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Use local NFO metadata

Silo is in active development before 1.0. These guides are updated frequently.

NFO files describe a movie or series from files you keep beside the media. Silo reads them through the built-in NFO Files provider in each library’s metadata settings.

Add local metadata

Section titled “Add local metadata”
  1. Create the NFO file beside the item using the names below.
  2. In Admin > Libraries, edit the library and check NFO Files in Provider Priority. Put it first if local values should take precedence.
  3. Scan a new item. For an existing item, use Refresh Metadata and Quick Refresh.
  4. Look at the title and description. A locked field keeps its current value, so unlock it before refreshing if you want the NFO value.

File names

Section titled “File names”
ItemFile
Moviemovie.nfo, then <media basename>.nfo
Seriestvshow.nfo in the show folder
Seasonseason.nfo inside the season folder
Episode<episode basename>.nfo beside the video
Episode image<episode basename>-thumb.jpg

For season artwork, use poster.jpg inside the season folder or seasonNN-poster.jpg in the series root.

A small movie example

Section titled “A small movie example”
<movie>
  <title>Garden Through the Seasons</title>
  <year>2024</year>
  <plot>A year of recordings from our garden.</plot>
  <genre>Home video</genre>
</movie>

Your own recordings need no provider ID. For a published title, add its real ID in a <uniqueid type="tmdb"> element so online providers can identify it.

What gets used

Section titled “What gets used”

Movie and series NFOs can supply title, original title, tagline, plot, year, runtime, release or air date, content rating, genres, studios, countries, tags, ratings, cast, crew, and TMDB/TVDB/IMDb IDs. Season and episode NFOs support a smaller set.

With NFO Files first, its filled-in fields win and later providers fill the gaps. Genres come as a whole list from the first provider that has any.

NFOs don’t set watched status, personal ratings, or collections.

When changes don’t appear

Section titled “When changes don’t appear”

Scheduled metadata work only fills gaps, so after editing an NFO, refresh the item yourself.

The NFO’s root element must match the media type: <movie>, <tvshow>, <season>, or <episodedetails>. Silo may skip a broken or wrong-type file. Put one episode block in each episode’s NFO.

Folder names and S01E01-style filenames decide the series structure; NFO episode numbers can’t move a video to another season. Fix the naming instead.