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Media Types

Cove is designed for libraries that are broader than one content type. A single install can hold different kinds of media while still giving them shared search, tagging, grouping, and metadata tools.

Videos are video-focused records with playback, previews, timeline-aware organization, and the richest support for segments and sub-videos.

Images are single still media items. They use the same broader metadata model as videos, so tags, performers, studios, groups, and search all still apply.

Galleries represent image collections. Use them when a set of still images belongs together as one unit instead of as many unrelated singles.

Audio records let you keep spoken-word or music content inside the same broader library model instead of pushing it into a different app.

Text records let you keep readable library material, notes, metadata-adjacent files, or other text-oriented content inside the same search and organization surface.

These are not “media types” in the playback sense, but they are first-class parts of the library model:

  • performers
  • studios
  • tags
  • tag groups
  • groups
  • faces
  • segments

Once a library crosses formats, a narrow organizer starts forcing workarounds. Cove’s model lets you:

  • search across more than one kind of content
  • keep shared metadata patterns across media types
  • group related items together even when they are not all the same format
  • use one permissions and sharing model for the whole library

You do not need to turn on every content type on day one. Many libraries begin with videos and images, then expand into galleries, audio, text, or more detailed connected records as the library matures.