Find and Replace Low-Quality Files

Librariarr stores the resolution, codec, dynamic range, bitrate and file size of every item it syncs, so a lifecycle rule can pick out the files that no longer meet your standard and hand them to Radarr or Sonarr to improve. None of the actions here delete anything you do not ask them to.

Pick the files

In Lifecycle → Rules, on the Movies tab, start with one condition and widen from there:

• Resolution (resolution) contains SD|480P — the rule builder offers the values your library actually holds (4K, 1080P, 720P, 480P, SD, and Other for files it could not classify); pick several and they are ORed.
• Monitored (arrMonitored) equals true — only files Radarr will act on.

Useful additions:

• Video Codec (videoCodec) contains mpeg2video for old encodes, or Dynamic Range (dynamicRange) equals SDR when you want HDR copies of titles that have one.
• Video Bitrate (kbps) (videoBitrate) less than 2000 (kbps) for files that are 1080p in name only.
• Quality Cutoff Met (arrQualityCutoffMet) equals false (movies only) — Radarr’s own verdict that the file is below the profile’s cutoff. This is the most precise condition, since it reads the profile you configured there.

Preview before choosing an action. A quality condition tends to match more than you expect.

Choose how to improve them

Action	What happens	When to use it
Search for New Copy	Radarr searches; it replaces the file only if it finds a release its quality profile prefers.	The safe default. Nothing is removed if no better release exists.
Change Quality Profile	The movie is moved to the profile you pick; with Search for upgrade after profile change on, a search follows. Items already on that profile are skipped.	Your current profile is the reason the file was never upgraded.
Monitor & Delete Files with Search for new copy after file deletion	The file is deleted and Radarr immediately searches for a replacement.	You want the file gone whatever the search finds. Check the recycle bin is on.

The first is in the Rule Set Library. The second also works as a downgrade — watched 4K movies moved to a profile that prefers 1080p, which Radarr then fetches and swaps in — and the library has that rule set too, with the profile ordering it depends on. A non-destructive action with the same configuration runs once per item: a file that is still SD after a search is not searched again every cycle unless you change the action’s configuration, which re-arms it. Monitor & Delete Files is a delete, and a delete is scheduled again whenever the item still matches.

Caution

Delete Files Only and the two monitor-and-delete actions remove the file on disk. With no recycle bin configured in Radarr or Sonarr the delete is immediate; Librariarr warns in the action settings when that is the case.

Shows

On the Series tab the same conditions work per episode, with Match against entire series off: a file delete acts only on the episodes that matched (a 480p episode in an otherwise 1080p season), and Sonarr’s search is run for exactly those episodes. Resolution, codecs and the other quality fields describe one episode’s file, so they can’t be used with Match against entire series on — a whole-show action would follow one episode’s quality. For the same reason an action that acts on the whole series can’t follow them with series scope off either: use Delete Files Only with Search for new copy after file deletion, or Search for New Copy, which act on the matched episodes. Change Quality Profile, Monitor & Delete Files, Unmonitor & Delete Files, Delete from Sonarr and Arr tags change the whole series in Sonarr, so the editor offers them disabled there. Music is the same with Match against entire artist, where only Delete Files Only (without Search after, which searches the whole artist) acts on the matched tracks.

Fix the profiles first

If many files match, the quality profiles themselves may be the problem. TRaSH Guide Sync imports recommended custom formats and quality profiles into Radarr and Sonarr, with a preview of every change; a Change Quality Profile action can then move the matched items onto the new profile.