diff --git a/act/runner/action.go b/act/runner/action.go
index 1e41a134..1be16c70 100644
--- a/act/runner/action.go
+++ b/act/runner/action.go
@@ -429,7 +429,7 @@ func newStepContainer(ctx context.Context, step step, image string, cmd, entrypo
 		Image:        image,
 		Username:     rc.Config.Secrets["DOCKER_USERNAME"],
 		Password:     rc.Config.Secrets["DOCKER_PASSWORD"],
-		Name:         createSimpleContainerName(rc.jobContainerName(), "STEP-"+stepModel.ID),
+		Name:         createContainerName(rc.jobContainerName(), "STEP-"+stepModel.ID),
 		Env:          envList,
 		Mounts:       mounts,
 		NetworkMode:  networkMode,
diff --git a/act/runner/run_context.go b/act/runner/run_context.go
index 19ad88ef..6db821de 100644
--- a/act/runner/run_context.go
+++ b/act/runner/run_context.go
@@ -101,8 +101,7 @@ func (rc *RunContext) jobContainerName() string {
 	if rc.caller != nil {
 		nameParts = append(nameParts, "CALLED-BY-"+rc.caller.runContext.JobName)
 	}
-	// return createSimpleContainerName(rc.Config.ContainerNamePrefix, "WORKFLOW-"+rc.Run.Workflow.Name, "JOB-"+rc.Name)
-	return createSimpleContainerName(nameParts...) // For Gitea
+	return createContainerName(nameParts...) // For Gitea
 }
 
 // networkNameForGitea return the name of the network
@@ -769,7 +768,6 @@ func mergeMaps(maps ...map[string]string) map[string]string {
 	return rtnMap
 }
 
-// Deprecated: use createSimpleContainerName
 func createContainerName(parts ...string) string {
 	name := strings.Join(parts, "-")
 	pattern := regexp.MustCompile("[^a-zA-Z0-9]")
@@ -783,22 +781,6 @@ func createContainerName(parts ...string) string {
 	return fmt.Sprintf("%s-%x", trimmedName, hash)
 }
 
-func createSimpleContainerName(parts ...string) string {
-	pattern := regexp.MustCompile("[^a-zA-Z0-9-]")
-	name := make([]string, 0, len(parts))
-	for _, v := range parts {
-		v = pattern.ReplaceAllString(v, "-")
-		v = strings.Trim(v, "-")
-		for strings.Contains(v, "--") {
-			v = strings.ReplaceAll(v, "--", "-")
-		}
-		if v != "" {
-			name = append(name, v)
-		}
-	}
-	return strings.Join(name, "_")
-}
-
 func trimToLen(s string, l int) string {
 	if l < 0 {
 		l = 0
diff --git a/act/runner/run_context_test.go b/act/runner/run_context_test.go
index a1e86597..b4a5dca9 100644
--- a/act/runner/run_context_test.go
+++ b/act/runner/run_context_test.go
@@ -622,23 +622,16 @@ func TestRunContextGetEnv(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func Test_createSimpleContainerName(t *testing.T) {
-	tests := []struct {
-		parts []string
-		want  string
-	}{
-		{
-			parts: []string{"a--a", "BB正", "c-C"},
-			want:  "a-a_BB_c-C",
-		},
-		{
-			parts: []string{"a-a", "", "-"},
-			want:  "a-a",
-		},
-	}
-	for _, tt := range tests {
-		t.Run(strings.Join(tt.parts, " "), func(t *testing.T) {
-			assert.Equalf(t, tt.want, createSimpleContainerName(tt.parts...), "createSimpleContainerName(%v)", tt.parts)
-		})
-	}
+func TestCreateContainerNameBoundedForLongMatrixInput(t *testing.T) {
+	longMatrixValue := strings.Repeat("os=ubuntu-latest-go=1.24-node=22-", 20)
+	name := createContainerName(
+		"gitea",
+		"WORKFLOW-super-long-workflow-name",
+		"JOB-build-matrix-"+longMatrixValue,
+	)
+
+	assert.LessOrEqual(t, len(name), 128)
+	assert.LessOrEqual(t, len(name+"-env"), 255)
+	assert.LessOrEqual(t, len(name+"-network"), 255)
+	assert.LessOrEqual(t, len(name+"-job1234567890"), 255)
 }
diff --git a/act/runner/step_docker.go b/act/runner/step_docker.go
index 97fc93ec..e17c9c01 100644
--- a/act/runner/step_docker.go
+++ b/act/runner/step_docker.go
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ func (sd *stepDocker) newStepContainer(ctx context.Context, image string, cmd, e
 		Image:        image,
 		Username:     rc.Config.Secrets["DOCKER_USERNAME"],
 		Password:     rc.Config.Secrets["DOCKER_PASSWORD"],
-		Name:         createSimpleContainerName(rc.jobContainerName(), "STEP-"+step.ID),
+		Name:         createContainerName(rc.jobContainerName(), "STEP-"+step.ID),
 		Env:          envList,
 		Mounts:       mounts,
 		NetworkMode:  networkMode,