Multi-Version Movies

[ElwoodBlues 1]

I have a question regarding Multi-Version movies as discussed on the support page..  https://emby.media/support/articles/Movie-Naming.html

Question 1. How does Emby determine the order in which each version is displayed?  It doesn't seem to be numerically / alphabetically.. If it was then the 1-33-1 version would come first right?  

Question 2. How does Emby determine which version is the default version to play if the user just 'pushes play' on the movie..  ? 

Yeah..  I saw the typo too.. 

Thanks for any help you can give..

 

[brothom 177]

5 minutes ago, ElwoodBlues said:

I have a question regarding Multi-Version movies as discussed on the support page..  https://emby.media/support/articles/Movie-Naming.html

Question 1. How does Emby determine the order in which each version is displayed?  It doesn't seem to be numerically / alphabetically.. If it was then the 1-33-1 version would come first right?  

Question 2. How does Emby determine which version is the default version to play if the user just 'pushes play' on the movie..  ? 

Yeah..  I saw the typo too.. 

Thanks for any help you can give..

 

Hi @ElwoodBlues.

The titles for your movies need to be the same and it looks like Emby has trouble recognising the filename because your variants also contain "-" (hypens) which is used to separate the movie's version.

Normally you would want versions as follows:

On The Waterfront (1954) - Widescreen.mkv
On The Waterfront (1954) - Original.mkv
On The Waterfront (1954) - Full Frame.mkv

This way you'll be presented with three versions: Widescreen, Original and Full Frame.

Versions are also more often used to differentiate between "Uncut", "Theatrical", "Extended" and versions such as "4K", "Bluray", "1080p" etc.
In your usecase you can use simplified names.

If you REALLY want to include the aspect ratio's you're better of using the "1x3" forms, i.e.:

On The Waterfront (1954) - Widescreen 1x85.mkv
On The Waterfront (1954) - Original 1x66.mkv
On The Waterfront (1954) - Full Frame 1x3.mkv

Just try not to include multiple "-" (hypens).

Edited December 8, 2025 by brothom

[GrimReaper 4739]

6 minutes ago, ElwoodBlues said:

Question 1. How does Emby determine the order in which each version is displayed?  It doesn't seem to be numerically / alphabetically.. If it was then the 1-33-1 version would come first right?  

Question 2. How does Emby determine which version is the default version to play if the user just 'pushes play' on the movie..  ? 

 

On 1/17/2018 at 2:34 PM, ebr said:

Hi.  The default is always chosen based on the capabilities of the app/device playing it at the time (generally to avoid transcoding when possible).

 

[pwhodges 2012]

To be clear - you can't force the order; the facility was not originally designed for different cuts - just for different encodings.

Paul

[rbjtech 5284]

From my albeit limited research into this many years ago, if all versions are identical except the display / file name, then for a new user with no previous play history, emby will play the first one it finds in the database - ie the by the item id number.   If you wish to re-order the default playback, then by taking the other versions out, vacuuming the db and then add them back, you can change the default order (because they get allocated higher id number).  Agree 100% it's a poor solution ..

[Luke 42077]

Right the order is based on what was determined to be the most efficient version to play based on the client and all of the relevant playback settings that would affect that.

Support for different editions is something that is planned for future updates. Thanks.

[ElwoodBlues 1]

9 hours ago, GrimReaper said:

Hi.  The default is always chosen based on the capabilities of the app/device playing it at the time (generally to avoid transcoding when possible).

I don't mean to bust your nuts on this.. but is this documented anywhere?  I didn't see anything like that on the multi-version support page.  

It just doesn't appear to work this way on my server at least..  Let me give you an example from another movie.  

As you can see, Emby has chosen the 4K version as the default version that will play if a user just thumbs on the play button.  

But,  this is playing on a 1080p TV without 4K capability.  So, either Emby or the Nividia has to do some work on it before it will play..  

The other 2 version are 720p which should play natively on this 1080p TV.  So, if Emby picks the file depending on the capabilities of the device.  Why wasn't the 720P version picked as default?

9 hours ago, brothom said:

The titles for your movies need to be the same and it looks like Emby has trouble recognising the filename because your variants also contain "-" (hypens) which is used to separate the movie's version.

Normally you would want versions as follows:

On The Waterfront (1954) - Widescreen.mkv
On The Waterfront (1954) - Original.mkv
On The Waterfront (1954) - Full Frame.mkv

This way you'll be presented with three versions: Widescreen, Original and Full Frame.

 

 

The manual says: "If using the dash method anything following the dash will be what you see in the Emby client app."

As you can see on this title there are no extra dashes.  Yet, Emby does not truncate the name to be 4k, 720p AC3.5.1 Despecialized and 720p Despecialized.  Isn't this a bug?

 

So,  I really don't know what is going on here..  In this particular case I choose my memories over digital fidelity and want the Despecialized version to be the default over the 4k version.  I would like to hear with more certainty how Emby orders these files as that may be a 'back door' way of choosing a default file.  

The manual says: "The above example includes a 3D version, which is discussed in the 3D Video naming guide. Also, this feature is primarily designed for multiple qualities of the same item. It can be used for different "cuts" but there may be some limitations in doing that." "There is a limit on the number of different versions for a media item. Up to 8 different versions will appear in a list of a movie versions."

Could someone from Emby tell me what are the limitations?  Is it just the 8 versions or are there other limitations?  Could the manual be updated to contain precise & correct information?

 

Thanks to all that read and considered this....

 

 

[Luke 42077]

Hi, it's not that simple. Many 1080p TV's can still play 4K content. How is the quality setting configured in the app?

And it could be that the 4K version would direct play while the 1080p version might transcode due to some other reason.

[ElwoodBlues 1]

2 minutes ago, Luke said:

Hi, it's not that simple. Many 1080p TV's can still play 4K content. How is the quality setting configured in the app?

And it could be that the 4K version would direct play while the 1080p version might transcode due to some other reason.

Maybe? Maybe? Maybe really doesn't bring me closer to a solution..  Could we work in that direction? 

[Luke 42077]

7 minutes ago, ElwoodBlues said:

Maybe? Maybe? Maybe really doesn't bring me closer to a solution..  Could we work in that direction? 

You'd have to try playing them to confirm. I can't predict that without setting the media info for each of them, app/quality settings, etc. But the criteria is roughly based on highest quality version that can direct play, not simply matching screen resolution to content resolution.

[ElwoodBlues 1]

 

I went back to my first example of 'On the waterfront' and removed all the extra '-' hyphens from the filename.    The result was the same as the Star Wars V example I showed above.  The title is not stripped from the particular versions..  I've checked this in Emby for Android TV, Emby for Android, Emby for web ( firefox ) and Emby for windows ( win 11 ).  All produced the same results.  

 

 

[Luke 42077]

OK we'll take a look at that. Thanks.

[ElwoodBlues 1]

2 minutes ago, Luke said:

You'd have to try playing them to confirm. I can't predict that without setting the media info for each of them, app/quality settings, etc. But the criteria is roughly based on highest quality version that can direct play, not simply matching screen resolution to content resolution.

Then how about you tell me HOW I can confirm?  Instead of just giving me.. maybe this.. maybe that... maybe something else..    The more you hide settings and information the more you have to tell people where you hid it..  

 

And,.. I don't mind Emby trying to give the best experience it can with the media it is provided..  But there are judgement calls that trump fidelity.. There should be a way for the user to override this behavior when necessary..  I like the original theatrical version of the trilogy best..  But, I do want to keep the modified versions available so I can go back and look at them on occasion and remind myself why I hate George Lucas so much..  

[Luke 42077]

Just so I answer your question correctly, what is it that you want to confirm?

[ElwoodBlues 1]

1 hour ago, Luke said:

Just so I answer your question correctly, what is it that you want to confirm?

 

2 hours ago, Luke said:

Right the order is based on what was determined to be the most efficient version to play based on the client and all of the relevant playback settings that would affect that.

Support for different editions is something that is planned for future updates. Thanks.

 

This was your answer when I asked about how Emby was deciding what the default file to be played..   So, how do I determine what Emby determines is the most efficient version to play on my client?

[nuke11 24]

I ran into a similar issue with multi movies in the same folder.

What I noticed was the folder needed to be spelled the exact same way as the movie, same punctuation as well as upper/lower case, i.e.

Drive\Name of Movie

Name of Movie - 1080

Name of Movie - 720

Name of Movie - 4K

This would give a drop down of 1080, 720, 4K

Try removing the {tt0047296} from the folder name and add (1954) to each movie file name as well.

 

 

Edited December 8, 2025 by nuke11

[ElwoodBlues 1]

12 minutes ago, nuke11 said:

I ran into a similar issue with multi movies in the same folder.

What I noticed was the folder needed to be spelled the exact same way as the movie, same punctuation as well as upper/lower case, i.e.

Drive\Name of Movie

Name of Movie - 1080

Name of Movie - 720

Name of Movie - 4K

This would give a drop down of 1080, 720, 4K

Try removing the {tt0047296} from the folder name and add (1954) to each movie file name as well.

 

 

Hey there Nuke11.. thanks for the info!

I did what you said.. except I tried first keeping the IMDB #.   You probably have a few weird ones too that get misidentified all the time so I wanted to keep the id# if I could.  Well. it worked..  I noticed something else as well..  With the mismatched folder/file the graphic files , logo, landscape etc would be named for one of the movie files like this  "  ON THE WATERFRONT (1954) {tt0047296} - 1x33x1 Full Frame landscape.jpg "  Now it is just "landscape.jpg"

 

So.. thanks again for that nugget of info..  

I tried going 1 further..  and renaming the x33 x66 & x85 files like 3x85, 2x66 1x33 to see if there was any alphabetical correlation on how they were displayed..  I hoped to find them ordered as 1x33 2x66 and 3x85.  But no..  

As you can see,  the 'new' order isn't alphabetical. I also tried renaming the files as ax33 bx66 and cx85.   nothing changed, the result was as you see above, same order.. 

Maybe Luke would care to share a byte or 2 of his amassed information.  All 3 of these files are 1080p..  All 3 were all encoded by me ( with makeMKV ) at the same time from the same disk. All 3 should take exactly the same effort by emby & the client to play..   How did Emby determine which file would be the default?

 

Again Nuke11, thanks..   I think you put us 1 step closer.  

[nuke11 24]

I have tried a few different things as well, similar to what you have done, and I have gotten the same results as well.

I've also tried putting 1 movie, scan library, then add 2nd movie, scan library then add 3rd movie and scan.

The order presented would be 2nd Movie, 1st Movie, then 3rd Movie

I have also tried giving each movie type it's own folder with the same graphic files for each and let Emby present 3 separate movies with the same name, then I would rename each movie as Movie - 4K Hybrid, Movie - 4K SDR and Movie - 1080, then I would do a manual "grouping" of the 3 movies, but there doesn't seem to be a reason for how it groups and displays.

Drive\Movie - 4K Hybrid\Movie - 4K Hybrid.mkv
Drive\Movie - 4K SDR\Movie - 4K SDR.mkv
Drive\Movie - 4K 1080\Movie - 1080.mkv

The other interesting thing I've noticed, is while watching the movie, it displays Movie - 4K SDR, but I'm watching the 4K Hybrid or 1080 version. Interesting for sure and I'm not sure what this really points to.

It seems to be some sort of logic within the system that seems to dictate the order movies are presented either auto grouped or manual

I just work within the current logic and just watch the movie I want in whatever order it presents to me.

I'm glad this helped you out.

 

 

Edited December 9, 2025 by nuke11

[ElwoodBlues 1]

29 minutes ago, nuke11 said:

I have tried a few different things as well, similar to what you have done, and I have gotten the same results as well.

I have also tried giving each movie type it's own folder with the same graphic files for each and let Emby present 3 separate movies with the same name, then I would rename each movie as Movie - 4K Hybrid, Movie - 4K SDR and Movie - 1080, then I would do a manual "grouping" of the 3 movies, but there doesn't seem to be a reason for how it groups and displays.

It seems to be some sort of logic within the system that seems to dictate the order movies are presented either auto grouped or manual

I just work within the current logic and just watch the movie I want in whatever order it presents to me.

 

I was looking at the different movie files in the directory..  looking for something that would make one first over the other 2.  One thing that stood out is that the '2x66' file had the earliest creation date..  Ah ha!  I'm onto something here..  So, I made a copy from my nas ( trying to do a date change on the nas in windows powershell requires the power of God and a note from the governor )( I had neither ). I changed the name just a little..  reset the creation, access and write time to July 28, 1954 ( the release date for the movie ).. copied it back over to the nas and..   wait for it..  drum roll please!..      NOTHING.  didn't work.. didn't change the order.  phbbbtttt~~~~~~~

I'm not giving up yet..   I kinda think that's what the Emby gods want us to do.. give up & go away.    No.  not me.  The point of having a media server is to be able to present our media the way we want to.. 

Maybe Luke will answer tomorrow.   I'll remind him of the question....

 

All 3 of these files are 1080p..  All 3 were all encoded by me ( with makeMKV ) at the same time from the same blue-ray disk with the same method. All 3 should take exactly the same effort by emby & the client to play..   How did Emby determine which file would be the default?

 

[Happy2Play 9780]

8 minutes ago, ElwoodBlues said:

I was looking at the different movie files in the directory..  looking for something that would make one first over the other 2.  One thing that stood out is that the '2x66' file had the earliest creation date..  Ah ha!  I'm onto something here..  So, I made a copy from my nas ( trying to do a date change on the nas in windows powershell requires the power of God and a note from the governor )( I had neither ). I changed the name just a little..  reset the creation, access and write time to July 28, 1954 ( the release date for the movie ).. copied it back over to the nas and..   wait for it..  drum roll please!..      NOTHING.  didn't work.. didn't change the order.  phbbbtttt~~~~~~~

I'm not giving up yet..   I kinda think that's what the Emby gods want us to do.. give up & go away.    No.  not me.  The point of having a media server is to be able to present our media the way we want to.. 

Maybe Luke will answer tomorrow.   I'll remind him of the question....

 

All 3 of these files are 1080p..  All 3 were all encoded by me ( with makeMKV ) at the same time from the same blue-ray disk with the same method. All 3 should take exactly the same effort by emby & the client to play..   How did Emby determine which file would be the default?

 

The client does

On 1/17/2018 at 5:34 AM, ebr said:

Hi.  The default is always chosen based on the capabilities of the app/device playing it at the time (generally to avoid transcoding when possible).

 

 

You will have to wait on this FR.  But could lend your support and like the request.

 

[Luke 42077]

4 hours ago, ElwoodBlues said:

 

 

This was your answer when I asked about how Emby was deciding what the default file to be played..   So, how do I determine what Emby determines is the most efficient version to play on my client?

It's based on the one that is selected when you go into the detail screen. Does that answer your question?

[ElwoodBlues 1]

17 hours ago, Luke said:

It's based on the one that is selected when you go into the detail screen. Does that answer your question?

Not at all.. 

When entering the detail screen 1 movie is already selected as the default..  ( as shown above in the O.P. )

 

It would be a lot more simple if you guys would just give your customers ( you know.. the people who pay you ) the ability to override Emby's selection and select their own default version of the movie in these circumstances.  You could use an unusual character instead of the "-".. something like ~ or | or even ¢ to denote the order.  Using the 'On the Waterfront' example above maybe the files would be named like this?

ON THE WATERFRONT (1954) {tt0047296} ~1 1x33x1 Full Frame.mkv

ON THE WATERFRONT (1954) {tt0047296} ~2 1x66x1.mkv

ON THE WATERFRONT (1954) {tt0047296} ~3 1x85x1 Widescreen.mkv

 

I know this is really getting out there in the weeds..  But for the people who are really into movies.. or really into a particular franchise and collect multiple version of the same movie it is a really big deal.. Heck, I can think of 9 different official releases of Star Wars IV alone.   Isn't this what Emby is supposed to be about. the ability to keep, display and play our media the way we want to?

Until that day comes where a feature like this is added..  I ask again. please tell us how Emby decides ( with all things being equal ) which version of the movie is selected to be default so we might be able to at least figure out to maneuver Emby into choosing the default file we want?

 

[Happy2Play 9780]

I guess to a point there should be no auto select for multi-version and a pop-up should happen to force user to select/choose a version.

1 hour ago, ElwoodBlues said:

please tell us how Emby decides ( with all things being equal ) which version of the movie is selected

For most that multi-version that is not the case as each version would be different usually per resolution, but the client decides as not all clients are created equal.

[ElwoodBlues 1]

3 hours ago, Happy2Play said:

I guess to a point there should be no auto select for multi-version and a pop-up should happen to force user to select/choose a version.

I would not mind a auto select from Emby as long as there is a way to override it when it goes contrary to the end users wishes.  We aren't here to watch what Emby tells us to watch.. We are here to tell Emby what we want to watch..   I would prefer it is done on the server end..  like how the different versions of the same movie are named..   It seems clumsy trying to do that by remote control.  But, if the choice is client popup or nothing..  I'll take the popup..  

3 hours ago, Happy2Play said:

For most that multi-version that is not the case as each version would be different usually per resolution, but the client decides as not all clients are created equal.

As I said above.. In the example I was inquiring about..  

"All 3 of these files are 1080p..  All 3 were all encoded by me ( with makeMKV ) at the same time from the same blue-ray disk with the same method. All 3 should take exactly the same effort by emby & the client to play..   How did Emby determine which file would be the default?"

In this particular case..  all 3 files actually were created equally..  

 

[Lessaj 467]

From my observation it will pick the highest bitrate video it can direct play or that the device advertises support for. Without the mediainfo for each file, but assuming same size audio track, the 1x66 version is the largest file, so it must have the highest bitrate (albeit not by much more). I think the order ends up being the same as file sizes but I pretty much only have 2 versions max so I'm not sure without testing.