How to Fix Wrong Metadata in Jellyfin

When Jellyfin shows the wrong poster or the wrong film entirely, it is because the scanner could not identify the file confidently and fell back to a guess. Jellyfin gives you more direct control over the fix than most servers, because it reads local files as the source of truth. Here is the order to work through.

1. Identify the item manually

In the Jellyfin web UI, open the item, then use Edit → Identify. Search by title, or paste a provider ID directly, and pick the correct result.

This fixes one item. If you are doing it constantly, the file names are the real problem — see step 3.

2. Check the file and folder names

Jellyfin matches from names. The expected shape:

Movies/
  Interstellar (2014)/
    Interstellar (2014).mkv

Two things to verify. First, the year is present — without it, remakes collide. Second, the Jellyfin prefix rule: each file name must begin exactly with its parent folder name, character for character, before any version suffix. A mismatch can split one movie into several entries. Full rules: the Jellyfin naming convention guide.

3. Force the match with a provider ID tag

The durable fix. Jellyfin reads provider IDs from folder and file names using square brackets:

Movies/
  Interstellar (2014) [imdbid-tt0816692]/
    Interstellar (2014) [imdbid-tt0816692].mkv

[imdbid-tt0816692], [tmdbid-157336], and [tvdbid-123456] are all supported, and you can specify more than one.

Watch the syntax if you are migrating: Plex uses {imdb-tt0816692} with curly braces, Jellyfin uses [imdbid-tt0816692]. A library named for Plex will not carry its ID hints into Jellyfin.

4. Override everything with an NFO file

Jellyfin reads local NFO metadata natively, and this is the strongest form of control — the values in the NFO become the item's metadata, no provider lookup required. It is the right answer for home videos, obscure releases, or anything providers simply do not have.

The catch is that malformed XML gets ignored silently, so see how to edit NFO files safely first.

5. Check library type and metadata downloaders

Confirm the library's content type is right — a shows library scanned as movies will never match. Then open the library settings and check which metadata downloaders are enabled and in what order. The order decides which source wins when two disagree.

If you curate metadata by hand, consider disabling downloaders that would overwrite your work on the next scan.

6. Refresh metadata

Once names, IDs, and settings are correct, force a re-read: Refresh metadata on the item or library. Choose to replace existing metadata when you need to clear a bad match rather than just fill gaps. Note that replacing all metadata will also overwrite manual edits, so make sure your intended values are in the NFO first.

Stopping it happening again

All of the above are symptom fixes. The cause is ambiguous input. Consistent names with years, provider ID tags on the difficult ones, and NFO files for anything providers get wrong — that removes the guesswork for good.

MetaTana runs that pass for you: it identifies difficult titles, proposes a clean Jellyfin-friendly layout, writes valid NFO and artwork beside your files, and journals every write so any change is reversible. It does not modify your media files. More on the Jellyfin metadata manager page.

Running Plex as well? See how to fix Plex showing the wrong movie.