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Shows

The most common naming scheme for shows is categorizing the files by series and then season. Another common method is simply using series folders, especially for shows that are organized by air date and those without seasons. Adding the year at the end in parentheses will yield the best results when scraping metadata.

tip

In order to help with identifying a series, Jellyfin can make use of media provider identifiers. This can be specified in your show's folder name, for example: Series Name (2018) [tmdbid-65567] or Series Name (2018) [tvdbid-65567] (imdbid is not supported for shows)

Shows
├── Series Name A (2010)
│   ├── Season 00
│   │   ├── Some Special.mkv
│   │   ├── Series Name A S00E01.mkv
│   │   └── Series Name A S00E02.mkv
│   ├── Season 01
│   │   ├── Series Name A S01E01-E02.mkv
│   │   ├── Series Name A S01E03.mkv
│   │   └── Series Name A S01E04.mkv
│   └── Season 02
│       ├── Series Name A S02E01.mkv
│       ├── Series Name A S02E02.mkv
│       ├── Series Name A S02E03 Part 1.mkv
│       └── Series Name A S02E03 Part 2.mkv
└── Series Name B (2018)
    ├── Season 01
    |   ├── Series Name B S01E01.mkv
    |   └── Series Name B S01E02.mkv
    └── Season 02
        ├── Series Name B S02E01-E02.mkv
        └── Series Name B S02E03.mkv
note

Avoid special characters such as * in M*A*S*H, use MASH instead.

note

Do not mix episodes inside season folders and episodes on the Series root folder.

Do not abbreviate the Season folder with S01 or SE01 or alike.

note

Season folders shouldn't contain the series name, otherwise Jellyfin can in certain cases (Stargate SG-1 due to the dash and one, for instance) misdetect your episodes and put them all under the same season.

Show Specials​

Show specials can be added in the Season 00 folder. If supported by your metadata provider those files will be matched. In case your metadata provider does not provide information about the special, it is recommended to use a name which describes the content of the special instead of naming it Series Name S00Exy.mkv. This is done to avoid wrong metadata being pulled for the special and to provide a proper presentation.

note

Episode numbering for specials may vary from metadata provider to metadata provider.

Specials can also be shown within a season if so desired. This can be helpful when they are part of a continued storyline during the season. This requires 2 settings:

  1. The option Display specials within their series they aired in under Dashboard -> Library -> Display must be enabled
  2. The season and episode they aired before/after must be set within the metadata.
    • These can be set in the Metadata editor or in an NFO using the airsbefore_season, airsafter_season, and airsbefore_episode tags.
    • The Airs before series field can be set to show (and play) the special at the start of the season. It can also be combined with the Airs before episode field to insert it as a mid-season special before the specified episode.
    • With Airs after series, set the Special will be shown (and played) at the end of the specified Season and the Airs before series/episode fields (if set) will have no effect.

Note that this will show them in both the Specials season, as well as the season specified.

Episodes Split Across Multiple Parts​

Episodes that are split into multiple files can be stacked together if named correctly. Files should be named as follows:

  • Series Name (2010)/Season 02/Series Name (2010) S02E01<separator><parttype><separator><partnumber>.mkv

The separator is optional between <parttype> and <partnumber>. <partnumber> can be any number, or the letters a-d.

Supported part types are:

  • cd
  • dvd
  • part
  • pt
  • disc
  • disk

Supported separators are:

  • (space)
  • . (period)
  • - (dash)
  • _ (underscore)

Show Extras​

Show extras can include deleted scenes, interviews, and other various things that you would want to include alongside your show. Extras can be added at both the series and season level. Jellyfin supports several different methods of adding these files.

note

Season level extras are only supported when season folders are used.

Extras Folders​

One of the cleanest ways of adding extras is to place them in subfolders within your show or season folder.

Supported folder types are:

  • behind the scenes
  • deleted scenes
  • interviews
  • scenes
  • samples
  • shorts
  • featurettes
  • clips
  • other - Generic catch all for extras of an unknown type.
  • extras - Generic catch all for extras of an unknown type.
  • trailers
Shows
└── Series Name (2010)
    ├── Season 01
    │   ├── Series Name S01E01.mkv
    │   ├── Series Name S01E02.mkv
    │   ├── featurettes
    │   │   └── Some Featurette.mkv
    │   └── interviews
    │       └── Interview with the Director.mp4
    ├── Season 02
    │   ├── Series Name S02E01.mkv
    │   ├── Series Name S02E02.mkv
    │   └── behind the scenes
    │       └── Behind the Scenes.mp4
    └── extras
        └── Fantastic Extra.mkv

File Suffix​

If you would rather keep everything in a single folder, you can append special suffixes to the filename which Jellyfin picks up and uses to identify the file as an extra. Unless noted, these suffixes DO NOT contain any spaces.

  • -trailer
  • .trailer
  • _trailer
  • trailer - This is a space followed by the word trailer
  • -scene
  • -clip
  • -interview
  • -behindthescenes
  • -deleted
  • -deletedscene
  • -featurette
  • -short
  • -other
  • -extra
Shows
└── Series Name (2010)
    ├── Season 01
    │   ├── Series Name S01E01.mkv
    │   ├── Series Name S01E02.mkv
    │   ├── Alternate Ending-deleted.mkv
    │   └── Interview with the Director-interview.mp4
    └── Fantastic Extra-extra.mkv
    └── Making the Show-featurette.mp4
note

Trailers support a special option if you only have a single file of that type per series/season. The option is to name the filename 'trailer.ext' when stored in the same folder as the series or season.

3D Videos​

Please refer to '3D Movies' in the movies section

Images​

Posters, Backdrops, and Logos may also be embedded into video containers that support it (such as mkv) and will be read out by the Embedded Image Extractor if enabled as an Image Extractor on the library configuration page.

Poster​

  • folder.ext
  • poster.ext
  • cover.ext
  • default.ext
  • show.ext

Examples:

  • Series Name:
    • Series Name (2010)/poster.jpg
  • Season posters:
    • Numbered seasons:
      • Series Name (2010)/Season 01/cover.jpg
      • Series Name (2010)/season1-poster.jpg
    • Specials:
      • Series Name (2010)/season-specials-poster.jpg

Backdrop​

  • backdrop.ext
  • fanart.ext
  • background.ext
  • art.ext
  • extrafanart/*.ext

Examples:

Series Name (2010)/fanart.jpg for the first backdrop image

Series Name (2010)/extrafanart/fanart1.jpg, Series Name (2010)/extrafanart/fanart2.jpg, etc for additional backdrop images

  • banner.ext

Example:

Series Name (2010)/banner.jpg

Thumb​

  • thumb.ext
  • landscape.ext

Examples:

Series Name (2010)/landscape.jpg

Series Name (2010)/Season 01/episode filename-thumb.jpg for the thumbnail of an episode named "episode filename.mkv"

  • logo.ext
  • clearlogo.ext

Example:

Series Name (2010)/logo.png

Other​

Theme Videos​

  • backdrops/*

Example:

Series Name (2010)/backdrops/S1Intro.ext

Theme Music​

  • theme.ext
  • theme-music/*

Examples:

Series Name (2010)/theme.ext

Series Name (2010)/theme-music/intro-song.ext