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Technical Limits on whats downloaded

Kepler75 edited this page Oct 31, 2026 · 1 revision

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Limits on what's downloaded

Anything from an addon, a playlist or an API is size-limited as it arrives, so a single answer from a broken or hostile server can't fill the TV's memory (many answers kept together still add up: the session caches are bounded by how many entries they keep, not by size): JSON answers (manifests, catalogs, streams, API answers) 2 MB, a title's details 4 MB (One Piece's episode list is 1.4 MB), subtitles and other text 5 MB, IPTV playlists 20 MB, HLS quality lists 512 KB, the configuration import 256 KB. Answers are checked before use (a list must be a list; junk items are dropped) and capped: 1,000 titles a catalog page, 500 sources an addon, 300 subtitle tracks, 5,000 episodes, 200 catalogs an addon, 30,000 channels a playlist. An addon that doesn't load says why in Settings › Content › Addons ("too large (over 2 MB)", "not an addon manifest", "timed out"…), with what the addon itself said when it refused (for example AIOStreams' "Invalid stream expression … Expected :" for a configuration it can't read); Refresh says it too.

A screen left for good (BACK out of a title page, Discover or Search, or Home from the menu) stops what it was still downloading — its details, ratings, cast, episode information, where to watch, catalog pages or search rows — the transfers themselves, not just their answers. Sources aren't stopped (they're shared, and the next episode's are fetched ahead). A download several screens share (TMDB's answers) is stopped only once every screen waiting on it has gone. What still comes back for a screen that's gone changes nothing: a title page's sources or details (no playback, no BACK, no "couldn't load"; a canceled request isn't an error), the YouTube service starting for a trailer or a video, a search's rows still waiting their turn (not even asked) and a link's video, a configuration file's import (it's imported, but the screen you're on stays). After a failure the player closes a moment later only if nothing else has started meanwhile (another title, another source, a retry), and a seek retried on its own is for the same playback only. Choosing subtitles (a track, Off, a built-in one) drops a download still on its way for an earlier choice, without a word. While StremioK is in the background (the TV's Home, another app), artwork, Trakt's periodic refresh and matching a USB drive's titles wait until it's back.

Artwork loads three pictures at a time. One that neither arrives nor fails within 12 s is given up on (the card shows its name, and it's noted in Diagnostics), so a stalled image host can't hold up every poster after it; a download for a screen you've left is stopped. Pictures that failed aren't asked for again for 10 minutes (the last 300 are remembered).

URLs you type or import (addons, playlists, the configuration file), and subtitle and artwork links from addons, go through one parser: http(s) only, a real host and port, no user:password@ in the address. Addon URLs keep a query after manifest.json, and stremio:// install links work. An addon's logo (its manifest's logo, else icon) follows the artwork rules, or is a base64 data: PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP or SVG under 50,000 characters; from an internet addon, never a link into your home network. It loads through the artwork queue, and its initial shows until it does.

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