Kodi stores cached artwork (posters, fanart, icons, previews) locally. Clearing the thumbnail cache can free disk space and fix corrupted or outdated artwork. Kodi will rebuild the cache automatically during browsing.

Kodi thumbnail cache consists of:

• userdata/Thumbnails/

  — cached image files

• userdata/Database/Textures*.db

  — artwork index database

For a full reset, delete both.

Kodi must be fully closed before deleting cache files.

C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Kodi\userdata\

Quick access:

Win + R → %APPDATA%\Kodi\userdata

~/.kodi/userdata/

/Users/<user>/Library/Application Support/Kodi/userdata/

Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/userdata/

/storage/.kodi/userdata/

Delete:

Thumbnails/
Database/Textures*.db

Examples:

Textures13.db
Textures20.db

Do not delete other database files.

Kodi will rebuild:

• artwork database
• thumbnail cache
• artwork on demand

Expect slower browsing until rebuilt.

Some maintenance add-ons can clear cache:

• OpenWizard
• EZ Maintenance+
• Indigo

Typical menu path:

Add-on → Maintenance → Clear Thumbnails / Clear Cache

Manual cleanup is more complete.

If artwork mappings are broken but disk usage is acceptable:

Delete only:

Database/Textures*.db

Keep:

Thumbnails/

Kodi will rebuild the index only.

After clearing:

• artwork reloads gradually
• browsing is slower initially
• network artwork sources are queried again
• custom artwork may need refresh

Goal: Make Kodi prefer embedded tags and artwork instead of online scraping or folder images.

Settings → Media → Music → Library

Set:

Default provider for artist information → Local information only
Default provider for album information → Local information only

This disables online metadata scraping.

Settings → Media → Music

Enable:

Read embedded tags
Extract thumbnails and video information

(Names vary slightly by version.)

Edit:

userdata/advancedsettings.xml

Add:

<advancedsettings>
  <musiclibrary>
    <preferonlineinfo>false</preferonlineinfo>
  </musiclibrary>

  <music>
    <prioritiseembeddedart>true</prioritiseembeddedart>
  </music>
</advancedsettings>

This forces embedded artwork preference.

After changing settings:

Clean library:

Music → Library → Clean library

Optional full artwork reset:

Delete:

userdata/Thumbnails/
userdata/Database/Textures*.db

Restart Kodi and rescan.

Kodi prefers embedded data only if tags are complete.

Recommended fields:

• Album
• Album Artist
• Artist
• Title
• Year
• Genre
• Track Number
• Embedded front cover art

Recommended artwork specs:

JPEG or PNG
500–1200 px square
< 1 MB preferred

Very large images may be skipped or downscaled.

When adding a music source:

Set content → Music → Information provider → Local information only

Apply per source.

• Old thumbnail cache still present
• Library scanned before setting change
• Multiple embedded images without “front cover” flag
• MusicBrainz IDs triggering scraper overrides
• Skin-level artwork overrides