.NFO File Extension

The Warez scene is a network of piracy groups that obtain, package, and release pirated versions of movies, TV shows, music, and software programs. These groups distribute the content they've pirated via the internet, as Warez packages (often referred to as just warez).

All Warez packages include two additional non-content files: an NFO file and an SFV file. The NFO file is a metadata file, which contains information about the package's contents. For example, if the package contains a software program, its NFO file will probably contain information about how to install and set up the program. (The package's SFV file is a checksum file, used to verify its integrity.)

While NFO files are plain text files, they often contain ASCII or ANSI art (graphics comprised of text characters). For example, an NFO file might contain a program's logo, drawn using ASCII characters. When viewed in a text editor, these graphics appear as normal ASCII or ANSI characters. However, when viewed in a specialized NFO viewer, these graphics often appear similarly to 8-bit graphics.

NOTE: The cracking group The Humble Guys (THG) is credited with creating the first NFO files.

Kodi is a popular media player that allows users to play and organize video and music files. When a user adds a movie, TV show, album, or music video to their Kodi library, they can either automatically or manually import metadata about that item. To automatically import metadata, Kodi scrapes websites such as IMDb for matching titles. To manually import metadata, Kodi uses NFO files, which are XML-formatted plain text files that contain identifying information.

How to create NFO files

If you have an existing Kodi library, you can use Kodi's library export tools to export your existing video and album metadata into a set of NFO files. You might want to do this if, for example, you want to clean up and overwrite some of your existing library metadata.

If you want to manually create an NFO file, you can do so using Microsoft Visual Studio Code or any other text editor. Template NFO files, which you can use to start creating your NFO files, are available on the Kodi wiki. You can also use the online NFO Maker app to create NFO files.

How NFO files are stored and named

NFO files must be stored in the same directory as the media they describe. Also, NFO files must be named correctly for Kodi to be able to load the metadata they contain.

For example, if you create an NFO file for use with Jumanji.mp4, you must name it Jumanji.nfo and place it in the directory that contains Jumanji.mp4. NFO files that accompany music videos must also use the same filename as the video they describe. NFO files for albums, artists, and TV shows, however, must always be named album.nfo, artist.nfo, and tvshow.nfo, respectively.

NOTE: Some other media players and managers, such as Plex Media Server, TinyMediaManager, and Ember Media Manager, also use and can create Kodi-format NFO files.