diff --git a/harvester/harvester-core/src/main/java/dk/netarkivet/harvester/HarvesterSettings.java b/harvester/harvester-core/src/main/java/dk/netarkivet/harvester/HarvesterSettings.java
index 6277c9eb2f..3c65f0743d 100644
--- a/harvester/harvester-core/src/main/java/dk/netarkivet/harvester/HarvesterSettings.java
+++ b/harvester/harvester-core/src/main/java/dk/netarkivet/harvester/HarvesterSettings.java
@@ -503,6 +503,11 @@ public class HarvesterSettings {
      */
     public static String METADATA_ARCHIVE_FILES_REPORT_HEADER = "settings.harvester.harvesting.metadata.archiveFilesReport.fileHeader";
 
+    /**
+     * The version number which goes in metadata file names like 12345-metadata-<version number>.warc.gz
+     */
+    public static String METADATA_FILE_VERSION_NUMBER = "settings.harvester.harvesting.metadata.filename.versionnumber";
+
     /**
      * <b>settings.harvester.aliases.timeout</b> The amount of time in seconds before an alias times out, and needs to
      * be re-evaluated. The default value is one year, i.e 31536000 seconds.
diff --git a/harvester/harvester-core/src/main/java/dk/netarkivet/harvester/harvesting/metadata/MetadataFileWriter.java b/harvester/harvester-core/src/main/java/dk/netarkivet/harvester/harvesting/metadata/MetadataFileWriter.java
index 8dcdb0abc6..aaf016eed3 100644
--- a/harvester/harvester-core/src/main/java/dk/netarkivet/harvester/harvesting/metadata/MetadataFileWriter.java
+++ b/harvester/harvester-core/src/main/java/dk/netarkivet/harvester/harvesting/metadata/MetadataFileWriter.java
@@ -121,18 +121,19 @@ public static String getMetadataArchiveFileName(String jobID, Long harvestID) th
         if (compressionOn) {
             possibleGzSuffix = ".gz";
         }
+        int versionNumber = Settings.getInt(HarvesterSettings.METADATA_FILE_VERSION_NUMBER);
         switch (metadataFormat) {
         case MDF_ARC:
             if(isPrefix) {
-                return collectionName + "-" + jobID + "-" + harvestID + "-metadata-" + 1 + ".arc" + possibleGzSuffix;
+                return collectionName + "-" + jobID + "-" + harvestID + "-metadata-" + versionNumber + ".arc" + possibleGzSuffix;
             } else {
-                return jobID + "-metadata-" + 1 + ".arc" + possibleGzSuffix;
+                return jobID + "-metadata-" + versionNumber + ".arc" + possibleGzSuffix;
             }
         case MDF_WARC:
             if(isPrefix) {
-                return collectionName + "-" + jobID + "-" + harvestID + "-metadata-" + 1 + ".warc" + possibleGzSuffix;
+                return collectionName + "-" + jobID + "-" + harvestID + "-metadata-" + versionNumber + ".warc" + possibleGzSuffix;
             } else {
-                return jobID + "-metadata-" + 1 + ".warc" + possibleGzSuffix;
+                return jobID + "-metadata-" + versionNumber + ".warc" + possibleGzSuffix;
             }
         default:
             throw new ArgumentNotValid("Configuration of '" + HarvesterSettings.METADATA_FORMAT + "' is invalid!");
diff --git a/harvester/harvester-core/src/main/resources/dk/netarkivet/harvester/settings.xml b/harvester/harvester-core/src/main/resources/dk/netarkivet/harvester/settings.xml
index 2dffef0d3f..852d3bf12f 100644
--- a/harvester/harvester-core/src/main/resources/dk/netarkivet/harvester/settings.xml
+++ b/harvester/harvester-core/src/main/resources/dk/netarkivet/harvester/settings.xml
@@ -202,6 +202,9 @@ National Library.
                 <metadataFormat>warc</metadataFormat>
                 <compression>false</compression>
                 <metadataFileNameFormat>default</metadataFileNameFormat>
+                <filename>
+                    <versionnumber>1</versionnumber>
+                </filename>
             </metadata>
         </harvesting>
         <indexserver>