Genre Images

[HouseOfCards 103]

Many of my genres in all libraries seem to never generate overview image collages.  Is this known, or do you need more information?  There are items in the genres without images, but they never regenerate.  A small issue, but it's persistent for a very long time.

 

[Luke 42519]

Hi, what genres have items that don't have images?

[HouseOfCards 103]

1 minute ago, Luke said:

Hi, what genres have items that don't have images?

I put images there in the post.  But any library with genres does it.  Movies, TV, Music.  Seems like just random genres...

[visproduction 360]

If you click on a genre without an image, are there any media posters in the genre or is it empty?

The genre names come from imdb.com.  Media content gets these genres automatically when correctly named content is added to an Emby library.  If you have an odd content name then that media may not get an genres at all. You can fix the media by assigning an identity to it, but if the name still stays incorrect, you could lose the genre with an Emby update and rescanning the Media.  That could explain why some media was listed in a genre and then lost it.

I think the same issue can happen with music.  Another way to get empty genre collections would be if the admin created genre with a name they like, but it is not a standard genre group recognized online.  In that case no songs would ever get automatically assigned that genre name.

Finally another way is if there are actually some items in genres with no images, then that music or media could have been added recently and a full scan has not been run to update the genre with an image. You can also right click, I believe, on a genre and do an update.   That can generate a new image, but the image will not always appear right away.  You may also have to force refresh the page to show a just made genre image.

Hope that helps.

[HouseOfCards 103]

2 minutes ago, visproduction said:

If you click on a genre without an image, are there any media posters in the genre or is it empty?

The genre names come from imdb.com.  Media content gets these genres automatically when correctly named content is added to an Emby library.  If you have an odd content name then that media may not get an genres at all. You can fix the media by assigning an identity to it, but if the name still stays incorrect, you could lose the genre with an Emby update and rescanning the Media.  That could explain why some media was listed in a genre and then lost it.

I think the same issue can happen with music.  Another way to get empty genre collections would be if the admin created genre with a name they like, but it is not a standard genre group recognized online.  In that case no songs would ever get automatically assigned that genre name.

Finally another way is if there are actually some items in genres with no images, then that music or media could have been added recently and a full scan has not been run to update the genre with an image. You can also right click, I believe, on a genre and do an update.   That can generate a new image, but the image will not always appear right away.  You may also have to force refresh the page to show a just made genre image.

Hope that helps.

If you click to edit images in a genre, there is no search option, just an add button to upload your own.  There ARE items in the genres without images, and has been for a while.  A feature of Emby is to periodically create a collage of the item images within the genre, but it just never does that.  This is not a new problem, I was just pointing it out so the developers could put it on their radar.

I put three images here.  Edit Images for "Action" has the collage, which can be deleted...  Edit Images for "Adventure" has no collage, but all you can do is add a custom image.  The third image is what is actually in "Adventure".  Plenty to generate an image from, but it never happens even after refreshing files, etc.  I'm not sure if refreshing metadata with a "Replace Images" would fix it, but that would also wipe all the custom artwork I saved with the library items, so that isn't a viable option.

[visproduction 360]

It could be that collections can be rescanned.  I always make my own genre images.  I can post a screenshot.  I assume everyone prefers to do their own images.  Since the size is square, the posters always get squashed, which is annoying and looks terrible.  There is a forum topic fanart that includes images that other members have created.  You probably already know that.  https://emby.media/community/forum/70-fan-art-videos/

[HouseOfCards 103]

1 hour ago, visproduction said:

You probably already know that.  https://emby.media/community/forum/70-fan-art-videos/

Yeah...

I always liked the automatic collages.  I do wish that we could store more than one cover art for media...  Like multiple movie posters or album artwork that change periodically like the backgrounds.  So much good artwork out there, and we have to choose just one.

I should figure out how to make a good template and customize the categories and genre art though.  Many of the sets on that forum have some (but not all) of the required images for a set, which is why I stick with the auto-generated art.  

[Luke 42519]

Quote

If you click to edit images in a genre, there is no search option, just an add button to upload your own. 

Because there are no internet images for genres.

[HouseOfCards 103]

12 hours ago, Luke said:

Because there are no internet images for genres.

I'm aware of that, I was just pointing it out to @visproductionsince he asked if I could search for images.

From what I can see, the process which periodically updates the automatic collages doesn't run.  Some of those collages from the first image I posted have not updated since the image was initially created (see "Hip Hop" and "punk", for example) after adding the first album.  The collage consists of four copies of the first album cover, even though there has been many albums in it for years.

Whatever process creates the collages should run periodically to update the art.  For the time being, I found a set of genre artwork online that I'm using.  But I do prefer the collages, honestly.

[Luke 42519]

Hi, there isn't a periodic image update for them. It is on first creation, and also may or may not change when content is added or removed from the genre.

[HouseOfCards 103]

20 hours ago, Luke said:

Hi, there isn't a periodic image update for them. It is on first creation, and also may or may not change when content is added or removed from the genre.

I can confirm that after the initial creation, the images never regenerate.  I deleted all the genre images, and then re-tagged a few hundred files.  I added genres, removed genres... and although the server picked up the genre changes, it doesn't trigger an image update.  The only time an image collage appeared was when I created an entirely new genre which wasn't present before.

Would it be possible to provide an option in the "..." menu of the genre to recreate the collage?  As a quick fix?  Just a button to trigger whatever routine creates the genre collage?

Or have it occur when the other collages periodically update, like these do.

Of course, you wouldn't want it to overwrite any custom image the user sets.

If a user deletes the current collage image for whatever reason, there is no way to ever create it again currently.  I prefer the collages to the custom images I currently use, so it would be nice to get them back.

Have a great day...

[Luke 42519]

Genre images are from the first few items, not a randomized set. So those first few items would need to change.

[HouseOfCards 103]

On 6/2/2026 at 1:22 PM, Luke said:

Genre images are from the first few items, not a randomized set. So those first few items would need to change.

Is there a reason why they don't just refresh periodically?  If a user deletes the collage, even if just experimenting with custom images, they can't easily get the auto-generated collages ever again as it stands now...