Media Library Guide

NORTHSTARSHOW SYSTEMS

Media Library Guide

Managing audio, video, and effect files in a show

Purpose

The Media Library in Compose holds binary files (audio, video, miscellaneous) that travel with the .nsss.compose archive to the venue. Examples: audio cues, video files for HDMI media players, configuration .json blobs, custom firmware images.

Categories

Workflow

• Open the Media Library view in Compose.
• Drag files in (one or many). Compose copies the bytes into its in-memory media store.
• On Save, every media file is embedded into the .nsss.compose archive at media/<category>/<filename>.
• On deploy, HelmOS extracts the entire archive into data/projects/. Media files are accessible to your show logic as needed.

Naming

Compose sanitises filenames on import — non-ASCII and unsafe characters are replaced with underscores. Duplicate names are uniquified with a -2 / -3 suffix.

Size Considerations

• HelmOS's /api/deploy endpoint caps the archive at 200 MB total.
• Large video assets should live on the media player (Brightsign, Atom) rather than inside .nsss.compose — Polaris Video just triggers playback of pre-loaded content.
• Audio files for trigger-style playback typically live on the connected audio module's SD card, not in .nsss.compose.

Best Practice

Use the Media Library for show-specific assets that need to travel with the project — README files, build notes, custom firmware variants, sample audio used for design preview. Keep large playback media on the dedicated player hardware.

Related Documents

• NSSS-DOC-0070.nsss.compose File Format

Revision History