Dedicated Spotlight Image Type for homepage

[Smitty018210 205]

I’d like to request a dedicated image type for the new Spotlight section on the Emby home page.

At the moment, Spotlight uses the existing fanart/background image for an item. In many cases that works, but the best image for a normal background is not necessarily the best image for a large Spotlight banner.

It would be useful if Emby supported a separate Spotlight image, for example:

spotlight.jpg
spotlight.png

If a Spotlight image exists, Emby would use it for that item in the Spotlight section. If one does not exist, Emby could simply fall back to the current fanart/background image.

This would allow users to choose a different image that they feel is better suited for how the item appears in Spotlight, while leaving the existing background artwork unchanged.

Mock Up Below: 



Emby's backend services would send request to image providers for background/fanart images.

Edited September 24 by Smitty018210

[Smitty018210 205]

Thanks for, likes and agreeing with me, but need a few comments every now and again so this doesn't fall of front page of feature request.
Let devs know why you would want this.  

[yocker 2078]

41 minutes ago, Smitty018210 said:

Thanks for, likes and agreeing with me, but need a few comments every now and again so this doesn't fall of front page of feature request.
Let devs know why you would want this.  

Here's your comment.  

Would make it possible for me to easy add an option to EmbyIcons to add icons to spotlight images.

[howllor 55]

1 hour ago, Smitty018210 said:

Thanks for, likes and agreeing with me, but need a few comments every now and again so this doesn't fall of front page of feature request.
Let devs know why you would want this.  

It is reactions/likes they go by when looking for what is highly requested though, at least that's what they say

[SortSpion 13]

On 9/29/2026 at 9:10 PM, howllor said:

It is reactions/likes they go by when looking for what is highly requested though, at least that's what they say

True. But most users don't do the same. So reactions are only ever awarded to the posts that are active enough to remain on the front page of feature requests. At least in my experience.

[DMazer 12]

I really like this idea of a "spotlight.jpg" file. I assume the banner is using "fanart.jpg".  When the featured first released, I tried putting a "spotlight.jpg" image in the video folder, but of course didn't work.  I struggled at first to figure out how to use the feature.

I like using my own custom images for spotlight.  See sample below.  But I am unsure of the size the image needs to be to display correctly as a spotlight banner. I searched the forums, and didn't see any image specs or requirements for optimal display.

If you know the image specs, please let me know... I currently removed all spotlight tags, most of the default fanart.jpg images don't really display well... to many size variations.

Sample of what I am working on for the spotlight banner image template, but I can't seem to get the size right....

The blank area in the bottom left corner is where Emby puts the movie logo, text information.

 

Before the spotlight feature, I had my own folder for spotlight movies, and made custom images to display them (replacing, temporarily, the folder image.  This was cut into 5 pieces of equal size, one for each movie.... made a nice banner across the top.

Sample:

 

In closing, my VOTE is for a "spotlight.jpg" image option as noted in the first post. 

Edited October 5 by DMazer

[Smitty018210 205]

@ebr@Luke
Hey was wondering if this was even on your radar at all to add to emby? 
I would assume it would be on the Beta version and not stable if you do add it. Correct? 

[visproduction 381]

When using a spotlight image, dimensions and style options can be complex.  

Ideally, the image should adjust to look good on TV, browser window, mobile portrait and landscape, tablet and all screen sizes for computer monitors.

You need around 20 styles to cover all these screens and they require different code:

1. Web full screen for all the different monitor sizes
2. Web smaller windowed floating browser sizes
3. Every TV App and different TV resolution
4. All mobile and tablet screen sizes. 
5. Linux, Mac or Windows

Push down lower rows and buttons or not? 
You can let the lower home page thumbnails overlap on top of the spotlight image, or crop and remove the lower part of the image so it does not show under the lower rows. A user option switch like this would also need to have extra and different code to work for all the different styles above.  

Cropping?
If the image is auto cropped, the bottom area will probably be the first choice to crop, which would cut off any lower text.

How will it look on different screens? 
It is difficult to visualize how a spotlight image will look for users with different screen sizes.  It might be nice to allow the admin to adjust each look separately.  A preview showing all the different screen sizes with controls to tweak each look, could be a separate admin page.  I have not seen this done online and it would be as complex as creating code for the actual spotlight image.  It is more efficient to just create a detailed guide.

===

Web only spotlight image in a custom CSS theme.
I have a web custom style theme with adjustable home page, spotlight image.  You can use any image height. The lower part and right side of the image will crop on narrow screens. The default setting is to turn it off for TV app sizes but you can adjust that.  You can control the fade away and speed of the animated rise of the lower rows after X number of seconds.  A mouse over second image is available.  There are no buttons or links in the image area. 

Unfortunately, it happens on every return to the home page.  I would prefer to shut it off if the user returns within X minutes. There are just the two images and not a series of spotlight images. Both of these options would require extra .js and this works just from custom css.

Allways check down the posting pages to find the latest theme version.

 

Edited October 25 by visproduction

[Smitty018210 205]

1 hour ago, visproduction said:

When using a spotlight image, dimensions and style options can becomplex.  

Ideally, the image should adjust to look good on TV, browser window, mobile portrait and landscape, tablet and all screen sizes for computer monitors.

You need around 20 styles to cover all these screens and they require different code:

1. Web full screen for all the different monitor sizes
2. Web smaller windowed floating browser sizes
3. Every TV App and different TV resolution
4. All mobile and tablet screen sizes. 
5. Linux, Mac or Windows

Push down lower rows and buttons or not? 
You can let the lower home page thumbnails overlap on top of the spotlight image, or crop and remove the lower part of the image so it does not show under the lower rows. A user option switch like this would also need to have extra and different code to work for all the different styles above.  

Cropping?
If the image is auto cropped, the bottom area will probably be the first choice to crop, which would cut off any lower text.

How will it look on different screens? 
It is difficult to visualize how a spotlight image will look for users with different screen sizes.  It might be nice to allow the admin to adjust each look separately.  A preview showing all the different screen sizes with controls to tweak each look, could be a separate admin page.  I have not seen this done online and it would be as complex as creating code for the actual spotlight image.  It is more efficient to just create a detailed guide.

===

Web only spotlight image in a custom CSS theme.
I have a web custom style theme with adjustable home page, spotlight image.  You can use any image height. The lower part and right side of the image will crop on narrow screens. The default setting is to turn it off for TV app sizes but you can adjust that.  You can control the fade away and speed of the animated rise of the lower rows after X number of seconds.  A mouse over second image is available.  There are no buttons or links in the image area. 

Unfortunately, it happens on every return to the home page.  I would prefer to shut it off if the user returns within X minutes. There are just the two images and not a series of spotlight images. Both of these options would require extra .js and this works just from custom css.

Allways check down the posting pages to find the latest theme version.

 

This is all well and good, and thanks for the info/input, but it has nothing to do with my specific request.
My request is just for the addition of spotlight.jpg and/or spotlight.png as a new image type, and having Emby's backend image search be used to search for new images. 

Edited October 25 by Smitty018210