Intro/Outro Videos for TV Shows

Feature Suggestions
1

:pushpin: Feature Request: Season‑Level Intro/Outro Videos for TV Shows

Summary

I would like to request native support in Plex for automatic intro and outro videos that play before and after each episode, with configuration available at the season level within a TV series.

Different seasons of the same show often have different opening or ending sequences, so season‑level granularity is essential. Library‑level or series‑level granularity of such settings are a plus.

:bullseye: Why season‑level configuration would be helpful

Many TV shows—especially animated series, long‑running productions, or remastered releases—change their opening or ending sequences across seasons. Examples include:

  • new intro theme for Season 2

  • special outro for a particular arc

  • anniversary or remastered seasons with different branding

Today, the only way to add these sequences is to:

  • manually edit every episode

  • or generate merged files via FFmpeg

  • or maintain duplicate versions of episodes

This is inefficient, storage‑heavy, and not scalable.

A built‑in intro/outro system with season‑level overrides would solve this cleanly.

:sparkles: Proposed Functionality

1. Season‑level intro/outro settings (core requirement)

Each season inside a TV series should allow to optionally play:

  • Intro video file

  • Outro video file

  • Option: play only for unwatched episodes

This ensures each season can have its own unique intro/outro.

2. Optional higher‑level defaults

While season‑level configuration is essential, Plex could optionally support:

  • Series‑level defaults (used if a season has no override)

  • Library‑level defaults (used if neither series nor season define intro/outro)

But these must never replace the ability to configure each season independently.

3. Client‑side playback logic

When a user starts an episode:

  1. Plex plays the season’s configured intro video

  2. Then plays the episode

  3. After the episode ends, Plex plays the season’s outro video

No modification of the original media files is required.

:brain: Technical Feasibility

This feature is already proven feasible in other media players.

For example, Kodi allows add‑ons to hook into playback events (OnPlayBackStarted, OnPlayBackEnded) and dynamically insert intro/outro videos without altering the media files.
This demonstrates that:

  • the logic can be handled entirely on the client side

  • intro/outro playback can be seamless

  • no transcoding or file duplication is needed

Plex already supports pre‑roll trailers for movies, so extending this concept to TV episodes—especially with season‑level granularity— could be a natural evolution.

:light_bulb: Benefits

  • No need to modify or duplicate media files

  • Accurate intro/outro matching for each season

  • Perfect for animated series, long‑running shows, and custom rips

  • Consistent viewing experience

  • Minimal server‑side complexity

  • Fully backward‑compatible with existing libraries

:megaphone: Closing

Season‑level intro/outro support would significantly enhance Plex’s flexibility and bring it closer to the capabilities of open‑source players, while maintaining the polished experience Plex is known for.
It’s a practical, highly requested feature that would greatly improve the viewing experience for users with large TV libraries.

Thank you for considering this enhancement.

2

Ugh… AI write-ups can be so exhaustive/bloated they get ambiguous :innocent:

Just to clarify… you have videos which are stripped of intro/outro and want to specify which videos to play before/after each episode respectively (for a show or season)?

If so… is that in line with support for pre-rolls for tv shows?

3

Hi Tom, thanks for tour kind reply and yes, you’re right on AI, I tried hoping to clarify my foggy thoughts :grinning_face:

The feature. req. you pointed out seems to address the pre-roll part but not the post-roll one, if I got it right.

The concept is to have the possibility to play an intro video before each episode of a season and an outro video after each episode, where intro/outro are the same within a season but can differe among different seasons/series/shows.

Eg. for anime sometimes I miss the intro/outro or I want to add the versions re-arranged/localized for my country.

I hope.this can better clarify.

Thanks a lot for your time and support!