What's inside your CBZ files — and how Torika reads it automatically
Every CBZ file can carry hidden metadata — series name, volume number, author, genre, reading direction. It's called ComicInfo.xml, and Torika reads it automatically. If it's missing, Torika fills it in from an online database. You don't need to touch a thing.
What is ComicInfo.xml?
A CBZ file is just a ZIP archive of page images. Inside that ZIP, there can optionally be a small metadata file called ComicInfo.xml. Think of it as a label on the inside of the box — it tells any compatible app exactly what the series is, which volume it is, who wrote it, and how to display it.
The standard is supported by every major manga and comic library app: Kavita, Komga, YACReader, and Torika all read it. When it's there, apps use it immediately — no filename guessing, no wrong covers, no volume mixups.
What's stored in the metadata
Here's what ComicInfo.xml can contain, and what Torika does with each field:
| Field | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Series | The series name. Used for grouping volumes. Match the official romanisation. | Berserk |
| Volume | Volume number as an integer. Critical for sort order. | 1 |
| Number | Issue or chapter number (for chapter files). Leave blank for volume files. | 378 |
| Count | Total volumes in the series. Lets the app show a completion percentage. | 41 |
| Writer | Author / mangaka name(s), comma-separated. | Kentaro Miura |
| Genre | Comma-separated genres. Used for filtering in library apps. | Dark Fantasy, Action |
| Summary | Synopsis displayed in the series detail view. | Guts, a former mercenary… |
| Manga | Reading direction. YesAndRightToLeft tells the reader to flip pages. |
YesAndRightToLeft |
| LanguageISO | Two-letter ISO 639-1 language code. | en |
| BlackAndWhite | Yes or No. Some apps use this for display optimisation. |
Yes |
| CommunityRating | Numeric rating (0–10). Shown in library views if the app supports it. | 9.2 |
| Web | URL to the series on an external database (MAL, AniList, etc.). | https://myanimelist.net/manga/2 |
Reading direction — manga vs manhwa vs comics
One of the most useful things ComicInfo.xml stores is reading direction. Japanese manga reads right-to-left; Korean manhwa and Western comics read left-to-right. Torika reads this from the metadata and sets the correct direction automatically — so you never end up reading a manga backwards because the app defaulted to the wrong setting.
If your files don't have this metadata yet, Torika infers it from the database match — manga gets right-to-left, manhwa and manhua get left-to-right.
What Torika does when the metadata is missing
Most files in the wild don't have ComicInfo.xml. Older scanlations, personal rips, downloaded archives — very few come with embedded metadata. This is exactly the problem Torika is built to solve.
When Torika sees a file without metadata, it matches the series against an online database using the filename and folder name as hints. It pulls in the cover, series name, volume number, author, genres, synopsis, rating, and reading direction — and presents everything as if the metadata had been there all along. You can review any match and override it if something looks wrong.
The result is a clean, complete library from files that were a mess when you imported them.
And auto-fills it for files that don't have it yet — coming to Mac App Store.
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