Overlay Files¶

Overlay Files holds information on how Kometa should create Overlays. There are a large number of builders available to build Overlays,

Overview¶

This example is an Overlay file with a basic overlay which is saved in a file called MyOverlays.yml within the location mapped as config in my setup.

This specific example will target items in my library with a 4K resolution and will add an overlay with text that says "Direct Play" located at the bottom of the poster in the center.

Example Overlay

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overlays: #(1)!
  directplay:
    overlay:
      name: text(Direct Play) #(2)!
      horizontal_offset: 0
      horizontal_align: center
      vertical_offset: 150
      vertical_align: bottom
      font_size: 63
      font_color: "#FFFFFF"
      back_color: "#00000099"
      back_radius: 30
      back_padding: 30
    plex_search: #(3)!
      all:
        resolution: 4K

This must appear once and only once in any Overlay file
This tells Kometa to use text as the overlay rather than an image
This is the criteria that Kometa will use to define what should receive the overlay

Here is an example of how the Overlay will look

For the purpose of this example, we are going to save the File as MyOverlays.yml within the location mapped as config in our setup.

I then call "MyOverlays.yml" in my Configuration File within the Overlay_files section

config.yml Example Overlay File Addition

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libraries:
  Movies:  #(1)!
    remove_overlays: false
    overlay_files:
      - file: config/MyOverlays.yml #(2)!

This must match the name of a library in your Plex server
config refers to the location that you mapped to config when following the Kometa Installation Guides.

config.yml Example Collection File Addition

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libraries:
  Movies: #(1)!
    Overlay_files:
      - file: config/MyOverlays.yml #(2)!

This must match the name of a library in your Plex server
config refers to the location that you mapped to config when following the Kometa Installation Guides.

Whenever I execute Kometa and the Movies library is run, MyOverlays.yml will run and my "Direct Play" overlay will appear on all items with a 4K resolution.

File Attributes¶

Overlay Files can utilize the following top-level attributes

Attribute	Description
`templates`	contains definitions of templates that can be leveraged by multiple Overlays
`external_templates`	contains file blocks that point to external templates that can be leveraged by multiple overlays
`overlays`	contains definitions of Overlays you wish to add to one or more libraries

Example Files can be found in the Kometa Community Configs Repository

Overlay Understandings¶

Important Notes

When using overlays, there is some knowledge that you should be aware of at all times. This is outlined below.

Failure to understand all of these points may cause issues when utilizing Overlays.

All overlay coordinates assume 1000 x 1500 for Posters and 1920 x 1080 for Backgrounds and Title Cards.

All overlays should be in a format that is supports transparency should it be required (i.e. PNG)

If an overlay is not 1000 x 1500 or 1920 x 1080 in size, you will need to use positional attributes to specify where on the base poster the Overlay should be. This is exampled in Overview

Although Overlays are modular in that you can pick and choose what you would like to apply, each overlay you want to apply must be executed in the same Kometa run and should not be scheduled, this will result in overlays that are not scheduled to run being deleted.

For example, you cannot schedule a "4K Resolution" overlay to only apply on a Monday and a "Direct Play" overlay to only apply on a Tuesday. This will not work, both overlays must be scheduled to run at the same time.

Kometa and Plex will not remove old Overlaid images from the Plex file structure or database when new updates are available. On large libraries, this can often result in Image Bloat.

We recommend you read more about this and the solution on the ImageMaid page.

There is an attribute called reapply_overlays which, when set to true, will force overlays to reapply even when it is not necessary to do so [overlays only update when something has changed, this bypasses that behaviour]. This will increase how long Kometa takes to run and will also result in Image Bloat.

Ensure reapply_overlays is set to false if you see it in your Configuration File. If it has previously been set to true we recommend using ImageMaid to get rid of the bloat.

To remove all overlays from your library, add the remove_overlays library attribute set to true.**

See the above note on Kometa not removing the overlaid images, this is still true here.

Important Notice

Once you have applied overlays to your posters in Plex, it is highly recommended that you never change artwork on a thing directly in Plex again. Kometa uses labels on the items in Plex to decide if an overlay has been applied, so if you change artwork behind Kometa's back things can become confused and items can end up with double-overlaid posters. It's recommended to set new artwork using the asset directory, which will ensure that this doesn't happen.

To change a single overlay original image either remove the Overlay shared label and update the Image in Plex or replace the image in the assets folder and then Kometa will overlay the new image

Overlay Attributes¶

Overlay Files can utilize the following top-level attributes

Attribute	Description
`templates`	contains definitions of templates that can be leveraged by multiple overlays
`external_templates`	contains file blocks that point to external templates that can be leveraged by multiple overlays
`queues`	contains the positional attributes of queues
`overlays`	contains definitions of overlays you wish to add

overlays is required in order to run the Overlay File.
Example Overlay Files can be found in the Kometa Community Configs Repository

There are multiple types of attributes that can be utilized within an overlay:

Example Files¶

Below is a common Overlay File which will create an Overlay for all items which have a 4K resolution.

To get you started, Kometa includes three files for Overlays - 4K, Dolby and HDR.

overlays:
  4K:
    plex_search:
      all:
        resolution: 4K

I can then layer another Overlay for items which have HDR.

Kometa will apply Overlays in the order they are defined in the file, so my HDR overlay appears on top of my 4K overlay in this scenario.

overlays:
  4K:
    plex_search:
      all:
        resolution: 4K
  HDR:
    plex_search:
      all:
        hdr: true

Advanced Overlay Attributes¶

The below attributes are also available for Overlay files, to give more granular control over how they function.

Attribute	Description	Required
`name`	Name of the overlay.
`file`	Local location of the Overlay Image.
`url`	URL of Overlay Image Online.
`git`	Location in the Configs Repo of the Overlay Image.
`repo`	Location in the Custom Repo of the Overlay Image.
`group`	Name of the Grouping for this overlay. Only one overlay with the highest weight per group will be applied. `weight` is required when using `group` Values: group name
`queue`	Name of the Queue for this overlay. Define `queue` positions using the `queues` attribute at the top level of an Overlay File. Overlay with the highest weight is applied to the first position and so on. `weight` is required when using `queue` Values: queue name
`weight`	Weight of this overlay in its group or queue. `group` or `queue` is required when using `weight` Values: Integer 0 or greater
`horizontal_offset`	Horizontal Offset of this overlay. Can be a %. `vertical_offset` is required when using `horizontal_offset` Value: Integer 0 or greater or 0%-100%
`horizontal_align`	Horizontal Alignment of the overlay. Values: `left`, `center`, `right`
`vertical_offset`	Vertical Offset of this overlay. Can be a %. `horizontal_offset` is required when using `vertical_offset` Value: Integer 0 or greater or 0%-100%
`vertical_align`	Vertical Alignment of the overlay. Values: `top`, `center`, `bottom`
`font`	System Font Filename or path to font file for the Text Overlay. Value: System Font Filename or path to font file
`font_style`	Font style for Variable Fonts. Only needed when using a Variable Font. Value: Variable Font Style
`font_size`	Font Size for the Text Overlay. Value: Integer greater than 0
`font_color`	Font Color for the Text Overlay. Value: Color Hex Code in format `#RGB`, `#RGBA`, `#RRGGBB` or `#RRGGBBAA`.
`stroke_width`	Font Stroke Width for the Text Overlay. Value: Integer greater than 0
`stroke_color`	Font Stroke Color for the Text Overlay. Value: Color Hex Code in format `#RGB`, `#RGBA`, `#RRGGBB` or `#RRGGBBAA`.
`back_color`	Backdrop Color for the Text Overlay. Value: Color Hex Code in format `#RGB`, `#RGBA`, `#RRGGBB` or `#RRGGBBAA`.
`back_width`	Backdrop Width for the Text Overlay. If `back_width` is not specified the Backdrop Sizes to the text `back_height` is required when using `back_width` Value: Integer greater than 0
`back_height`	Backdrop Height for the Text Overlay. If `back_height` is not specified the Backdrop Sizes to the text `back_width` is required when using `back_height` Value: Integer greater than 0
`back_align`	Alignment for the Text Overlay inside the backdrop. If `back_align` is not specified the Backdrop Centers the text `back_width` and `back_height` are required when using `back_align` Values: `left`, `right`, `center`, `top`, `bottom`
`back_padding`	Backdrop Padding for the Text Overlay. Value: Integer greater than 0
`back_radius`	Backdrop Radius for the Text Overlay. Value: Integer greater than 0
`back_line_color`	Backdrop Line Color for the Text Overlay. Value: Color Hex Code in format `#RGB`, `#RGBA`, `#RRGGBB` or `#RRGGBBAA`.
`back_line_width`	Backdrop Line Width for the Text Overlay. Value: Integer greater than 0
`addon_offset`	Text Addon Image Offset from the text. `addon_offset` Only works with text overlays Value: Integer 0 or greater
`addon_position`	Text Addon Image Alignment in relation to the text. `addon_position` Only works with text overlays Values: `left`, `right`, `top`, `bottom`

If url, git, and repo are all not defined then Kometa will look in your config/overlays folder for a .png file named the same as the name attribute.

Positional Image Overlays¶

Positional overlays can be of any size and use horizontal_offset, horizontal_align, vertical_offset, and vertical_align to position the overlay on the image.

Tip

This overlay example uses one of the Kometa Default Overlay images, which isn't necessary but is used just for this example.

overlays:
  IMDB-Top-250:
    imdb_chart: top_movies
    overlay:
      name: IMDB-Top-250
      default: ribbon/yellow/imdb.png
      horizontal_offset: 0
      horizontal_align: right
      vertical_offset: 0
      vertical_align: bottom

Blurring Overlay¶

There is a special overlay named blur that when given as the overlay name will instead of finding the image will just blur the image instead.

You can control the level of the blur by providing a number with the attribute like so blur(##).

overlays:
  blur:
    overlay:
      name: blur(50)
    builder_level: episode
    plex_search:
      all:
        resolution: 4K

Backdrop Overlay¶

There is a special overlay named backdrop that when given as the overlay name will instead of finding the image will just apply the background instead.

You can set the size of the backdrop with back_width and back_height. By Default, they will extend the length of the Image.

overlays:
  backdrop:
    overlay:
      name: backdrop
      back_color: "#00000099"
      back_height: 100
      vertical_align: top
    plex_all: true

This example could be useful if you want to have a black banner, and then use a Text Overlay to add text on top.

Text Overlay¶

You can add text as an overlay using the special text() overlay name. Anything inside the parentheses will be added as an overlay onto the image. Ex text(4K) adds 4K to the image.

You can control the font, font size and font color using the font, font_size, and font_color overlay attributes.

You can control the backdrop of the text using the various back_* attributes.

The horizontal_offset and vertical_offset overlay attributes are required when using Text Overlays.

Kometa includes multiple fonts in the fonts folder which can be called using fonts/fontname.ttf

overlays:
  backdrop:
    overlay:
      name: backdrop
      back_color: "#00000099"
      back_height: 100
      vertical_align: top
    plex_all: true
  mytext:
    overlay:
      name: text(This Movie Is Awesome)
      horizontal_offset: 0
      horizontal_align: center
      vertical_offset: 30
      vertical_align: top
      font_size: 63
      font_color: "#FFFFFF"
    plex_all: true

Note that we have built up on our backdrop overlay that we created in our previous example

Special Text Variables¶

You can use the item's metadata to determine the text by adding Special Text Variables to your text Overlay.

Each Special Text Variables has multiple modifiers that can be used to format the text. The variables are defined like this <<name$>> where name is the Special Text Variable and the modifier is $.

Special Rating Text¶

Variable	Description	Item Types
`audience_rating`	Plex Audience Rating	`Movies`, `Shows`, or `Episodes`
`critic_rating`	Plex Critic Rating	`Movies`, `Shows`, or `Episodes`
`user_rating`	Plex User Rating	`Movies`, `Shows`, `Seasons`, or `Episodes`
`tmdb_rating`	TMDb Rating	`Movies`, `Shows`, `Seasons`, or `Episodes`
`imdb_rating`	IMDb Rating	`Movies`, `Shows`, or `Episodes`
`trakt_user_rating`	Trakt User Rating	`Movies` or `Shows`
`omdb_rating`	OMDb Rating	`Movies` or `Shows`
`mdb_rating`	MDbList Rating	`Movies` or `Shows`
`mdb_average_rating`	MDbList Average Rating	`Movies` or `Shows`
`mdb_imdb_rating`	MDbList IMDb Rating	`Movies` or `Shows`
`mdb_metacritic_rating`	MDbList Metacritic Rating	`Movies` or `Shows`
`mdb_metacriticuser_rating`	MDbList Metacritic User Rating	`Movies` or `Shows`
`mdb_trakt_rating`	MDbList Trakt Rating	`Movies` or `Shows`
`mdb_tomatoes_rating`	MDbList Rotten Tomatoes Rating	`Movies` or `Shows`
`mdb_tomatoesaudience_rating`	MDbList Rotten Tomatoes Audience Rating	`Movies` or `Shows`
`mdb_tmdb_rating`	MDbList TMDb Rating	`Movies` or `Shows`
`mdb_letterboxd_rating`	MDbList Letterboxd Rating	`Movies` or `Shows`
`mdb_myanimelist_rating`	MDbList MyAnimeList Rating	`Movies` or `Shows`
`anidb_rating`	AniDB Rating	`Movies` or `Shows`
`anidb_average_rating`	AniDB Average Rating	`Movies` or `Shows`
`anidb_score_rating`	AniDB Score Rating	`Movies` or `Shows`
`mal_rating`	MyAnimeList Rating	`Movies` or `Shows`

Special Rating Text Modifiers

Modifier	Description	Example
`None`	Rating on a 10 point scale	`8.7`, `9.0`
`%`	Rating out of 100	`87`, `90`
`#`	Rating on a 10 point scale removing `.0` as needed	`8.7`, `9`
`/`	Rating on a 5 point scale	`8.6` shows as `4.3`, `9.0` shows as `4.5`

Special String Text¶

Variable	Description	Item Types
`title`	Item's Title	`Movies`, `Shows`, `Seasons`, or `Episodes`
`show_title`	Item's Parent Show Title	`Seasons` or `Episodes`
`season_title`	Item's Parent Season Title	`Episodes`
`original_title`	Item's Original Title	`Movies` or `Shows`
`edition`	Item's Edition	`Movies`
`content_rating`	Item's Content Rating	`Movies`, `Shows`, or `Episodes`

Special String Text Modifiers

Modifier	Description
`None`	Exact Text
`U`	Text with the first letter Capitalized
`L`	Text with the first letter Lowercase
`P`	Text with most words Capitalized

Special Number Text¶

Variable	Description	Item Types
`episode_count`	Number of Episodes	`Shows` or `Seasons`
`season_number`	Season Number	`Seasons` or `Episodes`
`episode_number`	Episode Number	`Episodes`
`versions`	Number of Versions of the Item	`Movies` or `Episodes`

Special Number Text Modifiers

Modifier	Description	Example
`None`	Exact Number	`1`
`W`	Number as Words	`One`
`WU`	Number as Uppercase Words	`ONE`
`WL`	Number as Lowercase Words	`one`
`0`	Number with 10s Padding	`01`
`00`	Number with 100s Padding	`001`

Other Special Text¶

Special Text Variables & Mods	Item Types
`<<runtime>>`: Complete Runtime of the Item in minutes (`150`) `<<runtimeH>>`: Hours in runtime of the Item (`2`) `<<runtimeM>>`: Minutes remaining in the hour in the runtime of the Item (`30`) Show and Season use average Episode Runtime.	`Movies`, `Shows`, `Seasons`, or `Episodes`
`<<bitrate>>`: Bitrate of the first media file for an item. `<<bitrateH>>`: Bitrate of the media file with the highest bitrate `<<bitrateL>>`: Bitrate of the media file with the lowest bitrate	`Movies` or `Episodes`
`<<originally_available>>`: Original Available Date of the Item `<<originally_available[FORMAT]>>`: Original Available Date of the Item in the given format. Format Options	`Movies`, `Shows`, or `Episodes`

overlays:
  backdrop:
    overlay:
      name: backdrop
      back_color: "#00000099"
      back_height: 100
      vertical_align: top
    plex_all: true
  mytext:
    overlay:
      name: text(Critic Rating is <<critic_rating>>)
      horizontal_offset: 0
      horizontal_align: center
      vertical_offset: 20
      vertical_align: top
      font_size: 63
      font_color: "#FFFFFF"
    plex_all: true

Note that we have once again built up on our backdrop overlay that we created in one of our previous examples

Special Text Modifiers¶

Some Special Text attributes (such as ratings) have modifiers which control how they are output. This is detailed in the above table.

Using the above example for the Critic Rating overlay, I now want to display the rating as "out of 5 stars" instead of "out of 10", so I will use the / modifier on my <<critic_rating>> attribute

overlays:
  backdrop:
    overlay:
      name: backdrop
      back_color: "#00000099"
      back_height: 100
      vertical_align: top
    plex_all: true
  mytext:
    overlay:
      name: text(Rated <<critic_rating/>> out of 5!)
      horizontal_offset: 0
      horizontal_align: center
      vertical_offset: 20
      vertical_align: top
      font_size: 63
      font_color: "#FFFFFF"
    plex_all: true

I want to add S##E## to all my episode images.

href="#__codelineno-11-1">overlays: backdrop: builder_level: episode overlay: name: backdrop back_color: "#00000099" back_height: 100 vertical_align: top plex_all: true season_episode_info: builder_level: episode overlay: name: text(This is S<<season_number0>>E<<episode_number0>>) horizontal_offset: 0 horizontal_align: center vertical_offset: 20 vertical_align: top font_size: 63 font_color: "#FFFFFF" plex_all: true

Common Special Text Uses¶

These are some commonly-used examples of Special Text overlays:

Special Text	Example Output
`name: text(S<<season_number0>>E<<episode_number0>>)`	S01E01
`name: text(Season <<season_number>> Episode <<episode_number>>)`	Season 1 Episode 1
`name: text(Season <<season_number>>)`	Season 1
`name: text(Episode <<episode_number>>)`	Episode 1
`name: "text(Runtime: <<runtime>>m)"`	Runtime: 90m
`name: "text(Runtime: <<runtimeH>>h <<runtimeM>>m)"`	Runtime: 1h 30m

Text Addon Images¶

You can add an image to accompany the text by specifying the image location using file, url, git, or repo.

Use addon_offset to control the space between the text and the image.

Use addon_position to control which side of the text the image will be located on.

Tip

This overlay example uses one of the Kometa Default Overlay images, which isn't necessary but is used just for this example.

overlays:
  rating_with_logo:
    overlay:
      name: text(audience_rating)
      default: rating/IMDb.png
      horizontal_offset: 15
      horizontal_align: left
      vertical_offset: 15
      vertical_align: top
      font: fonts/Inter-Medium.ttf
      font_size: 63
      font_color: "#FFFFFF"
      back_color: "#00000099"
      back_radius: 30
      back_width: 300
      back_height: 105
      addon_position: left
      addon_offset: 25
    plex_all: true

Overlay Groups¶

Overlay groups are defined by the name given to the group attribute. Only one overlay with the highest weight per group will be applied.

This is an example where the Multi-Audio overlay will be applied over the Dual-Audio overlay for every item found by both.

overlays:
  Dual-Audio:
    overlay:
      name: Dual-Audio
      default: images/Dual-Audio
      group: audio_language
      weight: 10
      horizontal_offset: 0
      horizontal_align: center
      vertical_offset: 15
      vertical_align: bottom
    plex_all: true
    filters:
      audio_language.count_gt: 1
  Multi-Audio:
    overlay:
      name: Multi-Audio
      default: images/Multi-Audio
      group: audio_language
      weight: 20
      horizontal_offset: 0
      horizontal_align: center
      vertical_offset: 15
      vertical_align: bottom
    plex_all: true
    filters:
      audio_language.count_gt: 2

Overlay Queues¶

Overlay queues are defined by the name given to the queue attribute. The overlay with the highest weight is put into the first queue position, then the second highest is placed in the second queue position and so on.

You can define the queue positions by using the queues attribute at the top level of an Overlay File. You can define as many positions as you want.

queues:
  custom_queue_name:
    - horizontal_offset: 300        # This is the first position
      horizontal_align: center
      vertical_offset: 1375
      vertical_align: top
    - horizontal_offset: 300        # This is the second position
      horizontal_align: center
      vertical_offset: 1250
      vertical_align: top

overlays:
  IMDb:
    imdb_chart: popular_movies
    overlay:
      name: text(IMDb Popular)
      queue: custom_queue_name
      weight: 20
      font: fonts/Inter-Medium.ttf
      font_size: 65
      font_color: "#FFFFFF"
      back_color: "#00000099"
      back_radius: 30
      back_width: 380
      back_height: 105
  TMDb:
    tmdb_popular: 100
    overlay:
      name: text(TMDb Popular)
      queue: custom_queue_name
      weight: 10
      font: fonts/Inter-Medium.ttf
      font_size: 65
      font_color: "#FFFFFF"
      back_color: "#00000099"
      back_radius: 30
      back_width: 400
      back_height: 105

Suppress Overlays¶

You can add suppress_overlays to an overlay definition and give it a list or comma separated string of overlay names you want suppressed from this item if this overlay is attached to the item.

So in this example if the 4K-HDR overlay matches an item then the 4K and HDR overlays will also match. The suppress_overlays attribute on 4K-HDR will stop the overlays specified (4K and HDR) from also being applied.

overlays:
  4K:
    plex_search:
      all:
        resolution: 4K
  HDR:
    plex_search:
      all:
        hdr: true
  4K-HDR:
    suppress_overlays:
      - 4K
      - HDR
    plex_search:
      all:
        resolution: 4K
        hdr: true

Examples¶

Example Overlay File¶

overlays:
  4K:
    overlay:
      name: 4K    # This will look for a local overlays/4K.png in your config folder
    plex_search:
      all:
        resolution: 4K
  HDR:
    overlay:
      name: HDR
      default: HDR
    plex_search:
      all:
        hdr: true
  Dolby:
    overlay:
      name: Dolby
      url: https://somewebsite.com/dolby_overlay.png
    plex_all: true
    filters:
      has_dolby_vision: true

Example Folder Structure¶

config
├── config.yml
├── Movies.yml
├── TV Shows.yml
├── Overlays.yml
├── overlays
│   ├── 4K.png
│   ├── Dolby.png
│   ├── HDR.png