Media library¶

The media library is where CroStream keeps the files you use on stream: alert pictures and GIFs, sound effects, videos, jump scare images and fonts. Add a file once, then pick it anywhere: in overlays, alerts, widgets and the screen flash.

Open Media library in the sidebar, under Media.

The page has three parts:

1. Folders (left): All media, your folders, and the Trash.
2. The browser (middle): the files and folders where you are, with the toolbar above them and the totals below.
3. Details (right): a preview and the details of what's selected. Hide or show it with the panel button at the top right.

What you can add¶

• Each file can be up to 4 GB.
• CroStream checks that a file really is what its name says. A renamed file of another type is refused.
• SVG images aren't accepted, for safety: an SVG can carry code.
• Animated GIFs play wherever you use them.

Add files¶

1. Open the folder you want the files in (or stay in All media).
2. Click Add files and choose one or more files.

Or drag files from your file manager onto the page. Drop them on a folder (in the folder list or the browser) to put them straight into that folder.

A progress note shows while files are added, then a summary: Added 3 files. Files that can't be added are listed with the reason.

Good to know:

• Files are copied into the library. Moving, renaming or deleting the original afterwards changes nothing in CroStream.
• Adding a file that's already in the library (the exact same contents, whatever its name) doesn't store it twice. The note says it was already in your library.
• You can't add files while you're looking at the Trash.
• In the browser UI, files are uploaded to the PC running CroStream.

Folders¶

Folders keep things tidy: one for alerts, one for sound effects, one for your "Be right back" slideshow.

• New folder (toolbar) makes a folder where you are. Right-click a folder → New subfolder to nest one inside it.
• Click a folder in the list, or double-click it in the browser, to open it. The path at the top (All media › Alerts › …) takes you back up.
• Rename a folder from its right-click menu, with F2, or in the details panel.
• Move files and folders by dragging them onto a folder (in the browser or the folder list), or with Move to….
• All media shows everything outside any folder, plus your folders.

The Slideshow widget shows one folder's pictures and videos on an overlay, so a folder is also a playlist. A custom widget with a Media folder setting gets the folder's images, videos and sounds, so a folder of sounds can be a playlist too.

Tags¶

Tags are colored labels you can put on any file, such as hype, scary, funny or sub alert. A file can have many tags, and a tag works across all folders.

• To tag one file, select it and type in Tags in the details panel. You can make a new tag right there.
• To tag many files at once, select them and click Tags….
• Manage tags… (in the tag filter) renames, recolors and deletes tags. Renaming or recoloring a tag changes it everywhere.

Find files¶

The second toolbar row filters what you see:

• Search looks in names and notes. Inside a folder, it searches that folder and its subfolders.
• All, Images, Audio, Video, Fonts show one kind.
• The tag filter shows items that have all of the tags you pick.
• Sort by Name, Date added, Size, Type or Length; the arrow next to it flips the order.
• The view buttons switch between a grid of thumbnails and a list.

If nothing matches, click Clear search and filters.

Select and work with files¶

• Click to select. Ctrl-click adds or removes one; Shift-click selects a range; Ctrl+A selects everything shown.
• With several selected, a bar shows Move to…, Tags… and Trash.
• Right-click (or the ⋯ button) for View / Play / Preview, Rename, Move to…, Tags… and Move to Trash.

Preview and details¶

Select a file to see it in the details panel:

• Images: a preview. Click it (View) to open the full-size viewer. In the viewer, the arrow keys step through the images, Z (or 1) switches between fit and actual size, and Esc closes it.
• Sounds and videos: a player with play, pause, stop, seek and volume. Only one thing plays at a time.
• Fonts: an Aa sample; type your own text to try it. The panel shows the font's family, weight, style and whether it came from Google Fonts or was uploaded.

Below the preview:

The buttons at the bottom move the file (Move to…) or put it in the Trash.

Thumbnails for images are made when you add them. A video's thumbnail and length are captured by the app itself, once it has been able to play the video (right after you add it, or the first time it's shown).

Trash¶

Deleting never erases straight away: Trash moves files and folders (with everything inside) to the Trash.

• Right after, the note offers Undo.
• In the Trash, select items and click Restore to put them back.
• Delete forever erases selected items for good; Empty Trash erases everything in it. Both ask first and can't be undone.
• Items left in the Trash are removed automatically after 30 days.

Use your media¶

The media picker shows the same library, filtered to the kinds that fit (only images for an image, only sounds for a sound).

Where the files are stored¶

The library lives in the library folder of CroStream's state folder (see Where files are kept):

• library.db: the list of folders, files, tags and notes;
• files/: the copied files, named by ID rather than by your names;
• thumbs/: the thumbnails.

Rename and organize files in CroStream, not in that folder.

Troubleshooting¶

Related¶

• Overlays and Widgets
• Alerts
• Screen flash
• Tutorial: Sounds from the media library