Mass edit metadata when converting 3D.MVC to 2D

[caveman456 2]

I have quite a large number of remuxed 3D mkv files all named using 3d.mvc.mkv, this populates mvc in the 3d field of the metadata and also i have a 3D overlay from cover art. I have since moved away from 3D as all my screens are now run using an Nvidia shield plus I am trying to reclaim some space on my NAS. I am batch converting a bunch of the files at a time and replacing the 3D file with a smaller 2d file. I know I can delete the old file and add the new file and everything will refresh and new metadata will be created. The problem with this is this creates a new date added and they show up on "Latest Movies" on my and the other users I have on my Emby server, I have had some of these movies on the server for a long time. Does anyone know if there is a way to bulk edit a group of movies to delete the 3D field entry? Bulky Editor plugin doesn't show the field as far I can see and I am not overly proficient with editing a database file (although I aware it is the likely solution). BTW I am running all this on a Windows 11 PC. Anyway thanks in advance for any ideas or help.

[Luke 42077]

Hi, do you have nfo files next to your video files?

[caveman456 2]

Yes, I use nfo files stored inside the media folder along with the file and the images also.

Edited December 22, 2025 by caveman456

[Lessaj 467]

Since you're storing the NFO next to the media then you can just rename the NFO to the name of the new file and it will retain all of the information, including the data added. It will still "remove" the item from the DB because it's a new file when a scan runs or RTM picks it up, but it will get added back right away with the info from the NFO from the old file.

Actually one more thing, I don't have any 3d content currently but it may write that info to the NFO as well, so you can look for those line(s) in the file and just delete it. Might be a good idea to look at one example first. But that's the concept.

EDIT: Also if you store BIFs with the media, you'll probably want to delete those too along with the video file. I do that as part of my scripting if I replace a file.

Edited December 22, 2025 by Lessaj

[caveman456 2]

That is pretty much what I have been doing. Renaming the NFO file from 3d.mvc.nfo to just .nfo and yes this does preserve the metadata. The problem is when the 3d.mvc.mkv file was first imported long ago it puts MVC in the 3d field inside the metadata which adds a line in the .nfo file under <Stream Details> <video> <format3d>MVC</format3d>. Even after a rescan of the files this field remains.

[Lessaj 467]

I don't know the best way to do that with scripting in windows, this is something I would likely use sed -i with on Linux... Technically you should be able to remove the entire <fileinfo> section, it will get updated when it processed the new file.

[caveman456 2]

I'm pretty doing them one at a time which is time consuming by renaming the nfo file and replacing the mkv file with a 2d version and then going into the movie within Emby and toggling off the 3d switch in the metadata, I was hoping there was a quicker way where I could bulk select a number of files within Emby and mass edit or use a plugin like Bulky Editor.

[Luke 42077]

Maybe when you rename the nfo file you could also edit it to remove the 3d value? Then it's just a matter of importing the new content in.

[caveman456 2]

Yes this does work. I’m trying to find a way to do it en masse when I convert 10+ files at once. I’m looking for a possible solution to mass edit the metadata to remove the 3D field without having to individually toggle it off in each one at a time.