Library structure

Most media-library apps require a strict folder layout and a specific naming convention. Plex, Jellyfin, and Kodi will all happily refuse to recognise a movie if it isn’t in the right folder with the right format.

Cinaura takes the opposite stance: the app does the heavy lifting. It reads whatever you’ve already got, identifies what it can, and presents the result as a clean, browsable library. The work of recognising files and tidying them up is the app’s job, not yours.

What works

• Any folder structure, or none at all. Files flat at the root of a drive, nested by year, grouped by source, organised by mood. All fine.
• A title in the filename. That’s the only real requirement. Inception.mkv, Inception (2010).mp4, and Christopher Nolan - Inception 1080p.mkv all match.
• Common release-name patterns. Files with quality tags, codec info, or release-group prefixes are parsed normally. Cinaura strips noise from the title before matching.

What helps

A few small things make matching more accurate:

• Include the year for movies. Movie Name (2010).mp4 disambiguates remakes and re-releases (e.g. Dune 1984 vs 2021, The Thing 1982 vs 2011).
• Use standard episode notation for TV. Show Name S01E02.mkv is the most reliable. Show.Name.1x02 and Show Name - 1x02 also work, but stick with SxxExx if you can.
• Keep a human title in the filename. A file called [grp].XYZ.1080p.x265-RNDM.mkv with nothing else gives Cinaura nothing to work with. Add the title and it’ll match.

What that means in practice

• Drop a freshly downloaded folder onto a USB drive, plug it in, and Cinaura indexes it without you reorganising anything.
• An existing library that grew organically over years doesn’t need a “library cleanup” pass before Cinaura will work with it.
• A misidentified file is rare, and when it happens you can correct it from the TV.