Artwork language selection
Artwork language selection chooses among role- and identity-matched resources using visible-text language, neutral/unknown status and the application's fallback policy.
Artwork language usually concerns text visible in the image, such as a localized title. It need not match the original spoken language, a subtitle track or the app's menu language.
Filter the intended role before comparing size
An original candidate set for one movie is:
| Candidate | Role | Text language | Dimensions |
|---|---|---|---|
| P1 | Poster | French | 600 × 900 |
| P2 | Poster | English | 1200 × 1800 |
| P3 | Backdrop | French | 1920 × 1080 |
| P4 | Poster | Textless/neutral | 900 × 1350 |
For a French poster request with a minimum width of 500 pixels, P1 matches the role and language and has adequate width. P2 has more pixels but another textual presentation; P3 has the requested language but another role.
The criteria's order belongs to the selected policy. This table is a teaching example, not a reconstruction of Emby's internal ranking.
Textless and unknown are different observations
A deliberately textless image can serve several audiences. An image with no known language label may still contain words.
Provider interfaces represent these states through their own conventions. Legacy Fanart v3 documents 00 for textless artwork; TMDB's image interface supports additional language filtering including a null representation.
Do not reinterpret those markers as ordinary BCP 47 tags without their source meaning. Language tags explains the general language model.
A fallback should preserve its purpose
If P1 is absent, an original policy can prefer the neutral poster P4 before another language's title image. Another product policy can choose differently.
The selected value should remain identifiable as a fallback. A French movie title in metadata does not automatically translate an English poster or logo.
In Emby, library/provider choices and the selected app presentation determine the available combination. A localized title and an artwork resource are separate selections even when they share an intended language.
Cache and refresh retain context
Reusing a previously selected English poster after a language change can concern cached/retained artwork rather than a wrong work match. Compare the candidate set, intended role/language and selected resource.
Image replacement also has its own operation in Metadata Manager. Obtaining translated text does not prove that an existing image was replaced in the same operation.