Naming video files/Movies

Create Video Libraries

1. The Basics

2. Source Folder

3. Movie Setup

4a. TV Show Setup

4b. Seasons Setup

4c. Episodes Setup

5. Music Videos Setup

6. Add Source & Scrape

7. Scraping Problems

Video library

Create Video Library

Movies

Introduction

There are two methods to organise your movies:

1. Movie Folders- Each movie is saved in its own folder within the Source. (recommended)
2. Flat Folder- All movie files are saved in the Source folder

While Kodi can be a little bit flexible, and some users have come up with "unusual" setups for their media files, Kodi will only recommend the Movie Folder method described below.

We also recommend that your media is ripped to single files, like .mkv, rather than keeping the needlessly complex structure of Bluray and DVD folders.

Naming

The naming of your files and folders is critical to ensure the scrapers can correctly identify the movie, and it is simple to achieve.

Movie Name (Year) - This is the correct naming format for both the movie files and movie folders.

Note: If you are unsure of the name or year check it at the scraper site - either TheMovieDB website or TheTVDB website depending on which scraper you have set.

Filename identifiers

Scrapers can optionally lookup via filename identifiers since Matrix (v21) if the scraper supports it. As of v21, TheMovieDB Python, TMDB TV Shows, and TV Maze scrapers support ID's in the folder or filename.

Filename identifiers are short tags added to the name of a file that directly provide metadata IDs to Kodi. This method streamlines the scraping process by giving Kodi explicit references to look for in its database. If an identifier could not be looked up using a filename identifier, Kodi falls back to the normal scraping process using title and year.

To take advantage of this feature, include the identifier within the filename and/or the folder (depending on the setting Movies are in separate folders that match the movie title in the Set Content screen) using one of the following supported formats:

• Movie Name (Year) [sourceid=xxxx]
• Movie Name (Year) [sourceid-xxxx]
• Movie Name (Year) [source=xxxx]
• Movie Name (Year) [source-xxxx]
• Movie Name (Year) {sourceid=xxxx}
• Movie Name (Year) {sourceid-xxxx}
• Movie Name (Year) {source=xxxx}
• Movie Name (Year) {source-xxxx}

Where:

sourceid / source - the appropriate site identifier of the ID (see Note below)

xxxx - the ID from the site

An example of a properly formatted filename would be:

/Blade Runner (2017) {tmdb=335984}/Blade Runner (2017) {tmdb=335984}.mkv

Note: Not all scraper sites accept all ID's. It is recommended that the sites own ID is used rather than a 3rd party site (eg imdb). 3rd party ID's at scraper sites rely on users to enter that data. It is not uncommon to have these ID's missing.

TheMovieDB for Movies and TV Shows - Use TMDB's own tmdb ID but the scapers will also accepted imdb and tvdb if that data is available at the site.

TV Maze - only acceptes tvmaze ID's

TVDB - As at the release of v21 Omega, the scraper requires updating by TheTVDB

Movie Folders

	This is the recommended method for organising your movies All files and folders should be simply named with the name of the movie and the year in brackets. The name should match the name shown at the scraper site. Each movie file is placed into its own folder which is then added to your Source. Placing movies in their own folder allows saving of local artwork and NFO files alongside the movie file. You have the choice of using the Short or Long name format for the artwork. See: Local Artwork Using this method will provide the safest and most accurate scrape of your media collection. Most library related add-ons will only work correctly with this method. Some skins use modified file naming to display additional Media Flags. These apply to the filename, not the folder name.

Flat Folder

	An alternate method of storing your movies is to save all the movie files inside the Source folder and omit the Movie folder. Also known as a flat folder structure. This method requires that the movie file is named correctly as Kodi is forced to use the movie filename to match the entry at the scraper site. The movie filename must contain the Title with the Year in parenthesis. The name should match the name shown at the scraper site. There are disadvantages using this method: With larger libraries, this method can become untidy and cumbersome to maintain If you use nfo files and save local artwork, the Source folder will become even more cluttered Some library related add-ons will not work with this method as they require a Movie Folder Some skins use modified file naming to display additional Media Flags. In rare instances, there may be a mismatch due to conflict with the modified file name.

Split Video Files

File Stacking for ISO files, Bluray and DVD folders is currently broken and cannot be used. See Issue report: 16109

	Also known as File Stacking, allows you to combine multiple movie files so they appear and play as a single movie. For example: The two disk DVD version of The Lord of the Rings which is ripped into two files for the full movie. Nowadays, it is no longer a common requirement as there are tools to rejoin into a single movie, but file-stacking is still available in Kodi should it be needed. To use this function the following steps are required: This feature can only be used when Movie Folders are used. Modify the video file names, as described in the table below, so that Kodi recognises them as Split Video Files Note: The setting Combine split video items has no effect on how this feature works. This setting simply combines the split titles when viewing the entry in Videos>Files. Type Stacking Flags Split single files- mkv, mp4 etc cd# dvd# disc# disk# part# pt# A, B, C, D 1 DVD & Bluray folders & ISO files cd# dvd# disc# disk# File stacking can be fine-tuned by the user to match obscure cases using the <moviestacking> and <folderstacking> advancedsettings.xml settings. 1 Example of A, B, C, D flags (no space): The Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)A.mkv The Lord of the Rings The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)B.mkv

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