Kodi Music Library Artwork Guide (Album Art That Actually Shows)
Kodi is one of the best free media centers for a local music collection — but its music artwork rules confuse almost everyone at first. This guide explains which artwork Kodi actually reads and the folder setup that makes album covers show up reliably.
What artwork Kodi reads
Unlike some servers that prefer online databases, Kodi is refreshingly file-focused. For music it uses:
- Embedded artwork — the cover stored inside each music file’s tags. Kodi reads this when it scans your library.
- Artwork files next to your music — images placed in the album folder. The most widely recognized names are
folder.jpgandcover.jpg.
Kodi’s own wiki documents folder.jpg as the standard name for folder artwork, and the wider community also uses cover.jpg, front.jpg, and album.jpg. When in doubt, folder.jpg is the safest bet.
The folder structure that makes everything work
Kodi’s music library works best with a simple rule: one album, one folder.
- Organize your music as
Music / Artist / Album / tracks… - Put the artwork inside the album folder — either embedded in the files (see how to embed album art) or as
folder.jpgin that folder. - In Kodi, go to Music and run Update library (or Scan for new content on the source).
- If covers still don’t appear, run Clean library first, then update again — this clears stale entries.
Embedded art vs. folder.jpg — which is better for Kodi?
| What matters | Embedded in files | folder.jpg in album folder |
|---|---|---|
| Survives moving files to a new drive | Yes — art is inside the file | Only if you move the whole folder |
| Works in other players too | Yes (phone, car, other apps) | Only players that read folder.jpg |
| Effort for a big library | Batch-embed once with Mp3tag | One file per album folder |
| File size | Adds ~100–500 KB per track | One image per album |
Verdict: embedding is the most portable choice — your covers follow the files everywhere, not just in Kodi. If disk space is tight and you only care about Kodi, folder.jpg is perfectly fine.
Still not showing? Checklist
- Is the image actually in the album folder, not the artist folder or one level too high?
- Is it named
folder.jpg(lowercase)? Unusual names or PNG files are less reliably picked up. - Did you Update library after adding the art? Kodi caches artwork — new images need a rescan.
- Try Clean library then update: removes dead entries that can block new art.
- Check the file isn’t corrupted: open the JPG on your computer first.
Where to get the artwork
Use Album Art Downloader to batch-find covers for your whole collection, or the online tool for single albums. For the best free sources, see where to find high-resolution album covers.
Frequently asked questions