Recently, within the last few weeks, FileBot has gone on a super go-slow.
It used to be I could drag 50 files (for example) into the app and tell it to lookup TVDB and it would take a few seconds to look up the titles, then almost immediately it would format the file names correctly for my episode format, then when I hit rename it would take a couple of seconds to rename them all.
Now it still takes a couple of seconds for the lookup but then about 5 seconds per file to format them so 50 files can take a few minutes to format. Then, when I click on rename it can take another couple of seconds to "add extended attributes". I have been using the same computer (Windows 10) for years to do this, and it has changed suddenly, not a gradual slowdown.
I have tried copying a directory to a much faster computer for a side-by-side test with 71 files, and it was marginally faster on the formatting, taking 5:54 on the slower machine and 5:37 on the faster. On the extended attributes, it took 1:34 on the faster computer and 2:42 on the slower one. This used to be essentially instant on the slower one for both operations.
Any idea what has changed and why it is now so slow?
Filebot has recently slowed right down
Re: Filebot has recently slowed right down
Can you post the file path of a file that is slow to process? (see Export Original Files / New Names as TSV) Are you using the latest version of FileBot? What does System Information say? Does the log say anything? (see How to Request Help) What is your custom format? Can you reproduce the slowdown with a simple custom format such as {n} {s00e00} {t} for episodes or {ny} for movies? Are you processing files on a remote NAS by any chance? Can you reproduce the issue when working with on your local system SSD drive, e.g. files in your Desktop folder? Does the Task Manager show any unusual activity / high-priority task / not enough RAM / etc that might explain a slowdown of the entire system?Re: Filebot has recently slowed right down
1. So on the slower computer it is "M:\Media\TV" or "M:\Media - Staging\Video" but these are the two folders I have been using it in for years with no issues and on the faster computer it was just "c:\temp" for the test.
2. It is the latest version on both computers, the only thing in the log from the last few days is a license check from 2 days ago, and I have used it on many files since then.
3. My custom format is {ny} {"{tvdb-$id}"}/Season {s00}/{n} - {s00e00} - {t} [{vf}{' '+group}]{subt} which I have been using for years with no issues. Using {n} {s00e00} {t} does make the formatting immediate. If I remove {vf} and {' '+group} from my custom format it becomes immediate but either one on it's own seems to cause a significant slow down that wan't there a few weeks ago. Either with or without those options the extended attributes part of the rename still takes ages on both computers with no difference that I could spot.
4. No, on both computers the files are on the local drives and on the faster one it is an SSD.
5. No, memory use is high on the slower computer but on the faster one it's got loads of free memory. Neither has a CPU bottleneck.
2. It is the latest version on both computers, the only thing in the log from the last few days is a license check from 2 days ago, and I have used it on many files since then.
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Apr 28, 2025 9:47:31 AM net.filebot.License lambda$verifyLicense$2
WARNING: Activate License [PX42417949] on [Mon Apr 28 09:47:30 BST 2025]
4. No, on both computers the files are on the local drives and on the faster one it is an SSD.
5. No, memory use is high on the slower computer but on the faster one it's got loads of free memory. Neither has a CPU bottleneck.
Re: Filebot has recently slowed right down
After a bit more testing, it feels like a file access issue. If I load a folder full of files for matching, it takes ages. If I then remove them from FileBot without renaming them and add them again, then this time the matching is super fast. It feels like the first time it is writing to a cache file and taking ages, whereas the second time it is reading from the cache and is fast. This also fits with the rename taking a long time, as the extended attributes require writing to files.
I just can't figure out why it would have the same issue on two different computers with totally different specifications.
I just can't figure out why it would have the same issue on two different computers with totally different specifications.
Re: Filebot has recently slowed right down
Yep, looks like a file system issue. Being able to reproduce the same issue on two different machines would however suggest they have something unusual in common. A random guess would be an overzealous anti-virus.
You can manually set xattr metadata via PowerShell, so a few tests with PowerShell - independently of FileBot - would be very interesting:https://diecknet.de/en/2024/08/30/power ... ta-streams
FileBot does indeed cache file system operations as they are expected to possibly be very slow in cases where remote network drives are in play. However, basic file system operations like xattr metadata read/write on a local file system should be near-instant even without things being in the cache already. There's something very strange going on. A interesting test case here could be to configure FileBot to simply write xattr metadata to external files rather than native NTFS ADS just to see if that makes a difference:
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filebot -script fn:properties --def net.filebot.xattr.store=.xattr