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Videos

Videos are the core of Gero. Everything starts with importing content into your library, where it gets processed, tagged, and made ready for viewing.

Importing videos

There are two ways to add videos to Gero:

From a URL

Paste a link from any site supported by yt-dlp (YouTube, RedGifs, PornHub, and thousands more). Gero downloads the video and processes it automatically.

From a file

Drop files into the watched folder (if configured). Supported formats include anything FFmpeg can handle: MP4, WebM, MKV, AVI, MOV, and more.

Processing pipeline

When a video is imported, Gero runs it through a multi-step pipeline:

Step What happens
Download Fetches the video from the URL (skipped for local files)
Validate Verifies the file is a valid video
Get metadata Extracts duration, codec info, and other technical details
Optimize Re-encodes to a standard format if needed
Convert Converts to a browser-friendly format (MP4/WebM)
Generate thumbnail Creates a poster image for the video
Generate preview Creates an animated preview clip
Process tags Auto-extracts tags from the source (see Tags)
Process actors Matches known actors by name
Trigger fragments Queues automatic fragment generation

All processing runs as a background job with real-time progress tracking. You can continue using the app while videos are being processed.

Fragments

Fragments are short clips extracted from videos. Gero can auto-generate them or you can create them manually by setting start and end times.

Each fragment gets its own:

  • Thumbnail
  • Duration
  • Tags (inherited from parent video or added manually)

Fragments are the building blocks for Theater Mode browsing and future features like the Montage Creator.

Theater mode

Theater Mode is a full-screen, TikTok/Reels-style player for browsing your content.

Desktop controls:

  • Scroll up/down to navigate between videos
  • Click the scrubber to seek
  • Arrow keys to navigate
  • Space to play/pause
  • M to mute/unmute

Mobile controls:

  • Swipe up/down to change videos
  • Tap to play/pause
  • Double-tap to seek forward/backward

Review system

New videos and fragments are marked as unreviewed by default. You can use the review system to:

  • Mark content as reviewed after checking quality
  • Hide videos you don't want to see in browsing
  • Show/unhide hidden content at any time

This helps you curate your collection, especially when importing large batches via media subscriptions.

Actors

Actors represent people featured in your videos. During import, Gero automatically matches known actor names found in the video title. You can also manually link actors to videos.

Each actor can have:

  • A profile picture
  • Birth date and origin info
  • Links to all their videos

Use actors to filter and browse your collection by performer.