Music artwork: Difference between revisions

From Official Kodi Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
No edit summary
(8 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{MusicLibraryCreate}}
{{Artwork_Contents}}
{{mininav|[[:Category:Music_library|Music Library Index]] |[[Artwork]]}}
{{mininav|[[:Category:Music_library|Music Library Index]] |[[Artwork]]}}




<section begin="intro" />Music artwork are images directly related to an Artist or an Album, that are either scraped into the Music library from extenal sources or, in the case of Album art, scanned from the appropriate tags embedded in the music files. The images are, preferably, of high quality, that are displayed when viewing the Album or Artist entry in the library. They may also be used as visualisations while playing music. The Music section in Kodi is able to display up to six types of artwork. This page will describe the different types of artwork available in the Music category of Kodi.<section end="intro" />
<section begin="intro" />Music artwork are images directly related to an artist or an album, preferably of high quality, that are displayed when viewing the album or artist entry in the library. They may also be used as visualizations while playing music. The artwork support in {{Kodi}}'s music library is very flexible and able to display many types of artwork, depending on the skin in use.<section end="intro" />


{{red|'''It is important to note the following:'''}}
{{red|'''It is important to note the following:'''}}
*Artwork is 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.
* To enable '''local artwork''' from separate image files to be added when scanning new media items, the image files must be arranged in a certain folder hierarchy.  
*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.
** For Albums see '''''[[Music tagging#Folder_and_File_Structure| Music folder and file structure]]''''' for a basic option
*The base line for all artwork is the default skin Estuary. By default, Estuary displays the Basic artwork. Estuary cannot display the Extended artwork. Another skin must be used.
** For Artists see '''''[[Artist information folder]]''''' which is new for v18 and separates Artist artwork from music files and overcomes the inherent limitations of that previous method.
*While high resolution images do look impressive on HDTV's it is important to be aware that the increased artwork size can negatively affect low powered hardware.
* Each artwork type, other than the basic thumb and fanart types (that are sufficient for Estuary), must be '''[[Advancedsettings.xml#Music library extra artwork| whitelisted in advancedsettings.xml]]''' in order to be added to the library automatically during scanning or scraping.
; {{see also|Music_library}}
* Kodi 18 is required for expanded artwork type support in the music library.






= Caching =
= Artist Information Folder =
All music artwork is cached. If artwork is cached from local files Kodi will not access the local files again. The only exception to this is Extra Fanart which is not cached, and the skin accesses the image files directly.
:{{main|Artist information folder}}
{{#lst:Artist_information_folder|intro}}


Also be aware of image adjustments made by Kodi during the caching process. '''''See [[Artwork#Cache|Cache]]'''''


Music artwork for the library is cached in the following order:
*'''Artist'''
*#Local artwork correctly named and placed as detailed below. If this does not exist, then
*#Online artwork from the scraper site


*'''Album'''
= Fetching Additional Artwork =
*#Local Artwork will over-ride Embedded Artwork
v18 introduces an '''experimental''' feature that will auto-load extended artwork from local files without the use of additional add-ons, and can be adapted to future changes in the results returned by the music information providers (album and artist scrapers) without changes to Kodi itself. It is considered an advanced feature. Usage and practicality of this feature are being monitored and may change in later releases.
*#Online Artwork is only downloaded when Embedded or Local artwork is not available


The common types of art available for items in the Music library can be categorised as follows:


{| class="prettytable"
! colspan="8" style="text-align:left; background-color:#72d2f7;" | Artist Artwork
|-
! colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" | Basic Art Types
! colspan="1" style="text-align:left;" |
! colspan="5" style="text-align:left;" | Extended Art Types
|-
|style="width:80px; text-align:left;"|fanart
|style="width:80px; text-align:left;"|thumb
! colspan="1" style="text-align:left;" |
|style="width:80px; text-align:left;"|banner
|style="width:80px; text-align:left;"|clearart
|style="width:80px; text-align:left;"|clearlogo
|style="width:100px; text-align:left;"|fanart''xx'' (extrafanart)
|style="width:80px; text-align:left;"|landscape
|-
! colspan="12" style="text-align:left; background-color:#72d2f7;" | Album Artwork
|-
! colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" | Basic Art Types
! colspan="1" style="text-align:left;" |
! colspan="8" style="text-align:left;" | Extended Art Types
|-
|style="width:80px; text-align:left;"|thumb
|style="width:80px; text-align:left;"|
! colspan="1" style="text-align:left;" |
|style="width:80px; text-align:left;"|back
|style="width:80px; text-align:left;"|discart
|style="width:80px; text-align:left;"|spine
|-
|}


= Basic Music Artwork =
'''Basic'''- These types of artwork require no special setup as they have always been natively fetched by {{kodi}} from local files and by the default music scrapers. These are displayed by Estuary.
The artwork in the Basic section is the only artwork displayed by the default skin Estuary with a standard install.
 
{{red|'''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.
*To ensure auto-scraping of '''local artwork''', the music files must be arranged in a certain folder heirarchy. There must be a unique Artist folder which then contains Album folders for '''all''' albums by that artist. These album folders contain the individual songs for that album.
*This folder structure is only important if you want to use local artwork or NFO files for providing additional data, it does not contribute to the library contents.
*Using advancedsettings.xml entries, it is possible to modify the file name Kodi scans for when searching for ''folder.jpg'' artwork. See [[Music_artwork#Advancedsettings.xml Settings|Section 6]]
 
:'''''See also: [http://www.theaudiodb.com/ The AudioDB]'''''
 
 
== Fanart- Artist ==
[[File:Artwork-MusicFanart01.jpg|400px|right]]
Fanart, also known as Wallpapers, Backdrops or Backgrounds, are images that have, in most cases, been created by fans.
;{{See also|wikipedia:Fanart|l1=Fanart on Wikipedia}}
 
For Kodi, it means digital images, of high quality, that are used as full screen displays to enhance the user experience. The fanart displays the artist or band.  
 


The image to the right is a typical example of music 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.
'''Extended'''- Many skins are more rich in art than Estuary and can show extended artwork as well. Historically cdART (now defunct) was used to fetch and apply this art, and more recently '''''[https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=258886 Artwork Beef]''''' is used.
 
<div style="{{linear-gradient|bottom|#f5d3ff, #12b2e7}}">
'''Required file properties:'''<br />
<small>Note: The resolution may be increased but ensure the aspect ratio is maintained</small>
{|
|- valign="top"
| '''''File Type'''''
| '''''Aspect Ratio'''''
| '''''Resolution- <small>recommended</small>'''''
|- valign="top"
| width=150px | {{nowrap|*.jpg or png}}
| width=200px | {{nowrap|16:9}}
| width=200px | {{nowrap|1920x1080}}
|}
</div><br />


<div style="{{linear-gradient|top|#f5d3ff, #12b2e7}}">
Users now have the facility to load any type of artwork without add-ons providing either they have that art locally or use a scraper that returns that type of art. However the default skin Estuary does not display the extended art types, '''if you are using Estuary then there is no need to consider this feature.'''
'''''Naming and Saving conventions for your own manually sourced artwork:'''''
{|
|- valign="top"
| width=300px |'''''Music saved as'''''
| width=250px |'''''File Name'''''
| width=600px |'''''Save name & location example'''''
|- valign="top"
| width=300px |Artist\Album\Songs
| width=250px |fanart.jpg (or *.png)
| width=600px |f:\Music\Madonna\fanart.jpg (or *.png)
|}
</div>


To enable this feature first the art types must be whitelisted in advancedsettings.xml, an example is given below.


<syntaxhighlight lang="xml" line='line'>
<advancedsettings>
<musiclibrary>
<artistextraart>
<arttype>banner</arttype>
<arttype>clearart</arttype>
<arttype>clearlogo</arttype>
        <arttype>fanart1</arttype> <!-- Multiple fanart -->
        <arttype>fanart2</arttype> <!-- Add as many as required. -->
        <arttype>fanart3</arttype>
<arttype>landscape</arttype>
</artistextraart>
<albumextraart>
<arttype>back</arttype>
<arttype>discart</arttype>
<arttype>spine</arttype>
</albumextraart>
</musiclibrary>
</advancedsettings>
</syntaxhighlight>


== Artist Image ==
:'''Note:''' The code box adds common extended artwork that many skins will utilise. It is your choice which extended artwork you add. If you add additional to that shown, ensure the skin has support to display it.
[[File:Artwork-MusicArtist01.jpg|400px|right]]
The Artist Image is also known as Poster, Artist Thumb or just Thumb within Kodi, and is saved as ''folder.jpg'' within the artist folder. They are high quality images of the artist or band members. The image to the right is displaying the Artist Image using the Infowall view in Estuary.


<div style="{{linear-gradient|bottom|#f5d3ff, #12b2e7}}">
'''Required file properties:'''<br />
<small>Note: The resolution may be increased but ensure the aspect ratio is maintained</small>
{|
|- valign="top"
| '''''File Type'''''
| '''''Aspect Ratio'''''
| '''''Resolution- <small>recommended</small>'''''
|- valign="top"
| width=150px | {{nowrap|*.jpg or *.png}}
| width=200px | {{nowrap|1:1}}
| width=200px | {{nowrap|1000x1000}}
|}
</div><br />


<div style="{{linear-gradient|top|#f5d3ff, #12b2e7}}">
Then decide where the art is going to come from, most likely this will be via the music scrapers. The '''[[Add-on:Universal_Artist_Scraper|Universal Artist Scraper]]''' and '''[[Add-on:Universal_Album_Scraper|Universal Album Scraper]]''' for v18 can fetch extended types of artwork. They currently have settings that enable what art types are fetched as well as the remote sources these come from (see images below). This over complicates matters, where things come from will always be part of the scraper settings, but the decision what to apply belongs to Kodi and the whitelist. For now ensure that the types of art you want are enabled here too, so the scraper fetches a full list of the art available, but these settings should be simplified in due course.  
'''''Naming and Saving conventions for your own manually sourced artwork:'''''
{|
|- valign="top"
| width=300px |'''''Music saved as'''''
| width=250px |'''''File Name'''''
| width=600px |'''''Save name & location example'''''
|- valign="top"
| width=300px |Artist\Album\Songs
| width=250px |folder.jpg (or *.png)
| width=600px |f:\Music\Madonna\folder.jpg (or *.png)
|}
</div>


Extended artwork can also be provide in correctly located and named local files. The general rule for local extended artwork file naming is <arttype>.<ext>, for where these need to be located see below.


Extended art from local files is automatically picked up and applied as part of music library scanning or scrapin When local art of the types in the whitelist is not found  then the first avialable art of that type returned by the scraper is automatically applied as part of scraping.


=== Manually Adding Artist Artwork ===
The process applied is as described in ''[[Artwork#What Artwork is Used Automatically | What Artwork is Used Automatically]]''
From within Kodi, you have the ability to manually change the '''Artist Fanart''' and the '''Artist Image''' at any time as follows:


#Select the Artist whose artwork you would like to add or change.
<gallery mode="packed-overlay" widths="500px" heights="283px">
#Call up the Artist Information page. (Image 1)
File:UniversalArtistScraper03.jpg|Artist Scraper- Enable Extra Artwork
#There are two options titled ''Get Thumb'' and ''Get Fanart''. (Image 1)
File:UniversalAlbumScraper02.jpg|Album Scraper- Enable Extra Artwork
#Selecting '''''Get Thumb'''''  will present you the options as seen in Image 2
#Selecting '''''Get Fanart'''''  will present you the options as seen in Image 3
#These options are a list of available artworks at the scraper site, or you can navigate to a local or network location as shown in the images.
#Select the desired artwork. Once selected, simply back out of the screen. There is no option to press ''ok'' or ''confirm''
<gallery widths=450px heights=250px>
File:Artwork-MusicAdd01.jpg|Image 1- Choose either Get thumb or Get fanart on the Artist Information Page
File:Artwork-MusicAdd02.jpg|Image 2- The browse screen for Get Thumb (Artist Image). Select from Current, Local or Remote (online) sources
File:Artwork-MusicAdd03.jpg|Image 3- The browse screen for Get Fanart. Select from Current, Local or Remote (online) sources
</gallery>
</gallery>






== Album Image ==
= Local Artwork =
[[File:Artwork-MusicAlbum01.jpg|400px|right]]
All types of artwork can be read from and saved to local artwork files.
The album image is also known as the Album Thumb, Album Cover or as Thumb within Kodi. They are high quality images of the Album cover and each album folder would have its own album Folder image. They are saved as ''folder.jpg'' or ''cover.jpg'' inside the album folder. The image to the right is displaying the album images using the Infowall view in Estuary.
 
<div style="{{linear-gradient|bottom|#f5d3ff, #12b2e7}}">
'''Required file properties:'''<br />
<small>Note: The resolution may be increased but ensure the aspect ratio is maintained</small>
{|
|- valign="top"
| '''''File Type'''''
| '''''Aspect Ratio'''''
| '''''Resolution- <small>recommended</small>'''''
|- valign="top"
| width=150px | {{nowrap|*.jpg or *.png}}
| width=200px | {{nowrap|1:1}}
| width=200px | {{nowrap|1000x1000}}
|}
</div><br />
 
<div style="{{linear-gradient|top|#f5d3ff, #12b2e7}}">
'''''Naming and Saving conventions for your own manually sourced artwork:'''''
{|
|- valign="top"
| width=300px |'''''Music saved as'''''
| width=250px |'''''File Name'''''
| width=600px |'''''Save name & location example'''''
|- valign="top"
| width=300px |Artist\Album\Songs
| width=250px |folder.jpg (or *.png)
| width=600px |f:\Music\Madonna\Like A Prayer\folder.jpg (or *.png)
|- valign="top"
| width=300px |also
| width=250px |cover.jpg (or *.png)
| width=600px |f:\Music\Madonna\Like A Prayer\cover.jpg (or *.png)
|}
</div>


Local artist artwork can be located in the '''[[Artist information folder]]''' (shown in image) where the name of the artist subfolder does matter, '''or''' a '''[[Music tagging#Folder and File Structure| common unique artist folder]]''' among your music files if Kodi can find one (where the name of the subfolder does not matter).


Local album artwork can be located in the '''[[Music tagging#Folder and File Structure| album folder]]''' (shown in image). This folder is identified from the music files it contains, not the folder name.


=== Manually Adding Album Artwork ===
<gallery mode="packed" widths="1000px" heights="562px">
From within Kodi, you have the ability to manually change the Album artwork at any time.
File:LocalMusicArtwork01.jpg
 
#Select the Album whose artwork you would like to add or change.
#Call up the Album Information page.
#Select ''Get Thumb'' as seen in Image 1 below.
#You will be presented a list of available artworks at the scraper site, or you can navigate to a local or network location as shown in Image 2
#Select the desired artwork. Once selected, simply back out of the screen. There is no option to press ''ok'' or ''confirm''
<gallery widths=450px heights=250px>
File:Artwork-MusicAdd04.jpg|Image 1- Choose Get thumb on the Album Information Page
File:Artwork-MusicAdd05.jpg|Image 2- The browse screen for Get Thumb (Album Image). Select from Current, Local or Remote (online) sources
</gallery>
</gallery>


== Source Folder Artwork ==
[[File:Artwork-VideoFolder01.jpg|400px|right]]
The Folder Artwork, also known as Source Folder thumb,  can be landscape, portrait or square images that are used to replace the standard folder icons when browsing your music sources in the files section. You will not see this artwork in the Music menu. This image file is saved directly within the Source directory.
To enable the image, navigate to Music>Files in the menu system. Highlight a source and call up the Context Menu. Select Choose Thumbnail. If you have saved 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 as it will not be cached. 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
<pre><nowiki>
<source>
  <name>music</name>
  <path>xbms://192.168.1.100:1400/Music/</path>
  <thumbnail>F:\Apps\XBMC\thumbs\shares\thumb.png</thumbnail>
</source>
</nowiki></pre>
<div style="{{linear-gradient|bottom|#f5d3ff, #12b2e7}}">
'''Required file properties:'''<br />
<small>Note: The resolution may be increased but ensure the aspect ratio is maintained</small>
{|
|- valign="top"
| '''''File Type'''''
| '''''Aspect Ratio'''''
| '''''Resolution- <small>recommended</small>'''''
|- valign="top"
| width=150px | {{nowrap|*.jpg}}
| width=200px | {{nowrap|16:9}}
| width=200px | {{nowrap|640x360}}
|- valign="top"
| width=150px | {{nowrap|*.jpg}}
| width=200px | {{nowrap|1:1.5}}
| width=200px | {{nowrap|400x600}}
|- valign="top"
| width=150px | {{nowrap|*.jpg}}
| width=200px | {{nowrap|1:1}}
| width=200px | {{nowrap|500x500}}
|}
</div><br />
<div style="{{linear-gradient|top|#f5d3ff, #12b2e7}}">
'''''Naming conventions for your own manually sourced artwork:'''''
{|
|- valign="top"
| width=200px |'''''Source'''''
| width=250px |'''''File Name'''''
| width=600px |'''''Save name & location example'''''
|- valign="top"
| width=200px |Folder Artwork:
| width=250px |folder.jpg
| width=600px |f:\Music\folder.jpg
|- valign="top"
| width=200px |Alternative name:
| width=250px |<foldername>.jpg
| width=600px |f:\Musc\Music.jpg
|}
</div>
= Extended Music Artwork =
To display the Extended Music Artwork, a skin supporting this function must be installed. Each skin varies in its ability to display the different types of artwork but most will display all the extended arwork. To ease the workload in updating your library with the new artwork, most skins will install the '''cdART Manager''' add-on as part of the skin installation process. You can also install via the Kodi official repository.
The job of the cdART Manager is to identify artists and albums in the user's library and then download all available Artwork, copy it to the right paths and register it with Kodi so it can be cached. The cdART Manager is not needed to display any artwork, it only automates the download and caching process.
; {{see also|Add-on:CdART_Manager}}
{{red|'''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.
*To ensure auto-scraping of '''local artwork''', the music files must be arranged in a certain folder heirarchy. There must be a unique Artist folder which then contains Album folders for '''all''' albums by that artist. These album folders contain the individual songs for that album.
*This folder structure is only important if you want to use local artwork or NFO files for providing additional data, it does not contribute to the library contents.
*If using the cdART Manager 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. When viewing the Album and Artist information page for the first time, the cdART Manager will automatically scrape local artwork. If no local artwork is available, it will scrape online sources.
**Using the Kodi scraper will not download extended artwork. The cdART Manager add-on is required to be run after the Kodi scrape process. i.e. you are performing two or three scrapes depending upon settings.
:'''''See also: [http://www.theaudiodb.com/ The AudioDB]'''''
== Banner ==
[[File:Artwork-MusicBanner01.jpg|400px|right]]
Also known as Wide Banner Icons and Artist Banner. The image to the right shows the Banner view at the top right position. They are images that contain the artist or band. The banner image normally displays the artist or band logo which is of a size that is clearly legible. The view is from the Aeon MQ7- Krypton Mod skin
<div style="{{linear-gradient|bottom|#f5d3ff, #12b2e7}}">
'''Required file properties:'''<br />
<small>Note: The resolution may be increased but ensure the aspect ratio is maintained</small>
{|
|- valign="top"
| '''''File Type'''''
| '''''Aspect Ratio'''''
| '''''Resolution- <small>recommended</small>'''''
|- valign="top"
| width=150px | {{nowrap|*.jpg or *.png}}
| width=200px | {{nowrap|1:0.185}}
| width=200px | {{nowrap|1000x185}}
|}
</div><br />
<div style="{{linear-gradient|top|#f5d3ff, #12b2e7}}">
'''''Naming and Saving conventions for your own manually sourced artwork:'''''
{|
|- valign="top"
| width=300px |'''''Music saved as'''''
| width=250px |'''''File Name'''''
| width=600px |'''''Save name & location example'''''
|- valign="top"
| width=300px |Artist\Album\Songs
| width=250px |banner.jpg or (*.png)
| width=600px |f:\Music\Madonna\banner.jpg (or *.png)
|}
</div>
== Logo ==
[[File:Artwork-MusicBanner01.jpg|400px|right]]
Also known as Clear Logo. This is the logo or name of the artist or band on a transparent background. The logo uses the distinctive font associated with the musicians and is uncluttered by other images. The transparent background allows it to be overlayed on other images or video with minimal impact. The image to the right shows the logo at the far right of the image, roughly in the centre and looks like a signature. The view is from the Aeon MQ7- Krypton Mod skin
<div style="{{linear-gradient|bottom|#f5d3ff, #12b2e7}}">
'''Required file properties:'''<br />
<small>Note: The resolution may be increased but ensure the aspect ratio is maintained</small>
{|
|- valign="top"
| '''''File Type'''''
| '''''Aspect Ratio'''''
| '''''Resolution- <small>recommended</small>'''''
|- valign="top"
| width=150px | {{nowrap|*.png}}
| width=200px | {{nowrap|1:0.388}}
| width=200px | {{nowrap|800x310}}
|}
</div><br />
<div style="{{linear-gradient|top|#f5d3ff, #12b2e7}}">
'''''Naming and Saving conventions for your own manually sourced artwork:'''''
{|
|- valign="top"
| width=300px |'''''Music saved as'''''
| width=250px |'''''File Name'''''
| width=600px |'''''Save name & location example'''''
|- valign="top"
| width=300px |Artist\Album\Songs
| width=250px |logo.png
| width=600px |f:\Music\Madonna\logo.png
|}
</div>
== CD Art ==
[[File:Artwork-MusicBanner01.jpg|400px|right]]
CD Art, also known as Disc Art, is the image that is visible on the physical CD. It uses a transparent background.
The image to the right displays the CD Art in two locations- bottom left and bottom right corners of the image.
<div style="{{linear-gradient|bottom|#f5d3ff, #12b2e7}}">
'''Required file properties:'''<br />
<small>Note: The resolution may be increased but ensure the aspect ratio is maintained</small>
{|
|- valign="top"
| '''''File Type'''''
| '''''Aspect Ratio'''''
| '''''Resolution- <small>recommended</small>'''''
|- valign="top"
| width=150px | {{nowrap|*.png}}
| width=200px | {{nowrap|1:1}}
| width=200px | {{nowrap|1000x1000}}
|}
</div><br />
<div style="{{linear-gradient|top|#f5d3ff, #12b2e7}}">
'''''Naming and Saving conventions for your own manually sourced artwork:'''''
{|
|- valign="top"
| width=300px |'''''Music saved as'''''
| width=250px |'''''File Name'''''
| width=600px |'''''Save name & location example'''''
|- valign="top"
| width=300px |Artist\Album\Songs
| width=250px |cdart.png
| width=600px |f:\Music\Madonna\Like A Prayer\cdart.png
|- valign="top"
| width=300px |or
| width=250px |disc.png
| width=600px |f:\Music\Madonna\Like A Prayer\disc.png
|}
</div>
== Extra Fanart ==
It is possible to download and save additional high quality Fanart which the skin can display, usually in a slideshow. Extra fanart is reliant on a supporting skin and the images have exactly the same properties as the standard Fanart described above. These images are not cached, and are directly accessed by the skin.
Extra Fanart is stored in a separate Folder named "extrafanart". Create a Folder named '''extrafanart''' in the folder of the Artist.  Each Extra Fanart must be named ''fanartX.jpg'' where ''X'' is a sequential number starting with 0 ''(fanart0.jpg, fanart1.jpg, fanart2.jpg, etc)''. There is a limit of 10 fanart images allowable. Be aware that some skins utilise less than 10 of the images. The location of the extrafanart Folder is as follows.
<div style="{{linear-gradient|top|#12b2e7, #f5d3ff}}">
'''''Naming and Saving conventions for your own manually sourced Extra Fanart:'''''
{|
|- valign="top"
| width=300px |'''''Music saved as'''''
| width=250px |'''''File Name'''''
| width=600px |'''''Save name & location example'''''
|- valign="top"
| width=300px |Artist\Album\Songs
| width=250px |fanart0.jpg
| width=600px |f:\Music\Madonna\extrafanart\fanart0.jpg
|}
</div>




Line 405: Line 119:
= Embedded Artwork =
= Embedded Artwork =
<section begin="EmbeddedArtwork" />As of v17, Kodi supports embedded album art in mp3 files with ID3v2 tags, WMA/WMV files with ASF tags, FLAC files with Vorbis comments/Xiph tags, and mp4 files with itunes tags. It does not currently support embedded album art in APEv2 tags or Ogg files.<section end="EmbeddedArtwork" />
<section begin="EmbeddedArtwork" />As of v17, Kodi supports embedded album art in mp3 files with ID3v2 tags, WMA/WMV files with ASF tags, FLAC files with Vorbis comments/Xiph tags, and mp4 files with itunes tags. It does not currently support embedded album art in APEv2 tags or Ogg files.<section end="EmbeddedArtwork" />
To understand the priority of Embedded Images in Library Mode, '''''see [[Music_artwork#Caching|Caching]]''''' above.<br />
To understand the priority of Embedded Images in File Mode, '''''see [[Music_artwork#File_Mode|File Mode]]''''' below.


Kodi cannot recognise multiple embedded images in a song file. It can only extract the "Front Cover" image assuming they have been tagged correctly within the file. All other images are ignored.
Kodi cannot recognise multiple embedded images in a song file. It can only extract the "Front Cover" image assuming they have been tagged correctly within the file. All other images are ignored.


A list of embedded tags recognised by Kodi is available
A list of embedded tags recognised by Kodi is available
; '''''see also: [[Music_tagging#Tags_Kodi_reads|Tags Kodi Reads]]
; '''''see also: [[Music_tagging#Tags_Kodi_reads|Tags Kodi Reads]]'''''






= File Mode =
= Library Artwork Source Priority =
File Mode is similar to using the file manager provided by your operating system- eg Explorer in Windows systems. It is simply a file browser that allows you to view and play your media even though it has not been scanned and/or scraped into the Library. This mode does not provide the added benefits of Extended Artwork and Album/Artist metadata that the properly scanned and scraped library provides. As a result, Music Artwork is handled differently using this mode as follows:
Music artwork is automatically allocated using the following order:


*The only artwork displayed in File Mode is Artist Image and Album Image.
# Local artwork files
*You must have local artwork named and saved as detailed in paragraph 2 above.  
#* Album and artist artwork from local files always takes precedence.
*These images are not loaded automatically. The Artist or Album must be viewed once to allow Kodi to locate and cache the image.  
# Album cover artwork embedded in tracks (when "Prefer scraped album art" is disabled)
*When '''Enable tag reading''' is '''''Enabled''''' the song must be viewed to allow Kodi to scan for embedded images if no local image is available.
#* By default the first embedded front cover art found while processing the music files of the album is taken as the album cover.
# First available scraped art
#* The music information providers (scrapers) return lists of available artist and album artwork. The first of each the type of art for that artist or album is applied as the art if none has already been found locally.  
#* Scraping only happens as part of library update if the option in Kodi ''Settings -> Media -> Music -> "Fetch additional information during updates"'' is enabled
# Album cover artwork embedded in tracks (when"Prefer scraped album art" is enabled)
#* Use of cover art from the music files can be unprioritised by enabling the "Prefer scraped album art" setting. This could be desirable if the embedded art is of low quality compared to what the scrapers may return.




Kodi looks for and caches artwork in the following order:
Songs also have associated art, most of it is the art of the related album and artists but they can also have individual “thumb” type art automatically set. The thumb type artwork displayed for a '''song''' on both player OSD and library screens has a fallback strategy:
*'''For Artist artwork:'''
# Art embedded in that music file provided that all songs on an album do '''not''' have the same embedded art
*#Local artwork named and saved as detailed in paragraph 2 above. There is no fallback image
# Falls back to album thumb. This is either from
## Local image file ''e.g. folder.jpg''
## The common embedded art when that is the same in every music file in the album and "Prefer scraped album art" is disabled
## The remotely scraped album thumb result (when "Prefer scraped album art" is enabled or neither a) or b) are found)


*'''For Album artwork:'''
This means that if the embedded art is a jumble, say one music file with a different image, then the musc player OSD will show the individual embedded art not the album cover however it is set.
*#Local artwork named and saved as detailed in paragraph 2 above. If there is no local artwork then
*#If you have '''Enable tag reading''' set as '''''Disabled''''' in Settings>Media Settings>Music then there is no fallback image
*#If you have '''Enable tag reading''' set as '''''Enabled''''' in Settings>Media Settings>Music then Kodi will search for an embedded image to cache.


= File View Mode =
File View Mode is similar to using the file manager provided by your operating system- eg Explorer in Windows systems. It is simply a file browser that allows you to view and play your media even though it has not been scanned and/or scraped into the Library. This mode only provides the added benefits of album and artist extended artwork and information when viewing music files that have been scanned into the library (so album and artist enries exist) and these have been sucessfully scraped. However basic artwork from local files is supported for music files that are not scanned into the library.


Be aware that if you use File Mode, then upgrade to Library Mode at a later stage, your existing cached artwork may interfere with the correct scanning and scraping of new artwork. There is no simple fix for this. Your choices are
For non-scanned music files and folders artwork in file view mode is as follows:
#Manually amend the affected artwork as described in chapter 2 above
*The only type of art supported is ''[[Artwork_types#thumb|thumb]]'' artwork
#Perform the [[Artwork#Delete_textures13.db|delete textures13.db]] procedure. This will also affect your Video Library.
*Every folder in the hierarchical structure can have an associated “thumb” artwork. The “thumb” for the folder on display is picked up from any suitably named image file found in that folder.
*A thumb for individual music files will be read from tag data embedded in the music file providing the '''''[[Settings/Media/Music#Enable_tag_reading|Enable tag reading]]''''' setting is enabled. Only front cover is currently supported.
*These images are loaded automatically and cached when the folder or music file is first viewed






= Advancedsettings.xml Settings =
= {{Kodi}} version updates =
{{#lst:Advancedsettings.xml|musicthumbs}}
* {{Kodi}} 17 and before did not have the "Artist information folder" option, so could have trouble identifying a local folder for artist artwork in some cases.
 
* {{Kodi}} 17 and before was '''limited to just "fanart" and "thumb" for artist images''' and '''"thumb" for album images''', it did not have the flexibility to add a wide variety of artwork. Expanded artwork is new and still being explored from multiple angles, so not all skins or scrapers or tools will support a full selection.
{{red|Be aware that this method is only applied when art is fetched during the initial scan into library. These settings do not function in the following circumstances:}}<br />
** Skins for versions of Kodi prior to v18 could use Skin Helper Service for some support of expanded artwork, but that has been superseded with this Kodi built-in functionality.
*{{red|When the ''[[Music_artwork#Manually_Adding_Artist_Artwork|Get Thumb]]'' button on the artist info dialog is pressed, and}}<br />
* {{Kodi}} 18 adds a flexible collection of artwork for music items, but each artwork type must be '''[[Advancedsettings.xml#Music library extra artwork| whitelisted in advancedsettings.xml]]''' so that {{Kodi}} will add the specified artwork from scrapers and the file system automatically.
*{{red|When the ''[[Music_artwork#Manually_Adding_Album_Artwork|Get Thumb]]'' button on the album info dialog is pressed.}}<br />
{{red|These two functions look for "folder.jpg" locally which is then listed with any other possible remote thumbs returned by scraping online.}}<br />
 
 
 
= Best Practice for Local Artwork =
{{Note|The issues described below affect {{kodi}} v17.x and prior. From v18 onwards, the issues have been resolved}}<br />
How to organise your music to work around the current limitations Kodi has in identifying where local art (and NFO files) may be located, and what can go wrong.
 
For a great deal of music, where albums have one album artist, using a unique artist\album\song folder hierarchy is the obvious way to organise your music, and Kodi will have no problems finding correctly named image files located in that structure. It can often happen without any user intervention too, as much tagging software such as Musicbrainz Picard will create local album art files as part of the tagging process.
 
The algorthim used to determine the location of the artist and album folders has weaknesses. It can not handle collaborations (albums by more than one album artist e.g. orchestra and conductor), non-unique artist names, disc sets or singles. If local art is not being found then often it is because of the location of some of the song files connected to that artist or album.
 
 
 
==No Suitable Artist Folder==
However it is not always possible to create a unique artist folder, with ''all'' the albums by that artist, and only that artist, in folders beneath it.  
 
*'''Collaborations'''
The obvious example is when an album has more than one album artist, this is very common with Classical music where the composer, orchestra and conductor are tagged as album artists, but also happens in popular music e.g. "Riding With The King" is a collaboration between BB King and Eric clapton, or "The Juliet Letters" by Elvis Costello and The Brodsky Quartet.  There is no work around for providing local art for artists involved in collaborations like this. However the artist scraper will still be able to fetch online artwork for these artists.
 
*'''Song Artists without Albums'''
Some artists may appear only on songs from Various Artists compilation albums, or as featured artist on songs on an album by another artist, but do not have any albums in your collection. These artists also do not have a unique folder containing all the songs they perform on, and so again there is no place to store local art.
 
*'''Other Artists: Composers, Producers, Mixers, Musicians etc.'''
From v17 Kodi processes the tags that descibe the other people involved and musicians etc. in a song. These may be artists with songs and albums in their own right, but often will include people that are do not appear in your music collection in any other role. Again no unique folder containing all the songs they perform on, and no place to store local art.
 
 
 
==Compilations==
Compliation albums also have a reputation for causing difficulties with scraping local artist art. This is mostly because of the unwanted consequences of immediately scraping each album and artist as each is added. (This is solved in v18).
 
One way to minimise this problem is to leave ''Fetch additional info on update'' ''disabled'', and initiate scraping of album and artist information and artwork using "Query Information for All" from the context menu ''after'' scanning a new source has completed.
 
Another is to group all compilation albums under a separate folder, named so that, alphabetically, it is the last folder in the list to be processed. So for example if your normal album artists have folders Musicpath\artistname\ then use Musicpath\zzzCompilations\
 
It can also be useful to put the compliations folder on a completely separate path to where the normal album artist folders are located, and add it as a separate music source. So for example if your normal album artists have folders Musicpath1\artistname\ then use Musicpath2\zzzCompilations\
 
 
 
== Workarounds ==
In addition to the workarounds mentioned in Compilations above, the following may further reduce issues with scraping local artwork:
*'''The cdART Manager addon''' does support a way to provide local art for song artists that do not have albums of their own. It involves creating empty (no music files) Artist folders for those artists. These Artist folders '''must''' match the artist name exactly. cdART Manager will create these empty folders for every song artist in your collection, that can be a lot of folders!
*It is useful to have separate/multiple music sources that separates standard artists and albums, that can easily be organised in a artist\album\song folder heirarchy, from those such as classical music, soundtracks, and compilations which can not.




Line 499: Line 173:
{{Top}}
{{Top}}


 
{{updated|18}}
{{updated|17}}
[[Category:FAQ]]
[[Category:FAQ]]
[[Category:Index]]
[[Category:Index]]
Line 506: Line 179:
[[Category:Manual]]
[[Category:Manual]]
[[Category:Karellen]]
[[Category:Karellen]]
[[Category:Music library]]
[[Category:First time user]]
[[Category:First time user]]
[[Category:Music library]]
[[Category:Advanced topics]]
[[Category:Advanced topics]]
[[Category:Quick Start Guide]]
[[Category:Quick Start Guide]]

Revision as of 15:24, 26 May 2019

Artwork contents

Artwork Main Page



See also:


Return to:

Home icon grey.png   ▶ Music Library Index ▶ Artwork ▶ Music artwork


Music artwork are images directly related to an artist or an album, preferably of high quality, that are displayed when viewing the album or artist entry in the library. They may also be used as visualizations while playing music. The artwork support in Kodi's music library is very flexible and able to display many types of artwork, depending on the skin in use.

It is important to note the following:

  • To enable local artwork from separate image files to be added when scanning new media items, the image files must be arranged in a certain folder hierarchy.
  • Each artwork type, other than the basic thumb and fanart types (that are sufficient for Estuary), must be whitelisted in advancedsettings.xml in order to be added to the library automatically during scanning or scraping.
  • Kodi 18 is required for expanded artwork type support in the music library.


Artist Information Folder

In v18 the concept of the Artist Information Folder is introduced as a new way to handle providing local artist artwork and information via nfo files. The Artist Information Folder is a user nominated folder that Kodi will look in first for artwork or NFO files for any artist.

This topic is of interest to those users that want to provide local artwork for artists, or capture their current artist art and additional data for transfer to another installation of Kodi


Fetching Additional Artwork

v18 introduces an experimental feature that will auto-load extended artwork from local files without the use of additional add-ons, and can be adapted to future changes in the results returned by the music information providers (album and artist scrapers) without changes to Kodi itself. It is considered an advanced feature. Usage and practicality of this feature are being monitored and may change in later releases.

The common types of art available for items in the Music library can be categorised as follows:

Artist Artwork
Basic Art Types Extended Art Types
fanart thumb banner clearart clearlogo fanartxx (extrafanart) landscape
Album Artwork
Basic Art Types Extended Art Types
thumb back discart spine

Basic- These types of artwork require no special setup as they have always been natively fetched by Kodi from local files and by the default music scrapers. These are displayed by Estuary.

Extended- Many skins are more rich in art than Estuary and can show extended artwork as well. Historically cdART (now defunct) was used to fetch and apply this art, and more recently Artwork Beef is used.

Users now have the facility to load any type of artwork without add-ons providing either they have that art locally or use a scraper that returns that type of art. However the default skin Estuary does not display the extended art types, if you are using Estuary then there is no need to consider this feature.

To enable this feature first the art types must be whitelisted in advancedsettings.xml, an example is given below.

<advancedsettings>
	<musiclibrary>
		<artistextraart>
			<arttype>banner</arttype>
			<arttype>clearart</arttype>
			<arttype>clearlogo</arttype>
         <arttype>fanart1</arttype> <!-- Multiple fanart -->
         <arttype>fanart2</arttype> <!-- Add as many as required. -->
         <arttype>fanart3</arttype> 
			<arttype>landscape</arttype>
		</artistextraart>
		<albumextraart>
			<arttype>back</arttype>
			<arttype>discart</arttype>
			<arttype>spine</arttype>
		</albumextraart>
	</musiclibrary>
</advancedsettings>
Note: The code box adds common extended artwork that many skins will utilise. It is your choice which extended artwork you add. If you add additional to that shown, ensure the skin has support to display it.


Then decide where the art is going to come from, most likely this will be via the music scrapers. The Universal Artist Scraper and Universal Album Scraper for v18 can fetch extended types of artwork. They currently have settings that enable what art types are fetched as well as the remote sources these come from (see images below). This over complicates matters, where things come from will always be part of the scraper settings, but the decision what to apply belongs to Kodi and the whitelist. For now ensure that the types of art you want are enabled here too, so the scraper fetches a full list of the art available, but these settings should be simplified in due course.

Extended artwork can also be provide in correctly located and named local files. The general rule for local extended artwork file naming is <arttype>.<ext>, for where these need to be located see below.

Extended art from local files is automatically picked up and applied as part of music library scanning or scrapin When local art of the types in the whitelist is not found then the first avialable art of that type returned by the scraper is automatically applied as part of scraping.

The process applied is as described in What Artwork is Used Automatically


Local Artwork

All types of artwork can be read from and saved to local artwork files.

Local artist artwork can be located in the Artist information folder (shown in image) where the name of the artist subfolder does matter, or a common unique artist folder among your music files if Kodi can find one (where the name of the subfolder does not matter).

Local album artwork can be located in the album folder (shown in image). This folder is identified from the music files it contains, not the folder name.



Embedded Artwork

As of v17, Kodi supports embedded album art in mp3 files with ID3v2 tags, WMA/WMV files with ASF tags, FLAC files with Vorbis comments/Xiph tags, and mp4 files with itunes tags. It does not currently support embedded album art in APEv2 tags or Ogg files.

Kodi cannot recognise multiple embedded images in a song file. It can only extract the "Front Cover" image assuming they have been tagged correctly within the file. All other images are ignored.

A list of embedded tags recognised by Kodi is available

see also: Tags Kodi Reads


Library Artwork Source Priority

Music artwork is automatically allocated using the following order:

  1. Local artwork files
    • Album and artist artwork from local files always takes precedence.
  2. Album cover artwork embedded in tracks (when "Prefer scraped album art" is disabled)
    • By default the first embedded front cover art found while processing the music files of the album is taken as the album cover.
  3. First available scraped art
    • The music information providers (scrapers) return lists of available artist and album artwork. The first of each the type of art for that artist or album is applied as the art if none has already been found locally.
    • Scraping only happens as part of library update if the option in Kodi Settings -> Media -> Music -> "Fetch additional information during updates" is enabled
  4. Album cover artwork embedded in tracks (when"Prefer scraped album art" is enabled)
    • Use of cover art from the music files can be unprioritised by enabling the "Prefer scraped album art" setting. This could be desirable if the embedded art is of low quality compared to what the scrapers may return.


Songs also have associated art, most of it is the art of the related album and artists but they can also have individual “thumb” type art automatically set. The thumb type artwork displayed for a song on both player OSD and library screens has a fallback strategy:

  1. Art embedded in that music file provided that all songs on an album do not have the same embedded art
  2. Falls back to album thumb. This is either from
    1. Local image file e.g. folder.jpg
    2. The common embedded art when that is the same in every music file in the album and "Prefer scraped album art" is disabled
    3. The remotely scraped album thumb result (when "Prefer scraped album art" is enabled or neither a) or b) are found)

This means that if the embedded art is a jumble, say one music file with a different image, then the musc player OSD will show the individual embedded art not the album cover however it is set.

File View Mode

File View Mode is similar to using the file manager provided by your operating system- eg Explorer in Windows systems. It is simply a file browser that allows you to view and play your media even though it has not been scanned and/or scraped into the Library. This mode only provides the added benefits of album and artist extended artwork and information when viewing music files that have been scanned into the library (so album and artist enries exist) and these have been sucessfully scraped. However basic artwork from local files is supported for music files that are not scanned into the library.

For non-scanned music files and folders artwork in file view mode is as follows:

  • The only type of art supported is thumb artwork
  • Every folder in the hierarchical structure can have an associated “thumb” artwork. The “thumb” for the folder on display is picked up from any suitably named image file found in that folder.
  • A thumb for individual music files will be read from tag data embedded in the music file providing the Enable tag reading setting is enabled. Only front cover is currently supported.
  • These images are loaded automatically and cached when the folder or music file is first viewed


Kodi version updates

  • Kodi 17 and before did not have the "Artist information folder" option, so could have trouble identifying a local folder for artist artwork in some cases.
  • Kodi 17 and before was limited to just "fanart" and "thumb" for artist images and "thumb" for album images, it did not have the flexibility to add a wide variety of artwork. Expanded artwork is new and still being explored from multiple angles, so not all skins or scrapers or tools will support a full selection.
    • Skins for versions of Kodi prior to v18 could use Skin Helper Service for some support of expanded artwork, but that has been superseded with this Kodi built-in functionality.
  • Kodi 18 adds a flexible collection of artwork for music items, but each artwork type must be whitelisted in advancedsettings.xml so that Kodi will add the specified artwork from scrapers and the file system automatically.



Return to top