diff --git a/lua/oil/columns.lua b/lua/oil/columns.lua
index 7e217af..97d5e3c 100644
--- a/lua/oil/columns.lua
+++ b/lua/oil/columns.lua
@@ -279,6 +279,10 @@ M.register("type", {
   end,
 })
 
+local function pad_number(int)
+  return string.format("%012d", int)
+end
+
 M.register("name", {
   render = function(entry, conf)
     error("Do not use the name column. It is for sorting only")
@@ -289,7 +293,11 @@ M.register("name", {
   end,
 
   get_sort_value = function(entry)
-    return entry[FIELD_NAME]
+    if config.view_options.natural_order then
+      return entry[FIELD_NAME]:gsub("%d+", pad_number)
+    else
+      return entry[FIELD_NAME]
+    end
   end,
 })
 
diff --git a/lua/oil/config.lua b/lua/oil/config.lua
index 8753903..b368387 100644
--- a/lua/oil/config.lua
+++ b/lua/oil/config.lua
@@ -90,6 +90,9 @@ local default_config = {
     is_always_hidden = function(name, bufnr)
       return false
     end,
+    -- Sort file names in a more intuitive order for humans. Is less performant,
+    -- so you may want to set to false if you work with large directories.
+    natural_order = true,
     sort = {
       -- sort order can be "asc" or "desc"
       -- see :help oil-columns to see which columns are sortable
diff --git a/lua/oil/view.lua b/lua/oil/view.lua
index 8352d70..a5032ee 100644
--- a/lua/oil/view.lua
+++ b/lua/oil/view.lua
@@ -519,7 +519,14 @@ end
 ---@return fun(a: oil.InternalEntry, b: oil.InternalEntry): boolean
 local function get_sort_function(adapter)
   local idx_funs = {}
-  for _, sort_pair in ipairs(config.view_options.sort) do
+  local sort_config = config.view_options.sort
+
+  -- If empty, default to type + name sorting
+  if vim.tbl_isempty(sort_config) then
+    sort_config = { { "type", "asc" }, { "name", "asc" } }
+  end
+
+  for _, sort_pair in ipairs(sort_config) do
     local col_name, order = unpack(sort_pair)
     if order ~= "asc" and order ~= "desc" then
       vim.notify_once(