NZBGet extension that removes "sample" files and folders before Sonarr/Radarr/Lidarr/Prowlarr see the download. Keeps your library clean while protecting real content with conservative defaults.
Scene releases often include short sample clips, promo images, and other junk alongside the real media. If those make it into your library you get:
- noisy episode/movie folders
- extra files in Plex/Jellyfin/Kodi
- higher chance of grabbing the wrong file in manual imports
Remove Samples runs after unpacking and before your media managers. It identifies sample-like content using filename patterns, size thresholds, and optional relative-size rules, then removes (or quarantines) the junk so only real media moves downstream.
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Sample-aware filename matching Detects common patterns like
sample,SAMPLE,.sample.,_sample_, etc., using word- and separator-aware matching to avoid false positives. -
Size-based detection for video & audio Treats very small video and audio files under your thresholds as samples (e.g. tiny preview clips).
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Relative Size % detection (optional) Flags a video as a sample when its size is below a certain percentage of the largest video in the same download. This gives you dynamic thresholds that scale with the release.
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Per-category overrides Category-specific thresholds let you tune behavior differently for TV, movies, music, etc., while keeping safe global defaults.
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Safety tools for testing and recovery
- Test Mode – dry-run logging that shows what would be removed without touching the files.
- Block Import During Test – optional companion to Test Mode that tells NZBGet to report a failure so media managers don’t import during a test run.
- Quarantine Mode – instead of deleting, moves samples to a
_samples_quarantinesubfolder for manual review. - Quarantine Max Age – optional automatic cleanup of old quarantine files after a configurable number of days.
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Protected Paths & Deny Patterns
- Protected paths/names let you explicitly shield things like subtitles, artwork, or NFOs so they are never removed, even if they look like samples.
- Deny patterns are a configurable list of extra patterns you always want treated as junk.
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Image & extras cleanup (optional) Optional toggles to remove common screenshot/image samples and other minor extras left behind by some releases.
NZBGet → Settings → Extension Manager
- Find Remove Samples in the list.
- Click the download/install icon.
- Open Settings → Categories and add RemoveSamples after ExtendedUnpacker and before Clean in each category that should use it.
- For the first controlled run, set Test Mode = Yes and review the result before allowing live deletion or quarantine.
NZBGet → Settings → Extension Manager → Remove Samples
For most users, the defaults are a safe starting point:
- Video Size Threshold (MB):
150Video files below this size are considered candidates for sample detection when there is no explicit name match. - Audio Size Threshold (MB):
2Audio files below this size (for example, preview tracks) are considered sample candidates when there is no explicit name match. - Remove Directories:
YesRemoves entire folders that look like sample directories. - Remove Files:
YesRemoves individual files that match sample patterns. - Debug:
NoLeave off for daily use. Turn on temporarily when tuning settings or diagnosing behavior.
- Start with the bundled defaults; they are intentionally conservative.
- Live deletion warning: When Test Mode = No and Quarantine Mode = No, matching files and directories are permanently deleted.
- Relative Size % defaults to 8%, which provides a good balance for most content. Most users can leave this and Category Thresholds at their defaults.
- Protected Paths always win: if a file matches a protected pattern (for example
*.srtfor subtitles), it will never be removed, even if it also looks like a sample. - When experimenting with new thresholds or patterns, enable Test Mode first so you can review log output before allowing deletions or quarantine moves.
NZBGet → Settings → Categories → <Your Category>.Extensions
Place RemoveSamples after unpacking and before any final cleanup or media managers.
Example (working setup):
- Completion – Verifies download completeness before processing
- PasswordDetector – Detects password-protected archives early
- ExtendedUnpacker – Extracts nested zip/rar archives
- RemoveSamples – Removes sample files/folders after unpack
- Clean – Final tidy-up
Optional detection scripts such as FakeDetector can run before ExtendedUnpacker when installed.
Why order matters
- Remove Samples runs after unpack, so it can see real files.
- It runs before Clean, so samples are removed before final cleanup.
- Upstream detection scripts run first to catch bad releases early.
- A non-empty category Extensions list overrides the global Extensions list, so verify this order in every category that uses RemoveSamples.
Recommended first step – Test Mode only
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In Extension Manager, set Test Mode = Yes.
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(Optional) Enable Block Import (Test Mode) = Yes if you want to prevent Sonarr/Radarr/Lidarr/Prowlarr from seeing the test download.
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Process a known-good test download.
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Open NZBGet → Messages and review the log lines:
- size checks for video/audio
- matches on filename patterns
- summary line showing how many files/dirs would be removed or quarantined
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Once you’re satisfied, set Test Mode = No (and Block Import (Test Mode) = No if you enabled it) to allow real removals or quarantine moves.
When to use Debug
- Turn Debug = Yes by itself (with Test Mode left at
No) when you need deeper, per-item decision details to understand why something was or wasn’t treated as a sample. - After troubleshooting, set Debug = No again for normal operation.
A common point of confusion: after a Test Mode run, the sample folder is still on disk — but it may later vanish because a media manager removed the completed download after import. RemoveSamples did not delete it.
How Test Mode actually behaves
- Test Mode only logs what would be removed. It performs no deletions and no moves.
- The summary line reports
Mode: TESTandremoved 0 files / 0 dirs. - NZBGet may display the post-process result as "skipped". That label means the script exited with no destructive action (exit code 95). It does not mean the script failed to run. Confirm the run using the
Mode: TESTsummary line and the[TEST] Would remove ...entries.
What can remove the files instead (it is not RemoveSamples in Test Mode)
| Action / setting | Removes sample/media files? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| RemoveSamples Test Mode | No | Logs only. Safe preview by design. |
| RemoveSamples Live deletion (Test Mode=No, Quarantine Mode=No) | Yes | Permanent. Intended behavior, clearly labeled in the UI. |
| RemoveSamples Quarantine Mode | Moves only | Sample is relocated to _samples_quarantine, not deleted. |
| Sonarr/Radarr/Prowlarr "Remove Completed Downloads" | Yes, after import | The media manager imports the episode, then asks NZBGet to delete the completed release (including any sample or quarantine folder). This is the usual cause of "my sample vanished." |
UnpackCleanupDisk (Unpack page) |
Only the .rar/.r## archives |
Leave this enabled; it does not touch extracted video/samples. |
NzbCleanupDisk |
Only the source .nzb metadata file |
Does not touch media. |
KeepHistory |
Only the history record after N days | Does not delete files on its own. |
Why a manual download can still be removed
If your media manager monitors the same NZBGet category you used (for example, Sonarr monitoring category tv), it will pick up a manually added download in that category, import it, and then remove the completed folder via "Remove Completed Downloads." The download does not have to come from Sonarr — the category match is what triggers it.
Safe workflow for observing Test Mode or Quarantine results
- Run Test Mode and review NZBGet → Messages.
- Choose the observation behavior deliberately:
- Block Import (Test Mode) = Yes prevents Sonarr/Radarr import by reporting failure code 94, but it does not guarantee that the folder survives. If the manager's Failed Download Handling → Remove Failed option is enabled, it may remove the failed download and clear its files; it may also blocklist or replace the release.
- To preserve the folder, use a category the media manager does not monitor, pause the media manager, or temporarily disable its Remove Failed cleanup.
- Disabling only Remove Completed is not enough when Block Import is enabled, because the run is reported as failed rather than completed.
- Inspect the completed-download folder (or
_samples_quarantine) before any media-manager cleanup occurs. - Only switch to Live deletion or Quarantine Mode once the Test Mode preview matches your expectation.
- Word-boundary matching: uses patterns like
\bsample\bto avoid false positives inside longer words. - Separator-aware: catches
.sample.,_sample_,-sample-, and similar separators in filenames. - Size checks: very small video/audio files under your thresholds are considered sample candidates.
- Relative-size checks (optional): flags videos that are much smaller than the main video in the same download when Relative Size % is enabled.
If you previously saw a Unicode/console encoding error with Debug enabled on Windows, update to the latest version via Extension Manager. The script now uses UTF-8 console output on Windows so Debug works normally.
- NZBGet: v23+ recommended
- Python: 3.8+ (required)
- Bug Reports: https://github.com/Anunnaki-Astronaut/RemoveSamples-NZBGet/issues
- Discussions: https://github.com/Anunnaki-Astronaut/RemoveSamples-NZBGet/discussions
GNU General Public License v2.0 – see the LICENSE file for details.