document", max_length: int = 200) -> str:
+    """
+    Derive a safe filename from a URL for use during document ingestion.
+
+    Decodes percent-encoding, extracts the last path segment, strips query
+    strings and fragments, and removes characters that are unsafe on any
+    major OS filesystem.
+
+    Examples::
+
+        sanitize_filename("https://example.com/docs/my%20report.pdf")
+        # "my_report.pdf"
+
+        sanitize_filename("https://example.com/blog/post?id=42#section")
+        # "post"
+
+        sanitize_filename("https://example.com/")
+        # "document"
+
+    Args:
+        url:        The source URL to derive a filename from.
+        fallback:   Name to use when no usable path segment can be found.
+        max_length: Maximum number of characters in the returned filename
+                    (excluding extension). Defaults to 200.
+
+    Returns:
+        A cleaned filename string safe for use on Linux, macOS, and Windows.
+    """
+    try:
+        parsed = urlparse(url)
+        # Take the last non-empty path segment, ignoring query/fragment
+        path_segment = parsed.path.rstrip("/").rsplit("/", 1)[-1]
+        # Decode percent-encoding (e.g. %20 → space)
+        path_segment = unquote(path_segment)
+    except Exception:
+        path_segment = ""
+
+    if not path_segment:
+        return fallback
+
+    # Replace spaces and unsafe characters with underscores
+    name = path_segment.replace(" ", "_")
+    name = _UNSAFE_FILENAME_CHARS.sub("_", name)
+    # Collapse consecutive underscores
+    name = _MULTI_UNDERSCORE.sub("_", name).strip("_")
+
+    if not name:
+        return fallback
+
+    # Respect max_length while preserving the extension if present
+    if "." in name:
+        stem, _, ext = name.rpartition(".")
+        stem = stem[:max_length]
+        name = f"{stem}.{ext}" if stem else fallback
+    else:
+        name = name[:max_length]
+
+    return name or fallback