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. By default, Silo reads them and the images beside them in every library, before it asks TMDB, TVDB, or another online provider.
Add local metadata
Section titled “Add local metadata”- Create the NFO file beside the item using the names below.
- Scan a new item. For an existing item, use Refresh Metadata and Quick Refresh.
- Look at the title and description. A locked field keeps its current value, so unlock it before refreshing if you want the NFO value.
To stop a library from reading NFO files and local images, open Admin > Libraries, edit the library, and turn off Local metadata (NFO + artwork) at the top of Provider Priority on its Metadata tab. The switch covers the whole library, including seasons and episodes, and online providers always come after it. Refresh the items that should go back to provider data.
File names
Section titled “File names”| Item | File |
|---|---|
| Movie | <media basename>.nfo, then movie.nfo |
| Series | tvshow.nfo in the show folder |
| Season | season.nfo inside the season folder |
| Episode | <episode basename>.nfo beside the video |
Names match in any letter case, so Silo also finds Movie.NFO and TVSHOW.nfo.
The parts of a multipart movie, such as Movie-cd1.mkv and Movie-cd2.mkv, can share one Movie.nfo. Silo reads it only when two or more parts are in the folder.
movie.nfo and tvshow.nfo apply only when the folder holds a single title, as poster.jpg does. A movie.nfo in a folder of several movies applies to none of them. Name each movie’s NFO after its video file there instead.
Silo skips NFO files over 4 MiB and symbolic links.
Add artwork
Section titled “Add artwork”Put images beside the media with these names. Each name can end in .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .webp, .tbn, or .gif, in any letter case, so Poster.JPG works too. Where a row lists several names, Silo uses the first one it finds.
| Image | Names |
|---|---|
| Movie poster | <media basename>-poster, then poster, folder, cover, default, or movie in the movie folder |
| Series poster | poster, folder, cover, default, or show in the show folder |
| Background | <media basename>-fanart for a movie, then fanart, backdrop, background, or art. More backgrounds can follow, as described below the table. |
| Logo | <media basename>-logo or <media basename>-clearlogo for a movie, then logo or clearlogo |
| Banner | <media basename>-banner for a movie, then banner |
| Landscape thumbnail | <media basename>-landscape or <media basename>-thumb for a movie, then landscape, then thumb |
| Clear art | <media basename>-clearart for a movie, then clearart |
| Disc art | Movies only: <media basename>-disc, <media basename>-cdart, or <media basename>-discart, then disc, cdart, or discart |
| Season poster | poster, folder, or cover inside the season folder, or seasonNN-poster in the show folder, such as season01-poster.jpg. Specials also accept season-specials-poster. |
| Episode image | <episode basename>-thumb, then <episode basename>, beside the video |
A movie or show can have up to 20 backgrounds. The first name from the table that Silo finds is the main background. Numbered images come next: fanart-1, fanart-2, and so on (Kodi’s fanart1 works too), then background-1 and up, art-1 and up, and backdrop1 and up. Silo stops looking for a numbered name after three missing numbers in a row. Images in an extrafanart folder in the title’s folder come last, in name order. Silo doesn’t read images from a backdrops folder, which Jellyfin uses for theme videos.
Jellyfin apps can show all of these images, including every background.
Silo uses these images only while Local metadata (NFO + artwork) is on for the library, but an image works without an .nfo file. When a local image is present, Silo prefers it over images from every online provider, including for viewers who use another metadata language. Silo skips empty files, files over 25 MiB, and symbolic links.
Names without a basename, such as poster.jpg or folder.jpg, apply only when the folder holds a single title. A folder.jpg shared by a folder of several movies applies to none of them. <media basename>-poster.jpg always applies to its own movie. A show doesn’t use the <media basename> names, so an image named after an episode, such as Show S01E01-poster.jpg, never becomes the show’s poster. When a show’s episodes sit directly in the show folder, that folder’s poster.jpg is the show’s poster, not a season’s. Name the season poster season01-poster.jpg there instead.
If the library’s folder can’t be reached during a refresh, such as a network share that isn’t mounted, Silo keeps the local images it already has.
Silo copies local images into its artwork storage and serves them from there. A new image shows up shortly after a scan or refresh finds it. Until then, the item keeps its current image, or shows an online provider’s image if it has none yet. Silo uses local images only while Save provider artwork to storage is on. With it off, Silo uses the providers’ images instead and still reads the text in your NFO files. Artwork you chose in Edit Metadata stays, including a local image.
After you replace an image, refresh the item.
For a movie or series, the Images list in Edit Metadata also offers the local posters, backgrounds, and logos, marked LOCAL, even when Local metadata (NFO + artwork) is off for the library. The list follows the rules above, so files they skip don’t appear. Apply one as you would a provider image, as described in Choose artwork. An image you upload also appears in the list, marked LOCAL, while the item uses it. Silo keeps uploads in its artwork storage and doesn’t write them beside your media files.
If Could not load from LOCAL appears above the images, Silo couldn’t read some of the title’s local images, for example because the title’s folder is a symbolic link to a place outside the library’s folders. Silo leaves them out of the list.
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.
Identify a title with a link
Section titled “Identify a title with a link”An NFO can hold just a link to the title’s page instead of XML:
https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/12345-movie-name| Provider | Link |
|---|---|
| TMDB | themoviedb.org/movie/<id> for a movie, themoviedb.org/tv/<id> for a series |
| IMDb | imdb.com/title/tt<number>, or the ID on its own, such as tt1234567 |
| TVDB | a series link that includes the number, such as thetvdb.com/?tab=series&id=12345 |
Silo uses the link to identify the title and takes its details from online providers. TVDB’s usual thetvdb.com/series/<name> links carry no number, so Silo can’t use them. Silo ignores a link of the wrong kind, such as a TMDB movie link in tvshow.nfo.
Some tools write XML with a link on the line after it. Silo reads the XML and adds the link’s ID when the XML has no ID from that provider.
What gets used
Section titled “What gets used”| Element | Applies to | Becomes |
|---|---|---|
<title>, <originaltitle>, <sorttitle>, <tagline> | movie, series | title, original title, sort title, tagline |
<plot>, or <outline> when there’s no <plot> | movie, series, season, episode | description |
<year> | movie, series | year; taken from the release or air date when missing or not a number |
<runtime> | movie, series, episode | runtime in minutes, also written as 117 min or 1h 32m; any other value is ignored |
<premiered> or <releasedate> | movie | release date, as YYYY-MM-DD |
<premiered> or <aired> | series | first air date, as YYYY-MM-DD |
<mpaa>, or <certification> when there’s no <mpaa> | movie, series | content rating. From a list such as US:PG-13 / GB:12A, Silo takes the first rating, PG-13. |
<originallanguage> | movie, series | original language, when it’s a language code such as fr |
<status> | series | whether the show is still airing, such as Continuing or Ended |
<genre>, <studio>, <country>, <tag>, each repeated | movie, series | genres, studios, countries, keywords. Values joined with /, as in Drama / Mystery, count separately, except in <tag>. A show’s studios are also its networks. |
<trailer> | movie, series | trailer, from a YouTube or Vimeo link, including the YouTube add-on links Kodi writes |
<ratings> with <rating name="..."> and <votes> | movie, series, episode | ratings named imdb, tmdb or themoviedb, tomatometerallcritics or rottentomatoes, tomatometerallaudience, metacritic, trakt, tvdb, and letterboxd. Episodes keep only IMDb and TMDB. |
<rating> on its own | movie, series, episode | IMDb rating, when <ratings> has none |
<criticrating> | movie, series | Rotten Tomatoes critics score |
<actor> with <name>, <role>, <order> | movie, series | cast; an <order> that isn’t a number is ignored. <type>, such as GuestStar, sets the kind of credit; <tmdbid>, <imdbid>, and <tvdbid> identify the person; <thumb> is their photo, as in Images named in an NFO. |
<director>, <credits>, <writer> | movie, series | directors, writers. Values joined with / count separately. |
<thumb>, <fanart> | movie, series | poster, logo, and background, as in Images named in an NFO |
<uniqueid type="tmdb">, type="imdb", type="tvdb" | movie, series | provider IDs used to identify the title. Other spellings such as TheMovieDB and TheTVDB work too, and a <uniqueid> with no type counts when it holds an IMDb ID. |
<imdbid>, <imdb_id>, <tmdbid>, <tvdbid>, <id>, and a series’ <episodeguide> | movie, series | provider IDs, when <uniqueid> has none from that provider. <id> counts when it holds an IMDb ID or has a TMDB, TVDB, or IMDB attribute; a bare number in <id> is ignored. |
<title> (or <seasonname>) and <premiered> (or <aired>) in <season> | season | season name and air date |
<namedseason number="1"> in <tvshow> | season | season name, when the season’s season.nfo gives none |
<title>, <aired> (or <premiered> or <releasedate>), <uniqueid>, and <thumb> in <episodedetails> | episode | episode title, air date, provider IDs, and episode image |
Ratings other than IMDb and TMDB show only after you turn them on under Ratings in Admin > Settings > Library & Metadata.
An episode’s <uniqueid> applies only to the episode it describes, so Silo skips it in an NFO that covers several episodes or gives numbers that don’t match the file name.
Silo reads NFO files saved as UTF-8, UTF-16 with a byte-order mark, Windows-1252, or ISO-8859-1. HTML entities such as é work, and a plain &, as in Salt & Pepper, doesn’t need to be written as &.
Silo ignores elements it doesn’t read, so NFOs exported by Kodi, Jellyfin, or tinyMediaManager work as they are.
The NFO’s values win over online providers, and those providers fill only what the NFO leaves empty. A list in the NFO, such as genres, studios, countries, keywords, or actors, replaces the provider’s list. Actors and crew count as separate lists, so an NFO that lists only actors still gets directors and writers from the providers. Providers add photos and IDs to the people your NFO lists, but don’t add anyone it leaves out. A field you lock in Edit Metadata keeps your value over both.
NFOs don’t set watched status, personal ratings, or collections.
Images named in an NFO
Section titled “Images named in an NFO”Kodi and tinyMediaManager list artwork in the NFO. Silo uses it for any image that no file named as in Add artwork supplies:
| Element | Image |
|---|---|
<thumb aspect="poster">, or <thumb> with no aspect | poster |
<thumb aspect="clearlogo"> | logo |
<fanart> with a <thumb> inside | background |
<thumb aspect="poster" season="1"> in <tvshow> | poster for season 1 |
<thumb> in <episodedetails> | episode image |
<thumb> in <actor> | the person’s photo |
Each can be a path relative to the NFO, such as .actors/Jane_Doe.jpg, or a web address. Silo ignores a path outside the title’s folder. Silo copies a web address into its own image storage before any app shows it, and skips one that points to an address on your local network.
When the NFO names an image, Silo prefers it over images from every online provider. A person’s photo is shared by every title they appear in, so Silo uses an NFO photo only for a person who has no photo yet.
Set up a series with no online match
Section titled “Set up a series with no online match”For a series no online provider knows, such as a workout course, name the folders and files like any other series and add NFOs for the names and descriptions:
Fitness/ Workout Series/ tvshow.nfo # show title and plot, no <uniqueid> needed poster.jpg fanart.jpg Season 01/ season.nfo # season name, such as "Course A" poster.jpg # season poster Workout Series S01E01 - Chest and Back.mkv Workout Series S01E01 - Chest and Back.nfo # episode title and plot Workout Series S01E01 - Chest and Back-thumb.jpg # episode imageThe folders and file names build the show, its seasons, and its episodes. The NFOs and images supply names, descriptions, and artwork. An episode without an .nfo is titled Episode 1, Episode 2, and so on, so you can fill in a show a few episodes at a time.
Use NFOs in a Mixed library
Section titled “Use NFOs in a Mixed library”Give each movie or event its own Title (Year) folder, and put each show’s episodes in Season NN folders. This sports layout keeps events and weekly shows in one Mixed library:
WWE/ WrestleMania 41 (2025)/ WrestleMania 41 (2025).mkv movie.nfo # event title and plot; <uniqueid> optional poster.jpg WWE SmackDown/ tvshow.nfo Season 27/ season.nfo poster.jpg WWE SmackDown S27E15.mkv WWE SmackDown S27E15.nfo WWE SmackDown S27E15-thumb.jpgSilo decides whether a file is a movie or an episode from its folders and file name, before it reads any NFO. A file inside a season folder is an episode. A file in a folder with a TMDB or IMDb ID, such as {tmdb-12345}, is a movie, even if its name has an S01E01 code. An NFO can’t change this, and Silo ignores a tvshow.nfo beside a file it treats as a movie.
An event with a <uniqueid type="tmdb"> still gets online details. An event without one uses its NFO and local images.
If a folder is sorted as the wrong type, fixing the NFO won’t move it:
- In Admin > Libraries, look for the folder under Ambiguous Roots. If it isn’t listed, fix the folder layout and scan the library again instead.
- Select Override beside the folder.
- Set Type to Movie or Series, then select Save Override.
- Scan the library.
When changes don’t appear
Section titled “When changes don’t appear”Silo applies an edited NFO, or a new image beside the media, the next time it scans that folder. With real-time monitoring, that’s within seconds of saving the file; otherwise the daily library scan picks it up. A field you locked keeps its value. If the NFO’s <uniqueid> changed, Silo refreshes the item and links it to that title, as a refresh you start does. It keeps a match you chose with Match Item.
A value you delete from an NFO stays until you refresh the item and an online provider fills it. An image you delete stays until you refresh the item. An NFO or image directly in a library’s top folder, beside loose movie files, waits for the daily library scan.
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.
If Silo can’t read an NFO, for example because of the file’s permissions or a network share that isn’t connected, Refresh Metadata shows an error and the item keeps its current values. Fix the permissions or reconnect the share, then refresh again.
Silo waits to match a new item whose NFO it can’t read, and tries again later. A permission problem doesn’t clear on its own, so in that case Silo matches the item without its NFO. Fix the permissions, then refresh the item.
When a provider ID in an NFO and one in the folder or file name, such as {tmdb-12345}, name different titles, Silo matches a new item to the NFO’s title.
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.
An NFO with a title and no <uniqueid> gives the item that title without asking an online provider. If you add a <uniqueid> later, the next scan or refresh links the item to that provider. If you only want a movie or series off the unmatched list and don’t need your own title, description, or artwork, Ignore does that without an .nfo.
If an NFO had the wrong <uniqueid>, correct it and refresh the item. A refresh you start follows the NFO’s ID, even when the item is already linked to another one, unless you chose that match with Match Item. Until you edit the NFO or refresh the item yourself, scheduled refreshes keep the item’s match and skip an NFO whose <uniqueid> names a different title.
Later scans and refreshes keep a title you choose with Match Item, even when the NFO’s <uniqueid> names another title, and skip that NFO and its images for the item. To change the match, use Match Item again.