TRaSH Guides and Recyclarr: Automate Perfect Quality Profiles for Radarr and Sonarr (2026)

TRaSH Guides and Recyclarr for Jellyfin (2026)

You have Radarr and Sonarr feeding content into your Jellyfin server. But are your quality profiles actually good? Are you grabbing the best available release, or settling for poorly encoded files that trigger unnecessary transcoding?

TRaSH Guides are community-maintained quality profiles and custom formats that represent the collective wisdom of thousands of self-hosters. Recyclarr is the tool that syncs these profiles to your Radarr and Sonarr instances automatically.

Together, they ensure every file in your Jellyfin library is the best possible quality for its size.

What Are TRaSH Guides?

TRaSH Guides (available at trash-guides.info) provide:

• Quality Profiles - which release types to prefer (Remux > Bluray > Web-DL > HDTV)
• Custom Formats - scoring rules that prefer specific attributes (HDR, Atmos, proper encoders) and penalize bad ones (cam rips, bad encoders, hardcoded subs)
• Quality Size Settings - recommended min/max file sizes per resolution
• Naming Conventions - standardized file naming for clean libraries

Why This Matters for Jellyfin

Bad quality profiles lead to:

• Oversized files that waste storage
• Undersized files with visible compression artifacts
• Wrong codecs that trigger transcoding on your clients
• Missing HDR metadata that causes washed-out colors

TRaSH profiles solve all of this with battle-tested configurations.

What Is Recyclarr?

Recyclarr is a CLI tool that reads TRaSH Guide configurations and syncs them to your Radarr and Sonarr instances. Instead of manually copying dozens of custom formats and quality settings, Recyclarr does it in one command.

Key features

• Syncs custom formats from TRaSH Guides automatically
• Updates quality profiles with correct scoring
• Runs on a schedule (cron) to keep profiles current
• Supports multiple Radarr/Sonarr instances

Docker Compose Setup

services:
  recyclarr:
    image: ghcr.io/recyclarr/recyclarr:latest
    volumes:
      - ./recyclarr/config:/config
    environment:
      - TZ=Europe/Paris
    restart: "no"

Recyclarr runs as a one-shot command, not a persistent service. Schedule it with cron or run manually.

Configuration

Create /config/recyclarr.yml:

radarr:
  movies:
    base_url: http://radarr:7878
    api_key: your_radarr_api_key

    quality_definition:
      type: movie

    quality_profiles:
      - name: HD Bluray + WEB
        min_format_score: 0
        quality_sort: top
        upgrade:
          allowed: true
          until_quality: Bluray-1080p
          until_score: 10000

    custom_formats:
      - trash_ids:
          # HDR Formats
          - e23edd2482476e595fb990b12e7c609c  # DV HDR10
          - 58d6a88f13e2db7f5059c41047876f00  # DV
          - 55d53828b9d81cbe20b02efd00aa0efd  # DV HLG
          - a3e19f8f627608af0211acd02bf89735  # DV SDR
          # Audio
          - 496f355514737f7d83bf7aa4d24f8169  # TrueHD Atmos
          - 2f22d89048b01681dde8afe203bf2e95  # DTS X
        assign_scores_to:
          - name: HD Bluray + WEB

sonarr:
  tv:
    base_url: http://sonarr:8989
    api_key: your_sonarr_api_key

    quality_definition:
      type: series

    quality_profiles:
      - name: WEB-1080p
        min_format_score: 0
        upgrade:
          allowed: true
          until_quality: WEB 1080p
          until_score: 10000

    custom_formats:
      - trash_ids:
          - e6258996055b9fbab7e9cb2f75819294  # WEB Tier 01
          - 58790d4e2fdcd9733aa7ae68ba2bb503  # WEB Tier 02
          - d84935abd3f8556dcd51d4f27e22f1a6  # WEB Tier 03
        assign_scores_to:
          - name: WEB-1080p

Run the sync

docker run --rm -v ./recyclarr/config:/config 
  ghcr.io/recyclarr/recyclarr:latest sync

Recyclarr creates the custom formats in Radarr/Sonarr and assigns scores to your quality profiles.

Recommended TRaSH Profiles for Jellyfin Users

Movies

TV Shows

4K Content

TRaSH recommends a separate Radarr instance for 4K content with its own quality profile. This prevents 4K files from being served to clients that cannot Direct Play them.

Automating with Cron

# Run Recyclarr sync every Sunday at 3 AM
0 3 * * 0 docker run --rm -v /path/to/recyclarr/config:/config ghcr.io/recyclarr/recyclarr:latest sync >> /var/log/recyclarr.log 2>&1

TRaSH Guides update regularly. Recyclarr pulls the latest definitions on each sync.

How This Improves Your Jellyfin Experience

1. Fewer transcodes - files are grabbed in codecs your clients support
2. Better HDR - custom formats prioritize proper HDR metadata
3. Consistent quality - no more random 480p grabs mixed with 4K remuxes
4. Optimal storage - file sizes match your quality expectations
5. Better audio - Atmos and DTS-X prioritized when available

FAQ

Do TRaSH Guides work with Jellyfin directly? TRaSH Guides configure Radarr and Sonarr - which feed content into Jellyfin. The quality improvements benefit Jellyfin indirectly through better source files.

Is Recyclarr safe to run on an existing setup? Yes. Recyclarr only adds or updates custom formats and quality profiles. It does not delete existing content or modify downloads in progress.

Can I customize TRaSH profiles? Absolutely. The YAML configuration is fully customizable. Start with TRaSH defaults and adjust scores to match your preferences.

Better quality files in your library - now monitor how they play. Download JellyWatch on Google Play - see Direct Play vs transcode ratios, codec details, and quality info for every active session.