- Recognized Tags
- Supplying Own Artwork
- Multi Disk Albums
- Adding Music Videos
- Global Music Videos Folder
- Music Folders with Embedded Metadata
- Music Folders without Embedded Metadata
- Lyrics: Naming & Organization
- Adding Videos to Music Files
If the Album Artist tag is not present, then Plex will try to treat the file as though it is a part of a Various Artists album. You should be aware that Plex does not always use the Artist tag to determine the actual artist, this is why the Album Artist tag is important and must be present for all tracks that are not a part of a Various Artists album.
⚡ Plex does not use all possible tags. Tags that Plex uses:
- Artist
- Album Artist (leave blank for Various Artist albums only, must be included in all other tracks)
- Album
- Title
- Year
- Genre
- Track Number
- Cover Art
You can supply your own artist photos, artist backdrops and album backdrops. This however requires that your music files are organised in a folder structure like this:
Music /
Albumartistname /
artist-poster.jpg <--- a photo of the artist artist-background.jpg <--- a background/wallpaper particular to the artist
Albumartistname - Albumtitle /
cover.jpg <---album cover background.jpg <--- album background/wallpaper [if not present, inherited from the 'albumartist' level]
- Trackartist - Tracktitle.mp3
- Trackartist - Tracktitle.txt
- Trackartist - Tracktitle.mp3
- Trackartist - Tracktitle.lrc
⚡ Follow this Naming Scheme
Artist /
Albumartist - Albumtitle / Disc 1 /
trackartist - tracktitle.mp3 trackartist - tracktitle.mp3
*** You can add music videos for tracks you have in your library. To do so, ensure that the video files are named and organized appropriately.Disc 2 /
trackartist - tracktitle.mp3 trackartist - tracktitle.mp3
⚡ To have the music video associated with the track, it must start with the exact filename of the corresponding music track and must be in the same directory as that track.
Music/Artist_Name - Album_Name/Track_Filename - Descriptive_Name-Video_Type.ext Where -Video_Type is one of:
- -lyrics (lyrics music video)
- -video (regular music video)
/Music
/Bob Schneider - I'm Good Now >>01-Come With Me Tonight.mp3 02-Medicine.mp3 02-Medicine - Medicine (extended jam)-lyrics.mp4 03-A Long Way To Get.mp3 Saxon Pub Dec 29, 2014-live.mp4 Stephanie's Rock Show-interview.mp4
/Bob Schneider - Lonelyland >>01-Metal and Steel.mp3 01-Metal and Steel - Metal and Steel-video.mp4 02-Big Blue Sea.mp3
🔺 Note: Music videos can be placed in the same file as music, but must be named with the "-video" at the end
Example 1:
Radiohead/ >>.A Moon Shaped Pool/ >>>.01 Burn The Witch.flac >>>.01 Burn The Witch - Burn The Witch-video.mkv
Example 2:
Ice Cube/ >>Ice Cube - Ghetto Vet -video.mp4 >>Ice Cube - Friday -video.mp4 >>Ice Cube - Race Card -video.mp4
Some users prefer to separate their musical videos from the actual audio files. This is supported through a global path setting for the location of the separate musical video content.
- ❗ Note: When using a “global” folder for your videos, if you wish to have music videos associated with particular tracks in your library (so that they appear on—and can be accessed with—the track), be sure to name the video file with the same track name as the track.
Configure Local Media Assets Agent To start, you need to specify the location of your “global” music videos folder. Note that this is truly global and is not a per-library setting. The location is specified in your Local Media Assets preferences.
Launch the Plex Web App
- Choose Settings from the top right of the Home screen, then choose Server
- Choose Agents
- Choose Artists in the first row and then the Agent you want to change in the second row
- Local Media Assets should already be enabled from earlier, so open the agent preferences via the gear icon on the right side
- In the Local music video path field, specify the full filesystem path to the location of where your music videos are stored
- Save the path
Some applications embed metadata in the music files, generally as an ID3 or M4A tag. If your music files have embedded data you’d like to use, you can:
- Ensure “Local Media Assets” has been enabled for the Agent you’re using in your music Library
- Make sure that “Local Media Assets” is at the top of the Agents list
- When creating or editing the music library, ensure that the Use embedded tags advanced option is enabled
Music/ArtistName/AlbumName/TrackNumber - TrackName.ext
Example:
/Music
/Pink Floyd >>/Wish You Were Here >>>01 - Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V).m4a 02 - Welcome to the Machine.mp3 03 - Have a Cigar.mp3
/Foo Fighters >>/One By One >>>/There is Nothing Left to Lose >>> /U2 >>/Joshua Tree
Music/ArtistName - AlbumName/TrackNumber - TrackName.ext
Example:
/Music
/Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here >>>01 - Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V).m4a 02 - Welcome to the Machine.mp3 03 - Have a Cigar.mp3
/Foo Fighters - One By One /Foo Fighters - There is Nothing Left to Lose /U2 - Joshua Tree
Supported Lyric Formats
🔺 The following formats are supported for external/sidecar lyric files:
- LRC (.lrc) – timed lyric file using the LRC format
- TXT (.txt) – plain text file with lyrics
If you have your own lyric files, you can keep them alongside your actual music tracks. Lyrics are identified by using specific naming and must be placed in the same directory as the corresponding, identically-named music track.
Music/ArtistName - AlbumName/TrackNumber - TrackName.ext
Where .ext is one of:
.lrc (timed lyrics file) .txt (basic, untimed lyrics)
Example:
/Music
/Bob Schneider - I'm Good Now
01-Come With Me Tonight.mp3 01-Come With Me Tonight.lrc 02-Medicine.mp3 02-Medicine.txt 03-A Long Way To Get.mp3
/Bob Schneider - Lonelyland
01-Metal and Steel.mp3 01-Metal and Steel.txt 02-Big Blue Sea.mp3
Inline Videos
You can keep your videos alongside your actual music files. Videos are identified by using specific naming and must be placed in a directory that contains a music track from the same artist.
Artist Videos
Interviews with the artists, behind the scenes footage, and more can be added to the artist in your library. In order to do so, you’ll need to ensure that the video files are named and organized appropriately.
Example:
Music/Artist_Name - Album_Name/Descriptive_Name-Video_Type.ext Where -Video_Type is one of:
- -behindthescenes (behind the scenes)
- -concert (concert performance)
- -interview (artist interview)
- -live (live music video)
- -lyrics (lyrics music video
- -video (regular music video)
Interviews with the artists, behind the scenes footage, and more can be added to the artist in your library. In order to do so, you’ll need to ensure that the video files are named and organized appropriately.
GlobalFolder/Artist_Name - Descriptive_Name-Video_Type.ext or GlobalFolder/Artist_Name/Artist_Name(optional) - Descriptive_Name-Video_type.ext
⚡ Tip!: If you organize the videos into directories based on the artist as in the second option, the artist name is optional in the filename.
Where -Video_Type is one of:
- -behindthescenes (behind the scenes)
- -concert (concert performance)
- -interview (artist interview)
- -live (live music video)
- -lyrics (lyrics music video
- -video (regular music video)
🔺 If you exclude the “type” from the filename, it will default to the -video type.
Examples:
Here are some examples of content in a Global Music Videos Folder. We’ll assume this content is in the /MusicVideos folder specified in the path example.
/MusicVideos
ABBA - Concert at Royal Albert Hall-concert.mp4 ABBA - Dancing Queen.mp4 ABBA - The Making of Dancing Queen-behindthescenes.mkv
/ABBA >>ABBA - Take a Chance on Me-video.mp4 Knowing Me Knowing You-live.mp4 Super Trouper.mkv