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What are custom formats?

Custom formats are scoring rules that Radarr and Sonarr apply to every release they find. Each format defines one or more conditions — patterns to match against the release title, the release group, or the source type. When a release matches, Radarr or Sonarr adds (or subtracts) the format’s score from that release’s total. The release with the highest total score is the one your *arr app will grab.

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How scores work

Scores can be positive, zero, or negative:
  • Positive scores boost a release. A release from a highly ranked group scores higher and is preferred over unknown or lower-ranked groups.
  • Negative scores penalize a release. Banned groups, upscaled video, and 3D content are given negative scores so they rank below clean alternatives.
  • Score of -10000 effectively blocks a release. Radarr and Sonarr treat it as ungrabable unless no other option exists.
Formats with an empty description field are intentionally left without a preset score. Their score is configured per-profile in Profilarr, so the same format can have different effects depending on which profile you are using.

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Condition types

Each condition in a custom format has a type field that determines what it matches against:
TypeWhat it matches
release_groupThe parsed release group tag (e.g. NTb, FLUX)
release_titleA regex pattern against the full release name
sourceThe source type: web_dl, webrip, bluray, bluray_raw, dvd
resolutionThe release resolution: 1080p, 2160p, 720p, etc.
quality_modifierQuality modifier flags such as remux
Conditions within a format can be marked required: true (all required conditions must match) or required: false (at least one optional condition must match alongside any required ones). Setting negate: true inverts the condition — it matches when the pattern is not found.

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Example: WEB Tier 01

This is the top-tier WEB release group format. It matches any release from a WEB-DL or WEBRip source that belongs to the Dictionarry WEB Tier 01 group list: 
name: WEB Tier 01
description: ''
tags:
  - Release Groups
  - WEB-DL
conditions:
  - name: WEB-DL
    negate: false
    required: false
    source: web_dl
    type: source
  - name: WEBRip
    negate: false
    required: false
    source: webrip
    type: source
  - name: Dictionarry WEB Tier 01
    negate: false
    pattern: Dictionarry WEB Tier 01
    required: false
    type: release_group
tests: []
The source conditions (WEB-DL, WEBRip) and the group condition (Dictionarry WEB Tier 01) are all required: false, which means a release matches if it satisfies at least one of them. In practice, Profilarr loads the actual group list behind Dictionarry WEB Tier 01 from the synced Dictionarry database.

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Format categories

Dumpstarr Database organizes its custom formats into four main categories:

Release group tiers

Tiered rankings for WEB, Bluray, Remux, and Anime release groups, drawn from Dictionarry and TRaSH Guides

Audio and video formats

HDR formats (Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR), lossless audio (TrueHD, Atmos, DTS-X), codecs, and surround channels

Sources and streaming

Source type formats (WEB-DL, WEBRip, Remux) and individual streaming service formats (AMZN, NF, DSNP, ATVP, and more)

Exclusions

Formats that penalize or block unwanted releases: banned groups, BR-DISK, upscaled video, 3D, and other bad content

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