Media Organization Guide

Find film information

Start with a title, a short summary and an image. Other fields are optional; no XML knowledge is needed.

1. Confirm the title

Search by title or person’s name. For seasons and episodes, search the show name and check the year and numbering (such as S01E03) on the website; do not change file identities.

2. Choose a reference

• Douban

  Chinese titles and alternate names.

• IMDb

  Original titles and credits.

• TMDB

  Movie, TV and people listings.

3. Look up and fill in

In the NFO editor, choose Find Information. The system region defaults to Douban for mainland China and TMDB elsewhere; you can switch sites and remember your choice on this device. Confirm the keywords and search on the selected site. Open the correct entry for information and images, then return to fill in manually. If the site is unavailable, switch sites or copy the keywords.

On iPhone, close the browser to return. On iPad or Mac, you can arrange Vanto and your browser side by side to copy text or drag images. Apple TV is read-only.

4. Import an image

Use Photos, Files, drag and drop, or an image link. A film webpage is not an image URL. If importing a link fails, use an image file you are permitted to download. Posters and portraits use 2:3; backdrops and episode images use 16:9.

Public access does not grant reuse rights. Check the source terms and image licence; use your own content or material you have permission to use.

5. Save your changes

The series, current season and episode stay on one editing page. Episodes only need a title, summary and image. Save Changes submits all modified items in the session. Unsaved images cannot be recovered after the app is terminated.

Quick rules

• Use one Title (Year) folder per movie, with one main video.
• Use Show (Year)/Season 01/Show - S01E01 for episodes.
• NFO files are optional. Without one, Vanto builds the media structure from folder and file names.
• Folders and file names establish media identity; NFO, artwork, and subtitles add presentation details.
• After changing files outside Vanto, refresh the source. Edits saved in Vanto update the current library automatically.

Recommended layout

Media/
├── Movies/
│   └── Arrival (2016)/
│       ├── Arrival (2016).mkv
│       ├── Arrival (2016).nfo
│       ├── poster.jpg
│       ├── fanart.jpg
│       ├── Arrival (2016).en.forced.srt
│       ├── Trailers/
│       │   └── trailer.mkv
│       └── Extras/
│           └── making-of.mkv
└── TV Shows/
    └── Example Show (2026)/
        ├── tvshow.nfo
        ├── poster.jpg
        ├── fanart.jpg
        ├── Season 00/
        │   └── Example Show - S00E01.mkv
        └── Season 01/
            ├── season.nfo
            ├── poster.jpg
            ├── fanart.jpg
            ├── Example Show - S01E01.mkv
            ├── Example Show - S01E01.nfo
            ├── Example Show - S01E01-thumb.jpg
            └── Example Show - S01E01.en.forced.ass

NFO, artwork, and subtitles are all optional. A video alone can be indexed; when these files are present, Vanto prefers explicitly bound local information.

Movies

Keep one main video in each movie folder. Put trailers, extras, samples, and interviews in Trailers, Extras, Samples, or Interviews subfolders. They remain browsable without becoming separate Home items.

Vanto prefers an NFO whose base name matches the video and also accepts movie.nfo in a single-feature folder. Vanto does not currently merge several videos in one folder into a multi-version item. If you keep multiple versions, give each version its own movie folder.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<movie>
  <title>Arrival</title>
  <originaltitle>Arrival</originaltitle>
  <year>2016</year>
  <plot>Movie summary</plot>
  <genre>Science Fiction</genre>
  <rating>7.9</rating>
  <uniqueid type="tmdb" default="true">329865</uniqueid>
</movie>

Shows, seasons, and episodes

The show name comes from the show root, the season number from the season folder, and the episode number from the video file name. Use Season 00 and S00E01 for specials. A file spanning consecutive episodes may use S01E01-E02, although separate episode files usually give clearer progress and metadata.

Use tvshow.nfo for the show, season.nfo inside each season folder, and an NFO matching each episode video. Season and episode values inside NFO do not replace the hierarchy found during scanning.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<tvshow>
  <title>Example Show</title>
  <originaltitle>Example Show</originaltitle>
  <year>2026</year>
  <plot>Show summary</plot>
  <genre>Drama</genre>
  <uniqueid type="tvdb" default="true">123456</uniqueid>
</tvshow>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<season>
  <title>Season One</title>
  <seasonnumber>1</seasonnumber>
  <plot>Season summary</plot>
</season>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<episodedetails>
  <title>Episode One</title>
  <showtitle>Example Show</showtitle>
  <season>1</season>
  <episode>1</episode>
  <aired>2026-01-01</aired>
  <plot>Episode summary</plot>
</episodedetails>

Artwork naming

Use JPG or PNG. Relative image names in NFO must match real files exactly. Vanto does not guess by similar names; when identity is uncertain it leaves artwork empty rather than showing the wrong image.

External subtitles

Arrival (2016).mkv
Arrival (2016).en.srt
Arrival (2016).en.forced.ass
Arrival (2016).zh-Hant.vtt

• Use language tags such as zh-Hans, zh-Hant, en, or ja.
• Common suffixes such as forced may be retained. Subtitle selection in the player remains authoritative.
• Text formats include SRT, ASS, SSA, VTT, and SMI. Image subtitles include PGS, SUP, and same-name IDX + SUB pairs.
• Do not list external subtitles in NFO. They remain independent files bound to a specific video.
• For multiple different subtitles in one language, add an ordinal starting with .2, for example Arrival (2016).en.2.srt. Identical content is not saved twice.

Sources and editing

Edit NFO for free on iPhone, iPad and Mac with a writable SMB or WebDAV source. Apple TV displays NFO but does not edit it.

Edit movie and series titles, descriptions, artwork and cast.

Switch seasons and episodes in place. Keep episode editing simple: title, description and cover.

Seasons: title, description, poster and background. Episodes: title, description and 16:9 cover; no rating, air date or cast editing.

On writable SMB and WebDAV detail pages, iPhone, iPad, and Mac can create or update NFO and artwork for a movie, show, selected season, or selected episode. Online downloads and imported subtitle files are saved beside the video by default, so other devices using the same NAS source can use them after refresh; Vanto does not keep a second device copy. If the NAS clearly did not commit the write, you may choose to save only on this device. Apple TV does not write to the NAS and keeps online subtitles on that device.

Compatibility and advanced rules

Checks and troubleshooting

• Use UTF-8 XML and the correct root element: movie, tvshow, season, or episodedetails.
• Each NFO may be up to 2 MB; Vanto reads up to 32 cast members.
• Unknown XML elements are ignored and do not block scanning or playback.
• If changes do not appear, check names, XML, case, artwork location, and write permissions before refreshing the source.

This page documents the conservative intersection of Vanto, Jellyfin, and Kodi. For extensions, see Jellyfin NFO, Jellyfin Movies, Jellyfin Shows, Kodi NFO files, and Kodi Artwork.