diff --git a/libraries/baking/src/ModelBaker.cpp b/libraries/baking/src/ModelBaker.cpp
index 82af2f94e9..e58ec00afa 100644
--- a/libraries/baking/src/ModelBaker.cpp
+++ b/libraries/baking/src/ModelBaker.cpp
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@ void ModelBaker::handleFinishedMaterialBaker() {
             QJsonArray materialMapping;
             for (auto material : _hfmModel->materials) {
                 QJsonObject json;
-                json["mat::" + material.name] = relativeBakedMaterialURL + "?" + material.name;
+                json["mat::" + material.name] = relativeBakedMaterialURL + "#" + material.name;
                 materialMapping.push_back(json);
             }
 
diff --git a/libraries/entities-renderer/src/RenderableMaterialEntityItem.cpp b/libraries/entities-renderer/src/RenderableMaterialEntityItem.cpp
index da8baca95a..01d1098daa 100644
--- a/libraries/entities-renderer/src/RenderableMaterialEntityItem.cpp
+++ b/libraries/entities-renderer/src/RenderableMaterialEntityItem.cpp
@@ -121,7 +121,11 @@ void MaterialEntityRenderer::doRenderUpdateAsynchronousTyped(const TypedEntityPo
             QString materialURL = entity->getMaterialURL();
             if (materialURL != _materialURL) {
                 _materialURL = materialURL;
-                if (_materialURL.contains("?")) {
+                if (_materialURL.contains("#")) {
+                    auto split = _materialURL.split("#");
+                    newCurrentMaterialName = split.last().toStdString();
+                } else if (_materialURL.contains("?")) {
+                    qDebug() << "DEPRECATED: Use # instead of ? for material URLS:" << _materialURL;
                     auto split = _materialURL.split("?");
                     newCurrentMaterialName = split.last().toStdString();
                 }
diff --git a/libraries/entities/src/EntityItemProperties.cpp b/libraries/entities/src/EntityItemProperties.cpp
index 5958af66dd..44e317696c 100644
--- a/libraries/entities/src/EntityItemProperties.cpp
+++ b/libraries/entities/src/EntityItemProperties.cpp
@@ -976,7 +976,7 @@ EntityPropertyFlags EntityItemProperties::getChangedProperties() const {
  * by setting the <code>entityHostType</code> parameter in {@link Entities.addEntity} to <code>"avatar"</code>.
  * Material entities render as non-scalable spheres if they don't have their parent set.
  * @typedef {object} Entities.EntityProperties-Material
- * @property {string} materialURL="" - URL to a {@link MaterialResource}. If you append <code>?name</code> to the URL, the 
+ * @property {string} materialURL="" - URL to a {@link MaterialResource}. If you append <code>#name</code> to the URL, the 
  *     material with that name in the {@link MaterialResource} will be applied to the entity. <br />
  *     Alternatively, set the property value to <code>"materialData"</code> to use the <code>materialData</code> property  
  *     for the {@link MaterialResource} values.
diff --git a/libraries/render-utils/src/Model.cpp b/libraries/render-utils/src/Model.cpp
index 6b33012adf..fbe0af11f2 100644
--- a/libraries/render-utils/src/Model.cpp
+++ b/libraries/render-utils/src/Model.cpp
@@ -1561,8 +1561,8 @@ void Model::applyMaterialMapping() {
             {
                 QString url = networkMaterialResource->getURL().toString();
                 bool foundMaterialName = false;
-                if (url.contains("?")) {
-                    auto split = url.split("?");
+                if (url.contains("#")) {
+                    auto split = url.split("#");
                     std::string materialName = split.last().toStdString();
                     auto networkMaterialIter = networkMaterialResource->parsedMaterials.networkMaterials.find(materialName);
                     if (networkMaterialIter != networkMaterialResource->parsedMaterials.networkMaterials.end()) {