A collection of personal Tdarr plugins and Flows used to standardize television and movie libraries for long-term Plex compatibility.
The objective of this project is simple:
Transcode as little as possible while standardizing as much as necessary.
Media acquisition and quality selection are intentionally performed upstream by Sonarr and Radarr. Tdarr is responsible for transforming downloaded media into predictable playback standards while preserving as much of the original quality as possible.
This project is built around five guiding principles.
- Preserve quality whenever possible.
- Avoid unnecessary transcoding.
- Maximize Plex Direct Play compatibility.
- Maintain a single standardized copy of every movie and episode.
- Separate media acquisition from media normalization.
Rather than applying one processing policy to every file, each media library has its own workflow optimized for its intended purpose.
Internet
│
▼
Sonarr / Radarr
(Quality Selection & Acquisition)
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Tdarr Media Policies
┌────────────────┬────────────────┐
│ │ │
▼ ▼ ▼
TV Shows HD Movies 4K Movies
│ │ │
└────────────────┴────────────────┘
│
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Global Processing Pipeline
(Preparation → Rename → Packaging)
│
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Sonarr / Radarr Notify
│
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Plex
Television-specific processing policies.
- TV Optimized
- TV Standard
- Sonarr Tag Router
Designed to normalize inconsistent television content while balancing storage efficiency and playback quality.
Standard HD movie processing.
- HD Movie Video
- HD Movie Audio
- Radarr Router
Designed to preserve the cinematic experience while maximizing playback compatibility.
Ultra HD movie processing.
- 4K Audio Standardization
Designed to preserve UHD video quality while normalizing surround audio.
Reusable processing framework shared across every media workflow.
- Media Preparation
- Rename
- Subtitle Extraction & MP4 Mux
Provides consistent library preparation, packaging, and media standardization regardless of library type.
Each application in the media pipeline has a clearly defined responsibility.
Responsible for:
- Library management
- Quality Profiles
- Custom Formats
- Release selection
- Metadata
- Downloads
Responsible for:
- Media normalization
- Codec standardization
- Audio standardization
- Subtitle extraction
- Container optimization
- File naming
- Library consistency
Responsible for:
- Library presentation
- Direct Play
- Client compatibility
- Media streaming
This separation allows each application to do what it does best while minimizing unnecessary media processing.
Every library intentionally follows a different processing policy.
| Library | Primary Goal |
|---|---|
| TV Shows | Normalize inconsistent media while balancing quality and storage efficiency. |
| HD Movies | Preserve the cinematic experience while maximizing playback compatibility. |
| 4K Movies | Preserve premium UHD video quality while standardizing surround audio. |
These plugins were built over several years as my media library evolved from a collection of independent Tdarr plugins into a modular processing framework built around Tdarr Flows.
The code is heavily inspired by the incredible Tdarr community. Nearly every plugin contains ideas, techniques, or examples learned from other users and adapted to fit my own media standards.
Hopefully these plugins—and more importantly the documentation behind them—help others build media workflows that match their own libraries.
Happy transcoding!
Designed to normalize highly inconsistent television content.
Two processing policies are available:
- TV Optimized – Storage efficient with a single AAC 2.0 audio track.
- TV Standard – Higher quality with AC3 5.1 and AAC 2.0 audio.
Workflow selection is performed automatically using Sonarr tags.
Designed to preserve the cinematic experience while ensuring broad playback compatibility.
Quality selection is primarily performed by Radarr. Tdarr standardizes media only when necessary.
Designed to preserve UHD video quality.
Video is intentionally left untouched while audio is normalized to a single high-quality surround track.
Every media workflow eventually enters the Shared Processing pipeline where media is prepared, renamed, packaged, and finalized before being returned to the appropriate media manager.
This repository would not exist without the incredible Tdarr community.
These plugins are the result of learning from many community examples, adapting existing ideas, and refining them over time to match my own media standards and library design goals.
If you recognize pieces of your own work in these plugins, thank you for sharing your knowledge with the community.