Corrupt Database

If your server log file shows SQLite errors like the following example your library.db file needs attention.

SQLitePCL.pretty.SQLiteException

What can cause this to happen

Typical causes of this are sudden and abrupt terminations of the Emby server process, such as a power loss, operating system crash, force killing the server process, etc. Database errors could also arise if you switch back and forth between Emby Server public release and beta releases.

Important

Downgrade from beta to an earlier public release is not supported. Databases may be incompatible.

The following logged database error indicates a corrupt database file:

SQLitePCL.pretty.SQLiteException: Corrupt: database disk image is malformed

SQLite tools can be used to try and recover from this. Alternatively, see if you can restore the database from a backup - refer to Backup & Restore. You should always check first, if restore from a backup resolves the issue before attempting database repairs using the SQLite tools.

SQlite3 Tools may need to be downloaded on some platforms. e.g. Windows. On Mac OS, sqlite3 should be pre-installed and available to run in terminal on both intel x64 and arm sytsems. For linux, it would be best to download the latest precompiled Sqlite-Tools binary from the following link https://www.sqlite.org/download.html.

Attempt to recover the database

Identify the corrupt database

Emby Server has 4 databases: activitylog.db, authentication.db, library.db and users.db. The main database is the library.db which tends to be the one that may end up with a corruption.

There would be clues in the embyserver log file as to which database is corrupt. The following maps the internal database names to the actual database filenames:

SqliteItemRepository			library.db
SqliteUserRepository			users.db
AuthenticationRepository		authentication.db
ActivityRepository			activitylog.db

As an example, the following log line within the logged error block indicates that the corrupt database is the library.db:

at Emby.Server.Implementations.Data.SqliteItemRepository.Initialize

Find Location of Database Files

This is easily found using the ... top menu right above the server information box.

Corrupt Db1

Click on View Server Info

Corrupt Db2

We need the location of the library database files. The databases are held in the data directory under the Programme Data path shown.

e.g. for linux, it would be /var/lib/emby/data. This is the path we will use in the examples below. To familiarize yourself with the different locations for the various platforms and possible need to use of ssh, see Emby Server App Data area.

The examples below, will all be for the library.db database on linux. Use similar commands for other platforms.

Solutions to Try in This Order

If you are running on linux, ensure you have full permissions for all the commands below. You can run with root priviledges by executing:

sudo -i

Remove Database Locks

  1. Shutdown Emby

  2. Navigate to the folder containing your database file

    eg for the linux example,

    cd /var/lib/emby/data

  3. Delete library.db-shm & library.db-wal

  4. Restart Emby

Check your server log for SQLite errors and only continue to the next step if needed.

Check Database Integrity and Recover Database

This step will require the use of a SQLite3 utility which is part of the Sqlite3 tools download from sqlite.org or pre-installed, e.g. on Mac OS. If you prefer a graphical based editor you can download DB Browser for SQLite which is available for most platforms.

Run Integrity Check

Make sure the current directory is where the database is, eg for linux

cd /var/lib/emby/data

Open the library.db database, e.g.

sqlite3 library.db

and run the following SQL command:

PRAGMA integrity_check;

This should return an "ok" when there are no corruptions. If errors are reported, we need to repair the database.

type in .quit to exit

Examples of results:

SQLite version 3.50.1 2025-06-06 14:52:32
Enter ".help" for usage hints.
sqlite> PRAGMA integrity_check;
Parse error: database disk image is malformed (11)
sqlite> .quit

SQLite version 3.50.1 2025-06-06 14:52:32
Enter ".help" for usage hints.
sqlite> PRAGMA integrity_check;
ok
sqlite>.quit

Repairing the database

With Emby Server shutdown, save a copy of the existing database file and then work on the actual database file.

cp library.db library-saved.db

Attempt to vacuum and reindex the database to see if that resolves the issue. Switch to the directory holding the database and open it:

cd /var/lib/emby/data
sqlite3 library.db

Then run these two SQLite3 commands. The commands may take a while to complete. You may get errors indicating corruption.

VACUUM;
REINDEX;

At the end, close the database and exit, with the .quit command.

If there were no errors, then you can try to see if the issue is resolved.

Restart Emby Server and check the emby logs for database errors.

If database errors persist or the VACUUM or REINDEX failed, then we can try to run the .recover SQLite3 command.

Shutdown Emby Server

Navigate to the databases folder as before and open the database file with sqlite3, e.g.

cd /var/lib/emby/data
sqlite3 library.db

Run these SQLite3 commands

.output recovered-librarydb.sql
.recover

This may take a while to run. At the end, type .quit to close the database file.

The recovered-librarydb.sqlfile will contain the sqlite3 commands to recover the database. The file may be large but it is a text file, and you should be able to view its contents - using text editors that can handle potentially very large files.

We can now create a new database file using this recovery file.

Create a new database file within the databases directory. Lets call it library-recovered.db. The following creates this db file:

sqlite3 library-recovered.db

We now need to add the content, so type in this command:

.read recovered-librarydb.sql

(this may take a while to run so please wait for it to finish)

Enter .quit command to close the database and exit.

We will now check the integrity of our recovered database (as above) using

sqlite3 library-recovered.db

and entering sqlite3 command:

PRAGMA integrity_check;

This should return an integrity_check back of "ok" with no errors reported. If errors are reported please report this in the forum before proceeding to Reset the Library Database. If "ok" and no errors are reported, continue with the next step.

Make a copy of both library.db and library-recovered.db

Rename library.db to library.old

Rename library-recovered.db to library.db

Ensure the new library.db has the same permissions and ownership as the original library- which we saved to library.old. Adjust the permissions and ownership if not.

Restart Emby Server

Check you server log for SQLite errors and only continue to the next step if needed

Steps to Reset Library Database & Start with a Fresh new setup

  1. Shutdown Emby

  2. Change to the database location found above containing your database files

  3. Rename library.db to library.corrupt

  4. Restart Emby

  5. Recreate your media libraries