Naming video files/Movies

Naming conventions
In order to be scanned correctly, movie folder names should only have the title and the year (optional). Media source flags can also be added via file names to indicate source/quality of the movie (see link for more info).

To improve matching add the year within parenthesis to the end of the foldername, or filename - depending on your scanning method and folder structure (before the extension, if filename), this naming standard seems to yield the best results.


 * Movies stored in individual folders

\Movies\The Man With the Golden Gun\goldengun.avi

\Movies\Avatar (2009)\somefilename.mkv \Movies\The Usual Suspects (1995)\somefilename.avi

\Movies\The Usual Suspects (1995)\somefilename-cd1.avi \Movies\The Usual Suspects (1995)\somefilename-cd2.avi \Movies\Avatar (2009)\Avatar (2009)-cd1.mkv \Movies\Avatar (2009)\Avatar (2009)-cd2.mkv


 * Movies based on file name alone

\Movies\The Man With The Golden Gun.avi \Movies\Pulp Fiction (1994).avi \Movies\Reservoir Dogs (1992).avi \Movies\The Usual Suspects (1995).avi

\Movies\Avatar (2009)-cd1.mkv \Movies\Avatar (2009)-cd2.mkv

And for DVD-Video movies stored in file-mode on the harddrive or SMB NFS: \Movies\Alien (1979)\VIDEO_TS.IFO \Movies\Léon (1994)\VIDEO_TS.IFO \Movies\Scarface (1983)\VIDEO_TS.IFO Alternatively: \Movies\Alien (1979)\VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.IFO \Movies\Léon (1994)\VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.IFO \Movies\Scarface (1983)\VIDEO_TS\VIDEO_TS.IFO

3D movies
Some 3D movies might need an additional file name extension to be identified by Kodi as a 3D movie. See 3D for details on that additional extension, and when it is needed.

Media source tags
Depending on the interface skin you are using, you can add additional media source information to a movie entry in Kodi. For example, in the default skin "Confluence" you can label when a file was ripped from a bluray disc by including BLURAY, BRRIP, BD25, or BD50 in the file name after the title. The exact options are different for each interface skin, but a list for the default Confluence skin can be seen on Media flags.


 * Example

Split video files (file stacking)
By using the following naming extensions and enabling Settings -> Videos -> File lists -> Combined split video items, you can enable "file stacking" for split video files. File stacking allows multiple video files to appear and play as if it were one movie file.

Name extensions for stacking
For single files:

The following are default stacking extensions that can be added to file names These are for video file names that are in the same folder.

# can be 1 through 9 or A through D. No spaces between the extension and number.
 * part#
 * cd#
 * dvd#
 * pt#
 * disk#
 * disc#

You can also use: where # can be A through D.
 * moviename#.ext

For video files in folders:

Such as VIDEO_TS folders (DVD rips that are not in ISO format), you can stack them using the folder name that contains the movie name.

# can be 1 through 9. No spaces between the extension and number.
 * cd#
 * dvd#
 * disc#
 * disk#


 * Notes
 * The default expressions will NOT stack files which use only a number as the volume token (eg movie1.avi, movie2.avi). This is intentional due to false positives which can occur with sequels in a flat directory layout. Some solutions to this problem (in order of best to worst) follow...
 * Use a dir-per-movie directory layout, see the append example of the moviestacking advanced setting.
 * Rename offending files to match one of the more specific volume tokens (ie. cd1, part1, etc).
 * Create special-case regular expressions for those files that fail to stack (see ).

Advanced stacking options
File stacking can be tuned by the user to match obscure cases using the   and   advancedsettings.xml settings.