diff --git a/server/routes/download-tasks.integration.test.ts b/server/routes/download-tasks.integration.test.ts
index 32ef5af0..cc376845 100644
--- a/server/routes/download-tasks.integration.test.ts
+++ b/server/routes/download-tasks.integration.test.ts
@@ -423,6 +423,30 @@ describe('Download tasks API integration', () => {
     })
   })
 
+  it('normalizes target folder paths when creating download tasks', async () => {
+    const { app, db } = await createTestApp({ DOWNLOAD_TOKEN_SECRET: 'test-download-token-secret' })
+    await insertStorage(db)
+    await registerDownloaderThroughDeviceLogin(app, 'target-folder-downloader')
+    const user = await authedHeaders(app, 'target-folder-user@example.com')
+
+    const createTaskRes = await app.request('/api/download-tasks', {
+      method: 'POST',
+      headers: { ...user, 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
+      body: JSON.stringify({
+        source: { type: 'http', uri: 'https://example.com/fixture.txt' },
+        targetFolder: '/media//Movies/',
+      }),
+    })
+
+    expect(createTaskRes.status).toBe(201)
+    await expect(createTaskRes.json()).resolves.toMatchObject({ targetFolder: 'media/Movies' })
+
+    const rows = await db.all<{ target_folder: string }>(
+      sql`SELECT target_folder FROM download_tasks ORDER BY created_at DESC LIMIT 1`,
+    )
+    expect(rows[0].target_folder).toBe('media/Movies')
+  })
+
   it('returns storage failure details when multipart upload completion fails', async () => {
     vi.mocked(S3Service.prototype.completeMultipartUpload).mockRejectedValueOnce(new Error('InvalidPart: part missing'))
     const { app, db } = await createTestApp()
diff --git a/shared/schemas/downloads.ts b/shared/schemas/downloads.ts
index 2dc3f363..48741fcb 100644
--- a/shared/schemas/downloads.ts
+++ b/shared/schemas/downloads.ts
@@ -92,13 +92,25 @@ export const createDownloaderSchema = z.object({
 const downloadUriSchema = z.string().min(1).max(4096)
 const downloadTaskCategorySchema = z.string().trim().min(1).max(120)
 const downloadTaskTagsSchema = z.array(z.string().trim().min(1).max(80)).max(20)
+const targetFolderSchema = z
+  .string()
+  .max(1024)
+  .transform((value) =>
+    value
+      .replace(/\\/g, '/')
+      .split('/')
+      .map((part) => part.trim())
+      .filter((part) => part.length > 0 && part !== '.')
+      .join('/'),
+  )
+  .refine((value) => !value.split('/').includes('..'), { message: 'Target folder cannot contain ..' })
 
 export const createDownloadTaskSchema = z.object({
   source: z.object({
     type: downloadSourceTypeSchema,
     uri: downloadUriSchema,
   }),
-  targetFolder: z.string(),
+  targetFolder: targetFolderSchema,
   name: z.string().min(1).max(255).optional(),
   category: downloadTaskCategorySchema.optional(),
   tags: downloadTaskTagsSchema.optional(),
diff --git a/shared/schemas/schemas.test.ts b/shared/schemas/schemas.test.ts
index 878e2b2d..3d5e5ace 100644
--- a/shared/schemas/schemas.test.ts
+++ b/shared/schemas/schemas.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
 import {
   copyMatterSchema,
+  createDownloadTaskSchema,
   createMatterSchema,
   createStorageSchema,
   signInSchema,
@@ -124,3 +125,26 @@ describe('copyMatterSchema', () => {
     expect(result.success).toBe(true)
   })
 })
+
+describe('createDownloadTaskSchema', () => {
+  it('normalizes target folder paths', () => {
+    const result = createDownloadTaskSchema.safeParse({
+      source: { type: 'http', uri: 'https://example.com/file.zip' },
+      targetFolder: '/media//Movies\\2026/',
+    })
+
+    expect(result.success).toBe(true)
+    if (result.success) {
+      expect(result.data.targetFolder).toBe('media/Movies/2026')
+    }
+  })
+
+  it('rejects parent directory target folder segments', () => {
+    const result = createDownloadTaskSchema.safeParse({
+      source: { type: 'http', uri: 'https://example.com/file.zip' },
+      targetFolder: 'media/../private',
+    })
+
+    expect(result.success).toBe(false)
+  })
+})