Movie artwork

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Movie artwork are images directly related to a movie, preferably of high quality, that are displayed when viewing the movie entry in the library. The movie section in Kodi has the impressive ability to display up to 14 types of artwork. This page will describe the different types of artwork available in the Movie category of Kodi.

It is important to note the following:

  • Artwork is totally skin dependent. This means that some skins display a small number of artwork types, while other skins will display most or all of the available artwork types.
  • In previous versions of Kodi and in older wiki pages, the term Thumbnails was used to describe Artwork. Kodi has now moved away from referring to thumbnails due to the amount of confusion and concern it caused users.
  • The base line for all artwork is the default skin Estuary. By default, Estuary displays the Basic artwork. Estuary can display the Extended artwork via additional add-ons.
  • While high resolution do look impressive on HDTV's it is important to be aware that the increased artwork size can negatively affect low powered hardware


Basic Movie Artwork

The artwork in the Basic section is the minimum artwork displayed by the default skin Estuary with a standard install.
Note the following:

  • The following naming schemes apply only to the artwork you have manually sourced and saved. It does not apply to artwork downloaded by the Kodi scraper or any add-on processes as these are immediately cached.
  • The Aspect Ratios should be respected as the image fields within skins are not adjustable. Using incorrect ratios may lead to stretching, squashing or cropping of your artwork.


Fanart

Artwork-FanartView02.jpg

Fanart can be defined as images, depicting iconic scenes in a movie, that have been created by fans.

For Kodi, it means digital images, of high quality, that are used as full screen backdrops or wallpapers to enhance the user experience.

The image to the right is a typical example of Movie fanart. It is specifically designed to match the 16:9 ratio of current generation televisions and monitors. This allows the screen to be completely filled by the image.

Required file properties:
Note: The resolution may be increased but ensure the aspect ratio is maintained

File Type Aspect Ratio Resolution- recommended
*.jpg or png 16:9 1920x1080


Naming and Saving conventions for your own manually sourced artwork:

Saved movies as File Name Save Location and example
BluRay & DVD Structure:
fanart.jpg/png
f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)\fanart.jpg/png
Single movie in directory: fanart.jpg/png f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)\fanart.jpg/png
or
<NameOfVideoFile>-fanart.jpg/png
f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)\Big Buck Bunny (2008)-fanart.jpg/png
All movies in single directory: <NameOfVideoFile>-fanart.jpg/png f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)-fanart.jpg/png


Poster

Artwork-PosterView01.jpg

Also known as Cover Art and Folder Image. The Poster Art used in Kodi replicates the movie posters often seen in cinema complexes.

The image to the right is displaying poster images of four movies in the Kodi library. They are portrait, high quality images which use a small portion of the screen allowing movie information or other items to be displayed alongside.

Required file properties:
Note: The resolution may be increased but ensure the aspect ratio is maintained

File Type Aspect Ratio Resolution- recommended
*.jpg or png 1:1.5 1000x1500


Naming and Saving conventions for your own manually sourced artwork:

Saved movies as File Name Save Location and example
BluRay & DVD Structure:
poster.jpg/png
f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)\poster.jpg/png
Single movie in directory: poster.jpg/png f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)\poster.jpg/png
or
<NameOfVideoFile>-poster.jpg/png
f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)\Big Buck Bunny (2008)-poster.jpg/png
All movies in single directory: <NameOfVideoFile>-poster.jpg/png f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)-poster.jpg/png


Actor Image

Artwork-Actors02.jpg

The Actor artwork is a portrait of an actor for easy identification. The image is named as follows <FirstName>_<LastName>.jpg

The image to the right is displaying the Actor images of five actors along the top row. They are portrait, medium to high quality images.

Required file properties:
Note: The resolution may be increased but ensure the aspect ratio is maintained

File Type Aspect Ratio Resolution- recommended
*.jpg 1:1.5 1000x1500


Naming conventions for your own manually sourced artwork:

Saved movies as File Name Save Location
BluRay Structure: <FirstName>_<LastName>.jpg f:MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)\BDMV\.actors\Amy_Adams.jpg
DVD Structure: <FirstName>_<LastName>.jpg f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)\VIDEO_TS\.actors\Amy_Adams.jpg
Single movie in Directory: <FirstName>_<LastName>.jpg f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)\.actors\Amy_Adams.jpg
All movies in single Directory: <FirstName>_<LastName>.jpg f:\MyMovies\.actors\Amy_Adams.jpg


Source Folder Artwork

Artwork-VideoFolder01.jpg

The Folder Artwork, also known as Source Folder thumb, are landscape images that can be used to replace the standard folder icons when browsing your movie sources in the Video menu. You will not see this artwork in the Movies menu. This image file is saved directly within the Source directory.

To enable the image, navigate to Videos>Files in the menu system. Highlight a source and call up the Context Menu. Select Choose Thumbnail. If you have saved in the image in the correct location, it will be available to select immediately. If not, you will need to navigate to locate and select it. The image must remain in its original location once selected. Deleting the image will remove it from view in the folder icon.

You are able to also apply the folder thumb by modifying the \userdata\sources.xml as follows

<source>
   <name>Movie</name>
   <path>xbms://192.168.1.100:1400/Movie/</path>
   <thumbnail>F:\MyMovies\folder.jpg</thumbnail>
</source>

Required file properties:
Note: The resolution may be increased but ensure the aspect ratio is maintained

File Type Aspect Ratio Resolution- recommended
*.jpg 16:9 640x360


Naming conventions for your own manually sourced artwork:

Saved movies as File Name Save Location
Folder Artwork: folder.jpg f:\MyMovies\folder.jpg
Alternative name: <foldername>.jpg f:\MyMovies\MyMovies.jpg


Extended Movie Artwork

To display the Extended artwork, an add-on will need to be installed to extend the image handling capabilities of Estuary and other skins. Once this is installed, it will insert extra artwork fields in the Estuary Skin. The downloader can then be used to either automatically scrape the extended artwork or, due to the newly available artwork fields, you can manually search and insert your local artwork. One example is The Artwork Downloader add-on which can be installed from the official Kodi repository.

Note the following:

  • The following naming schemes apply only to the artwork you have manually sourced and saved. It does not apply to artwork downloaded by the Kodi scraper or any add-on processes.
  • The Aspect Ratios should be respected as the image fields within skins are not adjustable. Using incorrect ratios may lead to stretching, squashing or cropping of your artwork.
  • If using the Artwork Downloader add-on, it is important to note the following
    • The add-on has the option to use local artwork (if correctly named and saved) or online artwork. This can be selected in the settings page of the add-on
    • If you have more than one movie in a single directory, the add-on will scrape the online artwork. It will not scrape the local artwork. Each movie must be in its own directory.
    • Using the Kodi scraper will not download extended artwork. The artwork downloader is required to be run after the Kodi scrape process. i.e. you are performing two scrapes.


Artwork-Banner02.jpg

Also known as Wide Banner Icons. The image to the right shows the Movie Banner view on the Aeon Nox skin. They are images that normally contain recognisable characters or moments in the movie. The banner image normally displays the movie logo which is of a size that is clearly legible. There should be no written advertising of Actors, Studios etc.

Required file properties:
Note: The resolution may be increased but ensure the aspect ratio is maintained

File Type Aspect Ratio Resolution- recommended
*.jpg or png 1:0.185 1000x185


Naming and Saving conventions for your own manually sourced artwork:

Saved movies as File Name Save Location and example
BluRay & DVD Structure:
banner.jpg/png
f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)\banner.jpg/png
Single movie in directory:
banner.jpg/png
f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)\banner.jpg/png
All movies in single directory: <NameOfVideoFile>-banner.jpg/png f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)-banner.jpg/png

ClearArt

Artwork-ClearArt01.jpg

ClearArt are images that are saved on a transparent background. This allows the image to be overlayed on another image or playing video. The images normally include the movie name or logo, along with an iconic prop or scene from the movie, or an actors image.

The image to the right is displaying ClearArt at the bottom right corner of the image.

Required file properties:
Note: The resolution may be increased but ensure the aspect ratio is maintained

File Type Aspect Ratio Resolution- recommended
*.png 1:0.562 1000x562


Naming and Saving conventions for your own manually sourced artwork:

Saved movies as File Name Save Location and example
BluRay & DVD Structure:
clearart.png
f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)\clearart.png
Single movie in directory:
clearart.png
f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)\clearart.png
All movies in single directory: <NameOfVideoFile>-clearart.png f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)-clearart.png


Artwork-ClearLogo.jpg

This is the basic movie logo or movie name on a transparent background. The logo uses the movies distinctive font. There are no movie or actor images incorporated into the logo. The transparent background allows it to be overlayed on other images or video with minimal impact.

The image on the right is displaying the ClearLogo movie names across the bottom of the image.

Required file properties:
Note: The resolution may be increased but ensure the aspect ratio is maintained

File Type Aspect Ratio Resolution- recommended
*.png 1:0.388 800x310


Naming and Saving conventions for your own manually sourced artwork:

Saved movies as File Name Save Location and example
BluRay & DVD Structure:
clearlogo.png
f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)\clearlogo.png
Single movie in directory:
clearlogo.png
f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)\clearlogo.png
All movies in single directory: <NameOfVideoFile>-clearlogo.png f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)-clearlogo.png


Landscape

Artwork-Thumbs01.jpg

Landscape, also known as Movie Thumbs, are specially made small fanart images that contain the movie logo and main cast characters or a memorable movie moment. They are used in certain page layouts for movie browsing. The original intent of this artwork has blurred over the years so if you have no Landscape images, it is safe to use your Fanart or Extrafanart images.

Required file properties:
Note: The resolution may be increased but ensure the aspect ratio is maintained

File Type Aspect Ratio Resolution- recommended
*.jpg 16:9 1000x562


Naming and Saving conventions for your own manually sourced artwork:

Saved movies as File Name Save Location and example
BluRay & DVD Structure:
landscape.jpg
f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)\landscape.jpg
Single movie in directory:
landscape.jpg
f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)\landscape.jpg
All movies in single directory: <NameOfVideoFile>-landscape.jpg f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)-landscape.jpg



Thumbnail

The Thumbnail is a legacy item and can be left blank for movies.

It is still used for TV Show episode images


Skin Dependent & Other Artwork

The following artwork requires a skin that supports that type of artwork.

See also: Add-on Search


Disc

Artwork-DiscArt01.jpg

DiscArt requires the use of a supporting skin. It replicates the picture on the physical DVD and Bluray disc. Although the disc artwork is round, the image itself is square and the disc image is placed on a transparent background.

Required file properties:
Note: The resolution may be increased but ensure the aspect ratio is maintained

File Type Aspect Ratio Resolution- recommended
*.png 1:1 1000x1000


Naming and Saving conventions for your own manually sourced artwork:

Saved movies as File Name Save Location and example
BluRay & DVD Structure:
disc.png
f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)\disc.png
Single movie in directory:
disc.png
f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)\disc.png
All movies in single directory: <NameOfVideoFile>-disc.png f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)-disc.png


The Logo has the same qualities and properties as the ClearLogo. These two items can be easily interchanged. Although, there are logo's with a solid background rather than a transparent background and these should not be used to replace the ClearLogo.


Extra fanart

Extra fanart is reliant on a supporting skin and have exactly the same properties as the standard Fanart.

It is possible to download and save additional high quality Fanart which the skin can display, usually in a slideshow.


Movieset Fanart

Kodi does not automatically recognise and scrape the Movieset Fanart. It needs to be manually selected.

This artwork is used for movie Collections or Sets. For example, the Superman collection consists of five movies. Kodi has the ability to display these as a Box-Set. When viewing the box-set, rather than displaying a fanart that is associated with only one of the movies, it is preferable to display a fanart image that has a connection to all the movies.

The file and image properties of the movieset fanart are exactly the same as for Fanart.

Naming and Saving conventions for your own manually sourced artwork:

Saved movies as File Name Save Location and example
BluRay & DVD Structure:
movieset-fanart.jpg/png
f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)\movieset-fanart.jpg/png
Single movie in directory:
movieset-fanart.jpg/png
f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)\movieset-fanart.jpg/png
All movies in single directory: <NameOfVideoFile>-movieset-fanart.jpg/png f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)-movieset-fanart.jpg/png


Movieset Poster

Kodi does not automatically recognise and scrape the Movieset Poster. It needs to be manually selected.

This artwork is used for movie Collections or Sets. For example, the Superman collection consists of five movies. Kodi has the ability to display these as a Box-Set. When viewing the box-set, rather than displaying a Poster that is associated with only one of the movies, it is preferable to display a Poster image that has a connection to all the movies.

The file and image properties of the movieset poster are exactly the same as for Poster.

Naming and Saving conventions for your own manually sourced artwork:

Saved movies as File Name Save Location and example
BluRay & DVD Structure:
movieset-poster.jpg/png
f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)\movieset-poster.jpg/png
Single movie in directory:
movieset-poster.jpg/png
f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)\movieset-poster.jpg/png
All movies in single directory: <NameOfVideoFile>-movieset-poster.jpg/png f:\MyMovies\Big Buck Bunny (2008)-movieset-poster.jpg/png


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