Applies to: Rolling official movie NFO schema; filename-matched .nfo form
The useful distinctions
- Kodi checks an available NFO before an online scrape.
- The recommended NFO name matches the video filename.
- Movie NFOs use a movie root, a title and a uniqueid.
- Non-scraped items may use a local identifier type such as home.
Describe the actual recording
A family recording or an original workshop film is often absent from public film databases by design. Give it an identity that is useful to your household instead of selecting a loosely similar commercial title. A stable local identifier lets you distinguish two recordings with the same display title. Choose that identifier from your own catalogue and keep it stable when you later improve the description.
Keep the first file small
Start with the few elements needed to identify the recording and explain what it contains. A short NFO is easier to inspect than an exported file filled with fields that were never relevant to your media. The worked example uses a fictional recording and a local identifier, so it does not masquerade as a real movie-database record. Do not add personal names or sensitive locations unless you want them visible in the library.
Maintain the catalogue consciously
Keep a copy of your authored metadata with the media backup. When changing the title or description later, update the NFO and refresh the corresponding library item. The important check is that your own text appears while the file still points to the intended recording. If another application also writes sidecar metadata, decide which one owns these files so competing edits do not silently replace the description.
A focused way to proceed
- Place the video in its own movie folder.
- Create a UTF-8 .nfo with the identical basename.
- Add a title and a unique local identifier; include a short original plot if useful.
- Scan the new item, or refresh an existing entry after changing its NFO.
Worked example · synthetic
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<movie>
<title>Workshop Walkthrough</title>
<uniqueid type="home" default="true">workshop-2026-001</uniqueid>
<plot>An original tour of the demonstration workbench.</plot>
</movie>Read the comparison
A local identifier is an organisational value, not a claim that a public provider recognises the recording.
When to stop or ask for help
If the NFO is ignored, inspect basename, XML validity and whether a competing movie.nfo takes precedence.