Use your own artwork

By default, Cinaura fetches artwork from TMDb. You can override any of it on a per-item basis by dropping your own image files next to the media, using the same conventions Kodi and Plex support.

Where the files go

Cinaura looks for artwork in the same folder as the media file. Drop the image alongside the .mkv / .mp4 and it gets picked up on the next sync.

Naming your image files

Cinaura recognises two naming styles, either works, and matching is case-insensitive:

Traditional (Kodi / Plex): just the keyword. poster.jpg, folder.jpg, backdrop.jpg, fanart.jpg.
Rip-group / release style: the media filename plus a keyword suffix, separated by -, _, or .. For example, Movie.Name-poster.jpg, Movie Name (2024).backdrop.jpg, Show.S01E01_thumb.jpg.

Roles and recognised keywords

Cinaura recognises four artwork roles. Each accepts a few different keywords, so files exported from other libraries usually work without renaming.

Role	Keywords Cinaura accepts
Poster	`poster`, `folder`
Backdrop	`backdrop`, `fanart`, `background`
Logo	`logo`, `clearlogo`
Thumb	`thumb`, `landscape`

Accepted image extensions: .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .webp, .svg.

Turn on “Prioritize local artwork”

For local files to override TMDb art, flip the preference on:

On the TV, open Cinaura → Settings → Preferences.
Scroll to the Metadata section.
Turn on Prioritize local artwork (“Prefer poster / fanart files stored next to your media over TMDb images”).

With this off, TMDb art wins and your local files are ignored even if they’re correctly named.

Examples

Movie in its own folder (recommended):

Movies/
  Inception (2010)/
    Inception (2010).mkv
    poster.jpg
    backdrop.jpg
    logo.png

TV show with per-show artwork (episodes inherit the show’s art if they don’t have their own):

TV/
  Severance/
    poster.jpg
    fanart.jpg
    Season 1/
      Severance S01E01.mkv
      Severance S01E02.mkv

Single file with release-group naming:

Downloads/
  Dune.Part.Two.2024.2160p.mkv
  Dune.Part.Two.2024.2160p-poster.jpg
  Dune.Part.Two.2024.2160p-backdrop.jpg

Troubleshooting

Local artwork doesn’t show up: confirm Prioritize local artwork is on under Settings → Preferences → Metadata. Without it, TMDb art wins.
Cinaura still shows TMDb art after a change: the source hasn’t re-scanned. Trigger a sync on the source, or run Reset metadata on the item from Options on its details screen (see Fix a misidentified item).
Debrid items don’t use local artwork: expected. RealDebrid, TorBox, Premiumize, and AllDebrid are flat sources and don’t scan for artwork files.
File extension isn’t recognised: only .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .webp, and .svg are matched. Convert other formats.