Generated media
Generated media is derivative content Cove or an extension creates from source media. Examples include covers, thumbnails, previews, sprites, transcodes, fingerprints, embeddings, and analysis images.
Boundary from source media
Section titled “Boundary from source media”Generated assets support presentation, playback, search, or analysis. They do not replace the primary media record and are not necessarily stored beside the source file. A source can therefore remain intact while generated output is rebuilt or removed.
Selected cover art can be generated, imported, or user supplied. Fingerprints and embeddings may be persisted as technical or analysis data rather than exposed as ordinary browsable media.
Lifecycle
Section titled “Lifecycle”Generation can run during scanning or as a background job requested later. Availability depends on media type, attached files, configured generators, job services, permissions, and extensions. A failed or missing derivative does not by itself mean the source record is invalid.
Generated output is generally reproducible, but user-selected or imported artwork may not be. Backup policy should distinguish disposable caches from assets that cannot be recreated.
Bulk deletion can expose a generated-files choice separately from record and source-file deletion. Removing generated assets can affect thumbnails, previews, or analysis until jobs recreate them.