Compilation album display issue

[bandiba]

Hi,

I'm fairly new to Jellyfin and self hosting of media. 
I have many compilation disks (Bravo Hits and the like). I followed https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/server/media/music to distribute my files in folders, but I found, that this results in multiple album entries for the same album in Jellyfin, one entry for each song. As I have already tagged and saved the files by artists for my entire collection, I'm looking for a solution to salvage the situation.

I did the following experiment on a RPi5 to see where things go wrong (from my aspect):

I took one compilation album (Bravo Hits 107) and updated the metadata using MusicBrainz Picard. The metadata was not changed between the two tests just the filenames and location.

1. I renamed and moved the files using my script in Picard: %artist%/%album%/%tracknumber%. %title%
   
2. This resulted in many folders - for each artist one with a subfolder for the compilation album.
   
3. I added the folder where I moved the renamed and tagged files as a music library, keeping every setting as it is by default
   
4. This also resulted in many entries for the same album in Jellyfin
   

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1. I removed the library and stopped the Jellyfin server
   
2. I renamed and moved the files using Picard's  built-in Preset 3: [album artist]/[album]/[disc and track #] [artist] - [title]
   
3. This resulted in one folder for the album with many file entries for the songs
   
4. I added the folder as a music library, keeping every setting as it is by default
   
5. This also resulted in one entry for the album in Jellyfin
   

[url=https://postimg.cc/cK1GvWPt]



I browsed the forum and tried to change metadtata in different ways, but the issue persisted.
I already tagged and structured a larger collection using Picard. If I there is a way to display the compilation albums as one, even if the content of the compilation album is sorted by artist I would be very happy.

Thank you for all your help and insights.

[jaja]

hello,

j'utilise easytag pour tagué mes mp3.

pour les albums : je fais comme suit :

artiste/année - nom de album/numéro de piste.titre.mp3

pour les compilations : je fais comme suit :

année - nom de la compilation/numéro de piste.artiste - titre.mp3

les albums et les compilations sont dans 2 dossiers différents et donc dans 2 bibliothèques différentes.

j'ai nommé, et ça depuis des années, les "faces" d'albums et de compilation en "front.jpg" malgré qu'il soit conseillé de les nommer pour jellyfin en "cover.jpg". cela fonctionne quand même !

edit : ce qui serait bien de changer est que tous les artistes sont listés en haut à la suite et non devant chaque piste !!

edit 2 : je ne sais plus pourquoi car mon installation du serveur date un peu maintenant. mais quand je vais dans ma bibliothèque albums, il m'affiche les artistes par défaut. quand je vais dans la bibliothèque "compilation, il m'affiche les albums en premier !

[bandiba]

Thank you very much for your reply and for confirming what I suspected.
I appreciate the detailed explanation and the advice about separating albums and compilations into different folder structures and libraries very much.

It makes some sense that Jellyfin treats each folder as a distinct album, even though the docs says the filenames don't matter. Your example helps clarify how to organize compilation albums properly. I’ll experiment a bit to see how I can restructure my collection with the least amount of effort, since I currently have solo albums and compilations mixed under the artist.

As a small suggestion to improve the docs:
it might be helpful to include a short note or example about handling compilation albums in the official Jellyfin music library documentation. I think it would help others avoid the same confusion.

Thanks again for taking the time to answer!