NZBGet extension that removes "sample" files and folders before Sonarr/Radarr/Lidarr/Prowlarr see the download. Keeps your library clean while protecting real content with conservative defaults.
Scene releases often include short sample clips, promo images, and other junk alongside the real media. If those make it into your library you get:
- noisy episode/movie folders
- extra files in Plex/Jellyfin/Kodi
- higher chance of grabbing the wrong file in manual imports
Remove Samples runs after unpacking and before your media managers. It identifies sample-like content using filename patterns, size thresholds, and optional relative-size rules, then removes (or quarantines) the junk so only real media moves downstream.
-
Sample-aware filename matching Detects common patterns like
sample,SAMPLE,.sample.,_sample_, etc., using word- and separator-aware matching to avoid false positives. -
Size-based detection for video & audio Treats very small video and audio files under your thresholds as samples (e.g. tiny preview clips).
-
Relative Size % detection (optional) Flags a video as a sample when its size is below a certain percentage of the largest video in the same download. This gives you dynamic thresholds that scale with the release.
-
Per-category overrides Category-specific thresholds let you tune behavior differently for TV, movies, music, etc., while keeping safe global defaults.
-
Safety tools for testing and recovery
- Test Mode – dry-run logging that shows what would be removed without touching the files.
- Block Import During Test – optional companion to Test Mode that tells NZBGet to report a failure so media managers don’t import during a test run.
- Quarantine Mode – instead of deleting, moves samples to a
_samples_quarantinesubfolder for manual review. - Quarantine Max Age – optional automatic cleanup of old quarantine files after a configurable number of days.
-
Protected Paths & Deny Patterns
- Protected paths/names let you explicitly shield things like subtitles, artwork, or NFOs so they are never removed, even if they look like samples.
- Deny patterns are a configurable list of extra patterns you always want treated as junk.
-
Image & extras cleanup (optional) Optional toggles to remove common screenshot/image samples and other minor extras left behind by some releases.
NZBGet → Settings → Extension Manager
- Find Remove Samples in the list.
- Click the download/install icon.
- That’s it.
NZBGet → Settings → Extension Manager → Remove Samples
For most users, the defaults are a safe starting point:
- Video Size Threshold (MB):
150Small video files under this size are considered candidates for sample detection. - Audio Size Threshold (MB):
2Small audio files (e.g., preview tracks) are treated as samples. - Remove Directories:
YesRemoves entire folders that look like sample directories. - Remove Files:
YesRemoves individual files that match sample patterns. - Debug:
NoLeave off for daily use. Turn on temporarily when tuning settings or diagnosing behavior.
- Start with the bundled defaults; they are intentionally conservative.
- Relative Size % defaults to 8%, which provides a good balance for most content. Most users can leave this and Category Thresholds at their defaults.
- Protected Paths always win: if a file matches a protected pattern (for example
*.srtfor subtitles), it will never be removed, even if it also looks like a sample. - When experimenting with new thresholds or patterns, enable Test Mode first so you can review log output before allowing deletions or quarantine moves.
NZBGet → Settings → Categories → <Your Category>.Extensions
Place RemoveSamples after unpacking and before any final cleanup or media managers.
Example (working setup):
- Completion – Verifies download completeness before processing
- PasswordDetector – Detects password-protected archives early
- FakeDetector – Flags fake/corrupted releases
- ExtendedUnpacker – Extracts nested zip/rar archives
- RemoveSamples – Removes sample files/folders after unpack
- Clean – Final tidy-up
Why order matters
- Remove Samples runs after unpack, so it can see real files.
- It runs before Clean, so samples are removed before final cleanup.
- Upstream detection scripts run first to catch bad releases early.
Recommended first step – Test Mode only
-
In Extension Manager, set Test Mode = Yes.
-
(Optional) Enable Block Import (Test Mode) = Yes if you want to prevent Sonarr/Radarr/Lidarr/Prowlarr from seeing the test download.
-
Process a known-good test download.
-
Open NZBGet → Messages and review the log lines:
- size checks for video/audio
- matches on filename patterns
- summary line showing how many files/dirs would be removed or quarantined
-
Once you’re satisfied, set Test Mode = No (and Block Import (Test Mode) = No if you enabled it) to allow real removals or quarantine moves.
When to use Debug
- Turn Debug = Yes by itself (with Test Mode left at
No) when you need deeper, per-item decision details to understand why something was or wasn’t treated as a sample. - After troubleshooting, set Debug = No again for normal operation.
- Word-boundary matching: uses patterns like
\bsample\bto avoid false positives inside longer words. - Separator-aware: catches
.sample.,_sample_,-sample-, and similar separators in filenames. - Size checks: very small video/audio files under your thresholds are considered sample candidates.
- Relative-size checks (optional): flags videos that are much smaller than the main video in the same download when Relative Size % is enabled.
If you previously saw a Unicode/console encoding error with Debug enabled on Windows, update to the latest version via Extension Manager. The script now uses UTF-8 console output on Windows so Debug works normally.
- NZBGet: v23+ recommended
- Python: 3.8+ (required)
- Bug Reports: https://github.com/Anunnaki-Astronaut/RemoveSamples-NZBGet/issues
- Discussions: https://github.com/Anunnaki-Astronaut/RemoveSamples-NZBGet/discussions
GNU General Public License v2.0 – see the LICENSE file for details.