We use TMDB as the primary source for all TV show metadata. TMDB is an open database, so it’s free to sign up and edit info. Contributing to TMDB (please read the TMDB Contribution Bible and follow all their rules) helps Trakt and thousands of other apps that use TMDB metadata. We really appreciate your help with keeping the data updated!
Here’s how to import a TV show:
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Make sure the TV show exists on TMDB with English information filled out. The more complete the TMDB entry is, the better it is for Trakt and all the other apps that use TMDB.
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On the Trakt website, click the Import TV Show link in the footer.
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Type in the TMDB ID and click the Import button.
A 404 error could mean a few things:
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There is no English translation.
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TMDB has too much blank or invalid data.
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The TV show is a duplicate (usually indicated in the title).
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The TV show is marked as adult content.
Behind the scenes, here is what we do:
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All main English TV info is imported from TMDB.
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Aliases, translations, genres, language, and actors are imported from TMDB.
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The highest rated English or No Language poster, season posters, episode screenshots and fanart are also imported from TMDB. 1080p (or larger) is preferred for fanart and we’ll only use 720p if nothing better is available.
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All English season and episode info is imported from TMDB.
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Supporting images are imported from Fanart.tv for the show (logo, banner, thumb) and seasons (poster, fanart, thumb, banner).
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Site ratings are imported from OMDb and other data (homepage, runtime) is used as a fallback if it doesn’t exist on TMDB.
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Air day and air time are imported from TVMaze. If this is still missing or inaccurate, we can manually fix it. Click the Report Show sidebar link on any TV show page, set the reason to Invalid Metadata, and let us know the correct air date and air time.
Daily refreshes
TV shows are automatically refreshed every 24 hours. We check TMDB each day for any changes, then queue up those shows to get refreshed information. Existing images are left alone, but any missing images will be added.
Note: Some TV shows have locked poster and fanart (indicated on the left sidebar). This means we have specifically set those images and they won’t be auto updated with a refresh.
New TV shows
We automatically refresh any TV shows that recently premiered between 14 days ago and 21 days in the future. All data and images and are refreshed.
Episode runtimes
We get episode runtimes from TMDB. If they don’t have it, please update TMDB with the correct episode runtime so Trakt can sync the data. We’ll fallback to the TV show’s general runtime (the lowest runtime on TMDB) if needed.
What if a TV show isn’t refreshing correctly?
TV shows sometimes get stuck and don’t refresh their data from TMDB correctly. If it’s been over 48 hours, go to the TV show’s main page, click the Report Show sidebar link and let us know data isn’t getting refreshed.
VIP refresh
Trakt VIP members can queue up a TV show to be refreshed more quickly by clicking the Refresh Data sidebar link. TV shows should be auto refreshing every 24 hours, but this allows a quicker update on Trakt if needed.
Some TV shows on Trakt are using old datasources and need to be migrated to TMDB. We need your help to ensure TMDB data is complete and ready for this migration. This means continuing to add new episodes on TMDB as they air and backfilling old shows with incomplete seasons and episodes.
Contributing to TMDB helps Trakt and thousands of other apps that use TMDB metadata. We really appreciate your help with keeping the data updated!
Please read the TMDB Contribution Bible and follow all the rules for contributing data. Some TV shows on Trakt will need to be manually adjusted to match TMDB. Please use the Report Show sidebar link or contact Trakt support.
TMDB Comparison page
The comparison page helps visualize any differences between Trakt and TMDB data. Green rows indicate a 100% match of the episode count, air dates, and titles. Blue rows indicate the episode count matches, but there might be differences in air date or title. Red rows indicate the episode count doesn’t match. Click the + to expand a season to see individual episode info. All of the seasons and episodes are linked to their respective data source, so you can quickly jump to those databases as needed.
What datasource does a specific TV show use?
The sidebar of any TV show indicates the datasource being used and when metadata was last updated. There is also a quick link to view the TMDB comparison page for that specific TV show.
What if a TV show doesn’t exist on TMDB?
If a TV show is allowed by TMDB (refer to the TMDB Contribution Bible), it will need to be added to TMDB before the Trakt TV show can be migrated to use it. After it’s added, you can either wait 24 hours for the Trakt comparison page to update or click Report Show to let us know about it.
TV shows not allowed on TMDB
If a TV show isn’t allowed by TMDB, the TV show will remain on Trakt, without any future updates. This affects YouTube and web shows specifically. This should be ok for shows that have already ended. Shows that are currently airing are more tricky and we don’t have a good solution for that yet.
Internal tools to help with migration
There are a lot of TV shows that somewhat match TMDB, but not 100%. We’ve built several internal tools to help with that. Here are some things we’re able to do:
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Lock specific seasons and episodes. We might lock some early seasons on a show, but want future seasons to be updated from TMDB normally.
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Merge episodes. We can merge duplicate episodes and also merge specials into movies. The most common case we see is feature length movies added as TV specials, so we merge those into the correct movie entry on Trakt.
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Move episodes around. Sometimes TMDB has all the data, but in a different airing order. We’re able to move episodes around prior to migrating to make sure things line up.
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Split episodes. A single episode on Trakt might be 2 episodes on TMDB. We’re able to split the episode and duplicate the plays to ensure your progress remains correct.