What is the use of nfo files?

[joshuaavalon 0]

Hi, I come from Plex and new to Emby. I would like to ask what is the use the nfo files? It can be turn off, so it is not necessary. It seems like it just store the metadata locally. When I use Plex, I wrote my metadata agent to load metadata stored in xml created myself. If nfo are use for the same purpose, I can wrote an plugin myself. 

[Luke 37095]

Hi, yes nfo is for the same purpose. We've adopted the kodi nfo format, and lots of other software supports editing nfo files so that is why we chose it.

 

But as you say it can be turned off, and in fact, it is off by default.

[joshuaavalon 0]

Hi, yes nfo is for the same purpose. We've adopted the kodi nfo format, and lots of other software supports editing nfo files so that is why we chose it.

 

But as you say it can be turned off, and in fact, it is off by default.

I think it is ON by default. I just install Emby and it is already on.

[Luke 37095]

I think it is ON by default. I just install Emby and it is already on.

 

It depends on saving of local metadata to be enabled for each individual library and that is off by default.

[Happy2Play 8296]

But if you have xml metadata then you need the xml metadata plugin otherwise Emby is downloading everything from the internet.

[dee1 3]

Let me try an answer to this: if you "Save artwork and metadata into media folders"

This information can be used with UNC such as \\mycloud\movies

That information is then stored in the actual NFO file and is a link to the artwork itself which applications can consume.

The NFO will as an example accelerate loading of images for "BOTH" kodi and emby

http://kodi.wiki/view/NFO_files

 

The question is of course where do you want these files?  

I suggest that you not cache them at the client, not cache them at the server, but put them with the media where they belong

 

Just me.. but the nfo is your friend.

Good luck, and yes the emby/kodi nfo in their basic minimal form for movies are compatible.

[Luke 37095]

Thanks @@dee1 !

[dcook 265]

I recommend not storing artwork and metadata with your media unless all your media is stored on local fast SSD drives.

 

Otherwise if your media is stored on slower spinning disk drives or NAS then you will find Emby to be faster if you store your metadata on a local SSD drive.

 

It also has the added advantage of not polluting your media folders with all these tiny files

[ebr 14923]

I recommend not storing artwork and metadata with your media unless all your media is stored on local fast SSD drives.

 

For whatever it is worth, I do not agree with that recommendation.  All access to information while browsing in Emby apps comes either from the database or a cache and those can be on a fast SSD.  The origin of the metadata and speed of the discs upon which it resides should only affect media scans - which have to scan the media drives anyway.

 

Storing your metadata with your media allows you to re-build systems much faster and also ensures that any custom edits you make are preserved.  So, personally, I highly recommend using that option.  You make your own choice.

[dcook 265]

It does make a difference, when I had my artwork on a slower hard drive when browsing through my library there was a noticeable lag while the images would load.  Once I moved all the metadata and artwork to a SSD browsing my library was much much faster, there was no longer any lag or delay with the images being populated.

 

If I had the time I would build another Emby system and video browsing all movies or shows on both system so you can see the difference not storing it with the media makes.

 

 

For whatever it is worth, I do not agree with that recommendation.  All access to information while browsing in Emby apps comes either from the database or a cache and those can be on a fast SSD.  The origin of the metadata and speed of the discs upon which it resides should only affect media scans - which have to scan the media drives anyway.

 

Storing your metadata with your media allows you to re-build systems much faster and also ensures that any custom edits you make are preserved.  So, personally, I highly recommend using that option.  You make your own choice.

[ebr 14923]

It does make a difference, when I had my artwork on a slower hard drive when browsing through my library there was a noticeable lag while the images would load.  Once I moved all the metadata and artwork to a SSD browsing my library was much much faster, there was no longer any lag or delay with the images being populated.

 

If I had the time I would build another Emby system and video browsing all movies or shows on both system so you can see the difference not storing it with the media makes.

 

That would be evident the very first time you browsed to the items in any particular app but not on subsequent times.

[Deathsquirrel 741]

Just to add to @@ebr 's excellent advice, I STRONGLY recommend storing your metadata with your media files.  It makes sharing the content with other tools easier.  It makes installing a new server a breeze.  It's just an all-around good idea.

[thegrunge 29]

@@Deathsquirrel

 

Je vais tester cela en a partir de fichier sur google drive. Quand j'ai testé la dernière fois j'avais aussi envoyer le dossier cache.

Ça surement été pour cela que ma bibliothèque était très lente à ouvrir   

[SenatorIvy 12]

On 10/12/2017 at 2:33 PM, Deathsquirrel said:

Just to add to @@ebr 's excellent advice, I STRONGLY recommend storing your metadata with your media files.  It makes sharing the content with other tools easier.  It makes installing a new server a breeze.  It's just an all-around good idea.

Couldn't find anywhere else this was covered, but the notion of it being a breeze installing a new server might not be the case anymore; I keep all of the nfo's with the media itself and when I had to recreate a library after moving some drives around, instead of just opening the existing nfo files and loading existing images, Emby spent all day rescanning the entire library.

I'd like to remove the nfo's or move them to wherever emby is storing media in, but I'm not certain what functionality they're actually representing, as some things that dont get nfos made seem to be operating just fine without them

[Luke 37095]

6 hours ago, SenatorIvy said:

Couldn't find anywhere else this was covered, but the notion of it being a breeze installing a new server might not be the case anymore; I keep all of the nfo's with the media itself and when I had to recreate a library after moving some drives around, instead of just opening the existing nfo files and loading existing images, Emby spent all day rescanning the entire library.

I'd like to remove the nfo's or move them to wherever emby is storing media in, but I'm not certain what functionality they're actually representing, as some things that dont get nfos made seem to be operating just fine without them

Hi, I would check your library settings to ensure that nfo reading is enabled.

[crusher11 854]

It still takes time to read the NFO files, it's not instant. It just means you retain any data you've changed. 

[GrimReaper 3308]

2 hours ago, crusher11 said:

It just means you retain any data you've changed.

That depends on one's particular setup. Mine is strictly nfo-driven, i.e. all Emby's internal meta-scrapers disabled, Emby is practically a front-end only with TMM as back-end. Rebuild with all local nfos+artwork+trailers for approx. 4,000 movies/20,000 episodes usually takes under an hour on main server, few hours on portable one. 

Edited August 14, 2021 by GrimReaper76
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[Happy2Play 8296]

Yes this will be overall library configuration, when I rebuild I disable everything so it only needs to read what already exists then enable things after the initial scan.  Otherwise a combination of reading and online fetching is done.

[GrimReaper 3308]

Just now, Happy2Play said:

Yes this will be overall library configuration, when I rebuild I disable everything so it only needs to read what already exists then enable things after the initial scan.  Otherwise a combination of reading and online fetching is done.

I even completely kill the internet connection while doing it.

[SenatorIvy 12]

14 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi, I would check your library settings to ensure that nfo reading is enabled.

Yep, nfo reading is on on the libraries

 

5 hours ago, Happy2Play said:

Otherwise a combination of reading and online fetching is done.

This is what I don't understand; if there is info that exists why is it deciding to fetch new info?  I already have a poster for it, I've already ID'd it, that was the whole point of storing it in the nfo wasn't it? If it's gonna go out of the way to grab new things and change them then I'd just as soon not have it bother.

Am I to understand though, that metadata is stored in the db directly now, and that nfo's are just extraneous things?  If they're necessary to keep online-call-outs/scrapings to a minimum then I'll keep them, but I'd prefer to have the nfos stored in a location not with the media at that point.

I'm loathe to fiddle with this much because any changes require full rescans eventually, haha.

[GrimReaper 3308]

Just now, SenatorIvy said:

metadata is stored in the db directly now

Metadata was always stored in db, only difference is whether it is provided by scraping or reading nfos. 

[SenatorIvy 12]

OK, so then once something has been scraped once, is Emby going to read it from the DB now unless a refresh metadata command is called for by me?

[GrimReaper 3308]

Exactly. Nfos use is twofold:

1) Initial adding of an item (or Refresh) - once imported, has no use, you might as well delete it, and run server db only from there onwards

And/Or

2) Backup purpose - any subsequent change in Item metadata will be written to nfo (if nfo saver enabled), hence ensuring you will not need to rescrape/redownload everything upon db corruption or library rebuild. 

 

Edited August 14, 2021 by GrimReaper76
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[SenatorIvy 12]

OK if I scrape, then edit and DONT have an NFO at that point, the changes dont get written to the db permanently? Or do you mean that once scraped, if NFO is enabled, any time changes are made it's written to the db AND the NFO?

[GrimReaper 3308]

Just now, SenatorIvy said:

if NFO is enabled, any time changes are made it's written to the db AND the NFO

Yes.