diff --git a/client/ayon_core/plugins/publish/integrate.py b/client/ayon_core/plugins/publish/integrate.py
index 0b4022bc68..8ab836b1b2 100644
--- a/client/ayon_core/plugins/publish/integrate.py
+++ b/client/ayon_core/plugins/publish/integrate.py
@@ -596,6 +596,10 @@ def prepare_representation(
 
         # required representation keys
         files = repre["files"]
+        #  a single frame should be str in representation[files]
+        if isinstance(files, (list, tuple)) and len(files) == 1:
+            files: str = files[0]
+
         template_data["representation"] = repre["name"]
         template_data["ext"] = repre["ext"]