How to prevent Sonarr from upgrading an episode with a downgrade

Sonarr version (exact version): 3.0.9.1549
OS: unRAID 6.9.2
Description of issue:

The issue is Sonarr replacing a high quality file with a lower quality file and calling it an “upgrade”.

Sonarr initially grabbed this 4.76 GB file :

The.Mandalorian.S03E01.2160p.DSNP.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.DoVi.H.265-NTb

Then Sonarr replaced it with this 1.45 GB file (“File was deleted to import an upgrade”):

The.Mandalorian.S03E01.2160p.10bit.HDR.DV.WEBRip.DDP5.1.Atmos.x265.HEVC-PSA

Replacing one h264 file with a smaller lower bitrate h265 file is not an upgrade.

Then you’ll need to look at your quality profiles and any preferred words, something was considered an upgrade based on your configuration.

The quality profile includes WEB 2160p, which a WEB-DL and a WEBRip would both fall under. If the WEB-DL were prioritized over a WEBRip, this upgrade would not have happened. But both DL and Rip are grouped together as equal, under the WEB 2160p Quality Profile. Should I or can I split and prioritize these qualities that are now grouped and considered equal?

They’re considered equal so Sonarr wouldn’t have upgraded to a different release unless preferred words were involved. You could separate them if you want, but it’s not the cause of the upgrade here.

if you had them enabled the logs would show the reason it was considered an upgrade.

both of those look like x265/hevc, neither is x264. the only difference is the bitrate (in the name) if you have no preferred words or anything else to make that an upgrade then the only difference would be size and i dont think sonarr considers a smaller file an upgrade by default.

you could always open the history for the episode and mouse over the info icon in the details column for both grabs to check for any preferred word scores.

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