# File Structure vs. Mediathek vs. Smart Playlist **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussions\ **Created:** [August 24, 2024, 5:10pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/file-structure-vs-mediathek-vs-smart-playlist/886134 "2024-08-24T17:10:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![felusch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/edb3f5/32.png) [@felusch](https://forums.plex.tv/u/felusch)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2024, 5:10pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/file-structure-vs-mediathek-vs-smart-playlist/886134/1 "2024-08-24T17:10:21Z")
Hi, I‘m new to Plex but I have a professional audio background. I am testing Plex server on my NAS lokal only, players with OSX desktop and iphone. The setup itself is running. I use the free account to test and will buy lifetime if all is fine to replace an old audirvana setup. I have a long term archive file structure for my music on my NAS that should not be changed. e.g CD/Artistname - Albumname/ Subfolder A „AIF“ Subfolder B „MP3“ Vinyl-EMT948/Artistname - Albumname Vinyl-MK2/Artistname - Albumname My Problem: I want to exclude MP3 versions from my plex players. The Smart Playlists do not have match criterias for „file type“ or „file path“ nor „samplerate“ I have found some posts here which discuss this also. Is this something that comes with a pro plan or is it impossible? Thank you Regards Bodo ---
**Author:** ![tom80H](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/tom80h/32/19753_2.png) [@tom80H](https://forums.plex.tv/u/tom80H)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2024, 8:09pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/file-structure-vs-mediathek-vs-smart-playlist/886134/2 "2024-08-24T20:09:22Z")
Plex doesn’t offer an option to filter by file extensions / media container formats inside your library. You could try using a .plexignore file to tell Plex not to scan the mp3 subfolders/files to start with. [https://support.plex.tv/articles/201381883-special-keyword-file-folder-exclusion/](https://support.plex.tv/articles/201381883-special-keyword-file-folder-exclusion/) ---
**Author:** ![jimbob100101](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/jimbob100101/32/298600_2.png) [@jimbob100101](https://forums.plex.tv/u/jimbob100101)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 6:36am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/file-structure-vs-mediathek-vs-smart-playlist/886134/3 "2024-08-25T06:36:46Z")
Plexamp has filters for **codec & bitrate** so you can create smart playlists that exclude mp3’s from within plexamp (_hopefully this functionality will soon extend to creating smart collections too_) ![Screenshot_20240825-073600](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/4X/6/3/2/632b1aded4ba9cdbaa896946386824b4d7f579b8.png) ---
**Author:** ![felusch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/edb3f5/32.png) [@felusch](https://forums.plex.tv/u/felusch)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 7:41am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/file-structure-vs-mediathek-vs-smart-playlist/886134/4 "2024-08-25T07:41:09Z")
thank you Tom and Jimbob, I have found the mp3 match criteria inside the player. thank you for confirming that datapath and file type criteria is not available in smart playlists also for the pro versions. Ím not sure if I will try the ignore files in my archive, but it seems like a good workaround. Once its placed in the root of e.g. „CD/„ ignore mp3 it should ignore all mp3 files in the subfolders within each CD, correct? ---
**Author:** ![tom80H](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/tom80h/32/19753_2.png) [@tom80H](https://forums.plex.tv/u/tom80H)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 8:00am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/file-structure-vs-mediathek-vs-smart-playlist/886134/5 "2024-08-25T08:00:54Z")
It’s not so much about placing a .plexignore file into a directory but its content that specifies which subdirectories or files will be ignored. The linked support article contains some examples of how this is done. @jimbob100101: thanks for pointing out you can filter the track codec from within Plexamp… I had totally forgotten. @felusch: You can create smart playlists from within Plexamp. Those will also be available in the other Plex clients. You just won’t be able to edit their filters in those other clients, while those don’t support the additional criteria (same for duration) ---
**Author:** ![felusch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/edb3f5/32.png) [@felusch](https://forums.plex.tv/u/felusch)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2024, 9:01am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/file-structure-vs-mediathek-vs-smart-playlist/886134/6 "2024-08-25T09:01:28Z")
> [@tom80H](#): > > You can create smart playlists from within Plexamp. Those will also be available in the other Plex clients. You just won’t be able to edit their filters in those other clients, while those don’t support the additional criteria (same for duration) I did not found a function for smart playlist creation in iOS plexamp app but in the OSX app. The match criterias for filtering “filetype” is also not available. Overall without filetype, samplerate and datapath the smart playlist is unusable for me. I will investigate in the ignore file szenario. thank you that helped ---
**Author:** ![jimbob100101](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/jimbob100101/32/298600_2.png) [@jimbob100101](https://forums.plex.tv/u/jimbob100101)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2024, 6:43am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/file-structure-vs-mediathek-vs-smart-playlist/886134/7 "2024-08-26T06:43:25Z")
Smart playlists are built using the Library tab in plexamp - I’ve edited a screenshot below to highlight how… go to **Library** _(blue)_ - Choose **Tracks** … Click **Filter** _(red)_ to apply any combinations of filters (can change **Match All** to **Match Any** by clicking on text)… Choose **Sort Options** _(purple)_ to sort playlist by various options… **Save Playlist** _(green)_ ![Screenshot_20240826-072447~2](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/4X/2/7/3/2736db5ab6861357009e79f57752710aea36f11a.jpeg) Also the _filetype_ filter is called **codec** as seen in the previous screenshot ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2024, 6:44am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/file-structure-vs-mediathek-vs-smart-playlist/886134/8 "2024-11-24T06:44:00Z")
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