Support Channels as TV Shows.

Currently for Emby/Kodi/Jellyfin videos are supported only as movies. Once I complete #120 I will add support for an additional global-level config that can be overridden at the channel-level to create metadata in proper format as a "TV Show" as well.

When a channel is enabled as a TV Show, we should also, if possible, try to write files and metadata in the right way for it to be compatible with Plex too.

This will probably require support for channel directories to be written into specific sub-directories under the root Youtarr download folder (eg, one for "TV Shows" and one for "Movies") so that users can use a different library for each group of channels... and probably means we need to implement #120 first

up this one too. Will this be for plex also for TV Shows? I cannot get the other videos library to display correctly, especially in the collection. Plex collection doesn't let you sort dates correctly

This app is exactly what I was looking for. Great work!

Example of channel with "TV Show" style episodes: https://youtube.com/@grian?si=3tGlodMyrbbxqz56

Any updates on this?

Would also love this. Looking at migrating from tubearchivest. However plex treating Youtarr as "movies" instead of TV Shows makes the interface nowhere near as good.

TubeArchivest uses SYYYYEDDMMXX for episode/season numbers, which works well

Interested for updates on this as well

Pinchflat creates season folders for each year, eg: shows/YT-Channel/Season 2026/
Could a similar approach be taken here?

I believe the main requiremnt for plex is season and episode numbers in the title like SXXEYY

Tube Archivest uses the year as the season, and the day of the year + XX for the episode.

E.g. the 3rd video released on the 9th of Jan 2026 would be S2026E00902

If I add my existing library of channels to Plex as a "TV Series" with "Plex Personal Media" as the agent. It sort of works already. Plex only picks up ~20% of the episiodes if the can figure out a season + episode from the name, which some titles and ID's have something close enough for plex to work with.

So I think just adding a structured SXXXXEYYYYY structure may be enough for it to just work

Noter: This is partially resolved by release with v1.69.0:

You can now use a custom filename format, see: #602

Noticed this issue on one video with YouTube id starting with 3X2. This creates a problem with plex seasoning structure. Although YouTarr was designed initially to start with a movie library, as you plan to transition to TV Shows, hopefully this will be fixed when you introduce season structure.
The Above id in format {Number}X{Number}.... will fail to move to correct season folder because unless created with a flat structure, YouTarr will create folders for each videos, which will be recognized as Seasons for TV Shows on Plex, and the Season number will come from the numbers on the video id on the foldername. There will be comparatively less number of videos matching to this format, but wanted to bring this out in case other folks encountered this issue. Resolved this by manually moving videoId to [videoId] on the folder name. This won't break the seasons for now. I would suggest more customizable naming structure involving video id, so that the folder may also align with similar structure of using "[]" like the files do right now.

Additional update on this:
Someone forked Youtarr and built series mode end to end, which gave me a working reference to think about, so I wanted to capture my thoughts here:

There are two halves to this and they're independent. Plex doesn't read NFO files natively, so for Plex the folder and filename structure is all we need. For Jellyfin, Kodi and Emby the NFO set is what matters: tvshow.nfo at the channel root, season.nfo per season folder, and episode details beside each video. That second half is also what #710 is asking for, so I'd do both together.

The bigger constraint, which hasn't come up here yet: series channels need their own library on your media server. A Plex library has exactly one type fixed at creation, so series content can't share a library with the current Other Videos setup. Jellyfin and Emby both have mixed types but they misbehave, and Youtarr's docs already warn against them. So this can't just be a per-channel checkbox. It needs to route those channels into their own subfolder that you point a second library at. Youtarr already has subfolders and per-subfolder Plex library mapping, so the plumbing exists, but the feature has to use it rather than leave it to the user to remember.

On episode numbers, I'm keeping the scheme already in the Plex TV Series filename preset: season is the upload year, episode is MMDDHHMM from the upload timestamp. It's chronological by construction and stable no matter what order things download in. A sequential per-season counter sounds tidier but numbers videos in download order, so backfilling an old video drops it at the end of the list, and it breaks if you ever delete an episode.

Two open questions I'd like input on:

Shorts and live streams. Should they be episodes in the same show, get their own season, or stay out of series mode entirely?
Existing downloads. Switching a channel over will come with a "reorganize this channel" action so you don't end up split across two libraries. It'll have a dry run so you can see every move before committing. One thing I can't avoid: because series content has to live in a separate library type, your media server sees this as content moving between libraries, so Plex/Jellyfin/Emby watch history and playlist membership for that channel will reset. Youtarr's own watched state survives, so the Watched chips and watched-based cleanup keep working. If that tradeoff is a dealbreaker for anyone, say so now, because it shapes whether this is opt-in per channel or something I recommend broadly.

First, a correction to my last comment: Plex does read NFO files now. Plex Media Server 1.43.1 added NFO agents, so Youtarr can write one set of files that works for Plex, Jellyfin, Emby and Kodi.

Here's how it's going to work:

Each download folder (the main folder, or a subfolder like __TV Shows) gets a type: regular videos or TV. You'd point a TV library on your media server at the TV folder.
A channel set to TV gets saved like a real show: Channel/Season 2024/S2024E03151200 - Title [videoId].mp4, plus NFO files and poster art. Seasons are years and the episode number is the upload date and time. That's the same scheme the "Plex TV Series" filename preset uses (so if you're already using it, nothing gets renumbered).
You'll also be able to set up shows inside a channel, like Grian's Hermitcraft seasons, by giving Youtarr a title pattern such as Hermitcraft {season}: Episode {episode} - {title}. It pulls the numbers out of the titles and shows you a preview first.
Videos you've already downloaded can be converted with a "reorganize" action that shows exactly what it'll move before it touches anything. It works in reverse too.
Moving files usually makes media servers forget what you've watched, so Youtarr saves your watch history first and pushes it back to Plex, Jellyfin and Emby afterwards (for Plex, that's the server owner's account).
Shorts stay in the same yearly seasons as regular videos, like a couple of you suggested. If you don't want them, the existing per-tab auto-download settings already let you skip them.
It's all opt-in. If you don't set up a TV folder, nothing changes.

I plan to build the whole-channel version first, then the reorganize and watch history parts, and the shows-inside-a-channel part last.

feat(tv): reorganize downloads between layouts

feat(tv): check media server libraries per folder

feat(tv): add title shows for series in a channel

fix(tv): handle renamed files and year-season gaps

fix(tv): harden title shows and reorganize moves

feat(library): add library folder APIs

feat(library): add the Library folders page

feat(settings): rework core page, group the index

docs: document library folders and TV migration

feat(library): add the main folder move

feat(library): rework the folder inspector

I may migrate to this from ytdl-sub if it has this feature. I loathe having to go through each video one by one. Its just ideal for watching anything on my JF server

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