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Last updated August 17, 2021
Importing your locally stored files to Kodi is done via media sources. These are files on your device (or an external device) containing videos, music, and photos. Therefore, if you’re wondering how to add media sources to Kodi, this means you want to know how to create your very own (locally stored) library. And that’s precisely what we’ll teach you.
The only requirement you need to meet is to have media files on your device. We’ll soon tell you how to organize those files to make adding new media sources to Kodi as easily as possible.
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Let’s dive into this process. Here’s how to add media sources to Kodi.
Before we go any deeper, it’s essential to understand the basics of this process. In other words, it’s crucial to know how Kodi sees your videos, music, and photos.
We need to instruct Kodi where to look for media files. Here’s how to ‘connect’ your media sources to Kodi.
1. Launch Kodi and select ‘Videos’ from the main menu.
2. Take a look at the top of the screen and click on ‘Files.’
3. Next, you need to click on ‘Add Videos,’ and a pop-up window should appear.
4. Click on ‘Browse’ (on the right side) and navigate to your locally stored media source. Once done, click on ‘OK’ to confirm the file path.
5. You also need to name your new source. Go with any name (something you’ll quickly recognize later on), and click ‘OK’ to dismiss the pop-up.
So far, you’ve connected your media source with Kodi. However, we now need to tell Kodi what kinds of files you’re adding - so that Kodi can categorize those files correctly.
1. At this moment, you should see the ‘Set Content’ pop-up on your screen. In case you don’t see it, right-click on the newly added source and pick ‘Set Content.’
2. Select the ‘This Directory Contains’ field, and you’ll get to pick from several categories. Based on what you’re trying to add, pick either ‘movies,’ ‘music videos,’ or ‘TV shows.’
3. Based on your selection (movies, music videos, or TV shows), this is where Kodi will display one of three possible branches of settings. As we want to make this guide as helpful as possible, keep on reading based on what you’ve selected at this point.
Here, we have two main groups of settings. You need to select an information provider (and adjust additional settings), and then you can pick content scanning options.
Very similar to the previously described content category, you’ll see two groups of settings. So, here’s what you need to know about those.
Once you pick an information provider, you’ll get to fine-tune your music-related collected by tweaking the following settings.
Finally, we need to confirm all the settings we’ve tweaked. This step will force Kodi to start indexing the newly added media source.
1. Once you fine-tune everything in the ‘Set Content’ pop-up, click on ‘OK.’
2. The pop-up will now close, and a new one will open – asking to refresh your source.
3. You can click on ‘OK,’ and Kodi will begin to import your media files. Depending on the size of your library, this might take some time.
So, that would be all on how to add media sources to Kodi. If you have any questions, make sure to post your comment below. And of course, do not forget to share this article online. Thanks – and enjoy using your new Kodi library!