Import - Export Library

XBMC offers the capability to import and export data manually into/from the Media Library, as well as importing media info automatically from nfo files.

Import / Export options
The Import / Export options can be found in Relevant Music / Videos Settings.

Video Library:
 * Export Video Library
 * Exports the Library database to either one, or multiple XML files. When you initiate an export, XBMC will ask if you want to export to separate or a single file.
 * If you choose to export to separate files you will also be asked if you want to export thumbnails and fanart as well.
 * The resulting XML nfo file and associated image files will then be exported to the location of the corresponding video files.


 * Import Video Library
 * Imports an XML file into the Library database. If the entry does not exist it is appended.
 * If it exists:


 * 1) It removes all current info for that entry from the database.
 * 2) Inserts the info for that entry from the XML file.


 * Note: If you wish to import a movie, TV show, music video or episode into the library, use the corresponding format in the exported xml file and enclose it with the tags. Examples can be seen below, as nfo files.

Music Library:
 * Export Music Library
 * Exports the Library database to XML files.


 * Import Music / Video Library
 * Imports a XML file into the Library database. If the entry does not exist it is skipped.
 * If it exists:


 * 1) It removes all current info for that entry from the database.
 * 2) Inserts the info for that entry from the XML file.

Video nfo Files
Nfo files can be used to provide data for a video file in XBMC or influence the search behaviour of scrapers. In particular they are helpful if the information fetched from a web site does not match the video file, or data for that particular file does not exist.

By default at the time of scanning, if the media folder contains a correctly named *.nfo file, then XBMC will load the *.nfo file and attempt to either, in the case of it containing XML data get the meta-data directly from the nfo file or will parse it for a direct URL to the scraper info page. This allows XBMC to skip it's normal lookup and/or search procedures, useful if a file's information is not available on any of the scraper sites, or if the file-matching criteria fails for the particular file.

Video nfo Files containing XML data
1. The *.nfo file is an XML file containing the data for inclusion in the library.

Movies
Movie.nfo will override all and any nfo files in the same folder as the media files. If there is only one nfo file in a folder, The scraper will use it for all media files in that folder. If there are multiple media files in a folder, the *.nfo must be named exactly the same as the video file it is representing (ie. moviename.avi and moviename.nfo). In the case of multi-part (stacked) video stacking, name the file either moviename.nfo or moviename-CD1.nfo where the first filename is moviename-CD1.avi. Note, if your movie is ripped as VOB's and stored in a 'VIDEO_TS' folder, you will have to name the file 'VIDEO_TS.nfo' and place it in the same directory with the VIDEO_TS.ifo file.

Additionally the 'set' tag can be used to help sort movies that are part of a series or collection (ie Harry Potter, James Bond films). This sort of collection tagging must be done in the .NFO file before the movie is scanned into the library.

TV Shows
The filename of the NFO should be  (Exact, NOT the name of the actual TV show) and it should be in the root folder of the TV show. The nfo xml file may contain a valid  to allow online updates. If not, only episodes with nfo files will be added.

TV Episodes
The *.nfo must be named exactly as the episode filename (i.e. episodename.avi and episodename.nfo) and in the same folder, allowing multiple episode and *.nfo files within the same folder. Episode names must still follow the naming convention even though you are using a custom NFO file.

For multi-part episodes, simply add multiple  XML blocks in succession.

Music Videos
The filename of the NFO should be the same as the music video file, only replacing the original extension with .nfo. i.e. Bestartistintheworld - Bestsongintheworld.avi should have the corresponding nfo filename Bestartistintheworld - Bestsongintheworld.nfo.

Video nfo files containing an URL
2. The *.nfo file contains a URL of the information page to scrape. The file can include other information (i.e. scene info), XBMC will scan through it and use a relevant URL if a match is found.

The scraper tries to match url's to all scrapers of the content type a dir is set to. E.g. if you set the content type to movies all movie scrapers check nfo files for a matching url. This means that nfo's override the scraper setting. I.e. a directory is set to use the imdb scraper but you have a German movie in it. Simply create a nfo for that movie with the ofdb link in it and you are sorted!

Movies

 * will override all and any nfo files in the same folder as the media files.


 * where Moviename is the name of the movie file that points to a movie on IMDb.com.

If you use the "Use Foldername for Lookups" scraper setting XBMC will use the first nfo file it finds in the folder and apply it to any valid video file it finds in the same folder. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0333766

TV Shows
Filename should be  (Exact, NOT the name of the TV show) in the root folder of the TV Show that points to a show on TheTVDB.com. http://thetvdb.com/index.php?tab=series&id=73545

TV Episodes
Episodename.nfo where Episodename is the name of the episode file. Not currently supported! http://thetvdb.com/?tab=episode&seriesid=73545&seasonid=5950&id=117847&lid=7

Music Videos
Mvideo.nfo where Mvideo is the name of the music video file that points to a music video on MTV.com http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?artist=983&vid=222165

Video nfo files containing a mix of XML and URL
You can also create nfo files that contain both XML data and an URL. This is useful for instance, if you want the entry in your database to have another name than the one officially provided by the scraper, for the movie to sort differently or the movie to be a part of a movie set.

Example:

By default the xml entry is added to the scraped entry in the database and may result in some duplicates. If you want to completely override the scraped result you need to set a clear attribute for the relevant xml tag in the nfo file.

Example:

Currently supported tags for the clear attribute are genre, director, studio, actor, credits and artist for Music Videos.

Importing library information from "My Movies" media management software
My Movies (www.mymovies.name) is an online database for profiling DVD-Video movies. My Movies saves an XML file and a poster cover image which with this patch will get scanned by XBMC in the same way as XBMC's own XML formatted NFO files are scanned/scraped.

XBMC has the ability to get the import movie library information from "My Movies" via the mymovies.xml files that it generates, these mymovies.xml are are checked after the movie.nfo file.

Artists
Artist.nfo in the artist folder containing:

NOTE: Where indicated, tags can accept an optional "clear" boolean (true/false) attribute which clears corresponding scraped data and all values of similar tags up to that point.

Albums
Album.nfo in the album folder containing:

NOTE: Where indicated, tags can accept an optional "clear" boolean (true/false) attribute which clears corresponding scraped data and all values of similar tags up to that point.

Artists
Artist.nfo in the artist folder that points to the corresponding artist page on a supported scraper site, such as Allmusic.com or Discogs. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:gifoxqwkldae Artist.nfo assumes an artist/album directory layout

Albums
Album.nfo in the album folder that points to the corresponding album page on a supported scraper site, such as Allmusic.com or Discogs. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:kifoxqualdde

Additional information
Additional information on how to add format-tags for text and labels (Eg. Bold, Italic) can be found under Label Formatting