Excluding Files and Directories

Directories and files can be set for exclusion from Jellyfin media library scans, permitting you to include non-tracked files and directories within your media library. This is done by using .ignore (dot-ignore) files within your media library directories.

tip

When creating or updating a .ignore file, ensure that you refresh/rescan the library afterwards for it to be applied.

Excluding whole directories

To exclude an entire directory, place an empty file named .ignore inside the directory. This directory, and all files and subdirectories within it, will be excluded.

The example given below results in the directories Season 03 and OST being ignored:

Shows
└── Series (2010)
    ├── Season 01
    │   ├── ...
    ├── Season 02
    │   ├── ...
    ├── Season 03
    │   ├── .ignore
    │   └── ...
    └── OST
        ├── .ignore
        └── ...

Excluding specific files or subdirectories

When a .ignore file is not empty, it is treated as a list of items to ignore using the same format as a Git .gitignore file.

caution

This is a new feature in Jellyfin 10.11.x and later; older versions did not care about the contents of .ignore files. Legacy non-empty .ignore files must be manually corrected or they will stop functioning as expected.

For example, a .ignore containing the following:

*.avi
sample.mkv
specials/

Will trigger Jellyfin to ignore:

• any file that ends with .avi.
• any file named exactly sample.mkv.
• the subdirectory specials and all files under it.