2015-07-09, 15:46
From Artwork/Cache (wiki)
"All textures that Kodi loads, with the exception of textures that are provided directly by the skin, are cached to the userdata/Thumbnails folder."
Only when you use external scrapers (like Ember) you have your artwork alongside your media. The Database only contains URLs to the pictures, which get loaded if needed and then cached to the Thumbnails-folder. That's how it worked since Gotham i think. Storing your artwork locally is only a fallback.
Edit: To clarify a bit more, the database (textures13.db) contains all URLs to the artwork. These can point to the Internet (thetvdb) or local files, like /Homeland/poster.jpg. Now you select which artwork you like, Kodi loads the image and stores it into userdata/Thumbnails. Job done.
"All textures that Kodi loads, with the exception of textures that are provided directly by the skin, are cached to the userdata/Thumbnails folder."
Only when you use external scrapers (like Ember) you have your artwork alongside your media. The Database only contains URLs to the pictures, which get loaded if needed and then cached to the Thumbnails-folder. That's how it worked since Gotham i think. Storing your artwork locally is only a fallback.
Edit: To clarify a bit more, the database (textures13.db) contains all URLs to the artwork. These can point to the Internet (thetvdb) or local files, like /Homeland/poster.jpg. Now you select which artwork you like, Kodi loads the image and stores it into userdata/Thumbnails. Job done.
