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Files are probably the most important part of AniDB's structure. They are what gets added to users mylists in order to mark episodes watched. Now, there are a few different kinds of files that can be added to the different episodes for anime, but all files have a few fields that apply to them:

And we also have specific fields that only apply to video files, audio files and subtitle files:

Audio files: Track type | Audio Language | Audio Codec | Audio Bitrate | Channels

Subtitle files: Subtitle type | Subtitle Language | Subtitle Flags

Note: for alot of these fields you can use avdump to analyze the video file. It can tell you most of the things you need to know.

And the last two sections in this article are about if something is/has gone wrong:

Your version is corrupted... | Removing bad entries

ED2K Sum

In this field you need to enter either a complete ed2k-link, or just an ed2k sum.

Note:

This is the only field that is required!

So long as you enter a link, not just a hash-sum.
If you enter a hash-sum you haveto fill out the size field too.

You can use various tools to get this, the ones we recommend are:

AniDB O'Matic (Windows/Linux (through Wine read here))
WebAOM (Windows/Linux/OS X/Anything that runs Java)
Avdump (Windows)

These can also get you the other hash-sums that ought to be filled out.

Various other hashes

AniDB stores MD5, SHA1 and CRC32 sums for all the files where this is entered. It is recommended, though not necessary to fill these out. If you use any of the recommended tools to hash your files to get the ed2k-link, they can also give you these hashes as well.

CRC Status

Groups often release files with the checksum of the correct file being published somewhere, for example in the IRC-channel's topic or directly in the filename. Now, only if the CRC you calculated from the file you have matches the CRC of the correct file, set the "CRC status" on AniDB to "crc matches official source".

Note: If the file is a "no group" file, do not set crc correct status! Most raw files come from share or winny hence no official crc is known!

Allowed Source for official CRC

Official sfv (good source)
CRC listing on official page/IRC topic (good source)
CRC tag in filename (not a good source, but works... kinda)
Envirosphere & Baka-Updates (3rd hand info, but kinda works.)

Size

This field is for how many bites the file is.

If you entered an ed2k-link in the ed2k sum field instead of just the hash, you don't need to fill this out.

However:

if you did not, you haveto fill this out.

Type

Here you choose whether it is a video file, an audio file, a subtitle file or something else.

Extension

Set which extension the file has. If you supplied an ed2k-link in the ed2k sum field, this is not necessary. The extension will be taken from the ed2k-link.

Version

Sometimes, the group makes mistakes and wants to correct them by releasing a second (third, fourth...) version, usually called "v2" ("v3", "v4", ...). If there is no such tag in the filename, it's normally "version 1".

Note: For standardization purpose if the source changes the versions gets set back to v1.

Example: a group releases a file with source dtv. Later they release the same thing again from dvd. Both is to be considered v1!

Release date

The date the group published the file. Have a look at the group's homepage or other release info pages like Envirosphere or Baka Updates.

Released by

Normally, the files are "tagged", meaning that the filename contains a string like "[AonE]" which you can look for in the according shortname dropdown-menu. Please note that not all groups on AniDB are listed under the tag they actually use, as AniDB can only have one distinctive tag for each group. So make sure the group's full name matches as well.
However, some people remove the group-tags from filenames. If you have such a file, please check the file, if the group-name is being displayed somewhere in it.

When you add a new file from a group that already have some files added for this anime, you can save yourself from going through the extra step of searching for the group again and again by using the by relation list, that contains only groups that already have at least one file added for this anime.
Otherwise, you will haveto enter the groupname into the searchfield and click Search. After doing that, a dropdown menu will appear and list groups whose name match your search.

If the group isn't listed, you have to add it first.

Note: If a file is a joint release, like a file by e.g. ANBU-AonE, that joint group has its own group entry, so you should not add the file to either ANBU or AonE, but to the group that combines them both.

Note: If the file is a RAW, you should check which RAW groups to credit.

Comments

File comments should only be made for important info, and always conforming to the standardized forms for file comments if applicable. Don't enter what you thought of the release or some such nonsense. Use the anime-group-comments for that.

Video files

This section expands on the special fields for video files that should be supplied.

Note:

On most video files, you will also need to fill in the audio and subtitle information as well!

Length

Enter how many hours, minutes and seconds the file lasts. Just check in your favourite media player. If you have a file that won't display its length correctly, try to use avdump to determine the length.

Censored

This only applies to animes that have both an uncensored and a censored version. If it only has one, leave this setting as the default: Unknown.

Quality

This is a very arbitrary field. It depends completely on the eye of the beholder. Set this to what you think the file deserves.

Source

Here you can set the source of the raw (unsubbed) anime. If you don't know the source, leave it as "unknown". If you find a tag like "(S)VHS" or "DVD" in the filename, choose the according option from the dropdown-menu. Sometimes, it's ok to make an educated guess: For animes that are released fansubbed shortly (within days/weeks) after they aired in Japan, you can safely assume "DTV" (Digital TV) as source. Another case for educated guessing is "HKDVD" (Hongkong-DVD) - the video-quality may be ok for them, but the translation is usually horrible, which is how you can spot them.

Resolution

In this field you set which resolution the file has in pixels. Width x Height. Or just use avdump.

Aspect Ratio

Set the playback aspect ratio for the file.

Video Codec

Video Bitrate

FPS

To find out what video codec, bitrate and fps is used for the file, we recommend that you use avdump.

Video Flags

Anamorphic: for an explanation of this, see here.
Clean video: set this flag if there is nothing hardsubbed in this file. RAWs are always clean.
VFR: Variable Frame Rate. Use avdump for this.
Wrong Aspect Ratio: If the file was encoded with the wrong viewing aspect ratio, check this box. One way to tell whether this is true is if what should be a circle on the screen isn't completely round, but rather elliptic.

Audio Files

This also applies to most video files, since they usually have atleast 1 audio track in them.

Track type | Audio Language | Audio Codec | Audio Bitrate | Channels

Track type

This field is for setting whether it is a normal audio track or:

Commentary
Fandub
Alternative Voiceover
Other, or
Unknown

Audio Language

Please specify what language is used.

Audio Codec

Audio Bitrate

Channels

Set which audio codec, bitrate and how many channels are used. We recommend using avdump for this.

Subtitle Files

All fansubs have subtitles, only RAWs are without them, so this section should also be filled out for most files.

Subtitle type | Subtitle Language | Subtitle Flags

Subtitle type

Here you should specify whether the subs are:

Hard subs
Soft subs
Supplementary soft subs (i.e. sign translation)
Other, or
Unknown.

Subtitle Language

Select which language is used in the subs from the dropdown list.

Subtitle Flags

Dubsubbed - if the subtitles seem to be an exact match of the english (or other language) audio tracks, and doesn't follow the actual lipmovements very well, it is probably dubsubbed.
Hearing impaired subs
Image subs (VOBSUB)
Styled subs (ASS/SSA)
Subs for commentary audiostream
Unstyled subs (SRT)

Your version is corrupted...

Fileentries on AniDB are supposed to be useful for a larger group of users: One of them adds the entry and many others can use it (by adding it to their list).

Adding wide-spread corrupted files

An entry for a corrupted file may still be useful for others as long as it's likely that more people have the exact same corrupted file as you have. (For example if one source sent the corrupted version to many people.)

If - and only if - this is the case, you can add the file normally to AniDB, marking it as "CRC invalid" and/or "Quality: Corrupted" if there are visible/audible errors in the file.

Adding "personal" corrupted files

If your specific (corrupted) version of the file isn't listed on AniDB, for example because of some hard- or software-problem on your side or because you manually edited the files, in most cases you should not add them to AniDB, because they serve no purpose for other users.

Don't worry - you can still list such files properly in your mylist. For example: You have a corrupted version of group X's release. Navigate to the corresponding episode where the regular, uncorrupted version of group X's release is listed and click on the "add file ()" icon. On the next page, you can select the "Type: corrupted version/invalid crc" so that your mylist-entries properly indicate which version you have.

If there's no crc-valid version of group X added for the release you have, consider adding the episodes' generic files to your list instead.

Removing bad entries

If you added a bad entry yourself you can remove it as long as no one put that file in his/her mylist. In that case you don't have the neccessary rights to remove it. Please post the entry which should get removed here: DB Change Requests

Content:Files