NFO files

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NFO Contents

NFO Main Page


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▶ NFO files


Introduction

NFO files are used to populate the music and video library using locally stored information. They are helpful if data for your particular title does not exist, such as for home movies and sporting events. A Parsing and Combination NFO file can be used to control the search behaviour of scrapers when problematic and ambiguous titles prevent your preferred title from being scraped.

nfo is a filename extension - mymovie.nfo and the contents of the file are written in XML. The file itself does nothing except hold information and is basically a text document with XML tags inserted around the information.

All NFO files are saved with UTF-8 encoding which is standard on most operating systems.

NFO files are also used as a method of exporting the library for various reasons, including backup. See: Import & Export

The order of importing metadata into the Kodi library is:

  1. nfo file. If no nfo file exists then
  2. Depending on your Source scraper settings:
    • A scraper is set- Scraper will locate online metadata, or
    • Local Info Only is set- Nothing will be scanned or scraped.


Creating NFO files
This page explains the various methods available to create NFO files.
Parsing NFO
A Parsing NFO file is used to point the scraper to the exact title to be matched and scraped.
Combination NFO
A Combination NFO file combines a Parsing NFO and Metadata NFO file. It allows you to scrape the title as normal, but override some of the scraped data with the data included in the file.
Metadata NFO
These are the full metadata NFO files that are commonly used. The Kodi Export feature generates these files as well as 3rd party media managers.
All available XML tags are listed here as well as a description on how and where the files are saved.
Templates and Samples
Basic templates as a starting point to create your own NFO files.