How Your Library Works

A Vidarium library is simply a folder with your videos — there is no separate place your files get copied to. When you open a folder as a library, Vidarium creates a small, hidden ".vidarium" folder inside it that holds a database with everything the app knows about your videos: tags, people, collections, ratings, comments, and the library's settings. Your video files themselves are not touched or converted. The one exception: files you add from outside the library — by dragging them in, with File ▸ Add Files…, or via the share sheet — are copied into the library folder, leaving the originals untouched. To manage videos in place without copies, create the library from their folder rather than adding them to another one.

Scanning

Every time you open a library, Vidarium scans the folder and reconciles the database with what is actually on disk: videos added in the Finder (or any other app) appear in the grid, and videos that are gone are marked as missing. You can also refresh at any time from the File menu. This means you can keep organizing the folder outside of Vidarium — the library keeps itself up to date from the folder's content.

What writes to disk

By default Vidarium also mirrors your in-app organization to the folder: renaming a video renames the file, and folders in the sidebar match subfolders on disk. Both behaviors can be turned off per library in the Library Settings. Moving a video to the Trash from Vidarium moves the actual file to the system Trash.

Moving or backing up a library

Because everything lives inside the one folder — videos and the ".vidarium" database alike — backing up or moving the folder takes the whole library with it. After moving it, open the folder in Vidarium again from its new location.

An empty library offers an Add Videos… button right in the main view — the videos you pick are copied into the library folder, exactly as if you had dropped them in.