diff --git a/es-app/src/Gamelist.cpp b/es-app/src/Gamelist.cpp
index 8f3db352d..aeb8d0580 100644
--- a/es-app/src/Gamelist.cpp
+++ b/es-app/src/Gamelist.cpp
@@ -215,6 +215,12 @@ void updateGamelist(SystemData* system)
 		{
 			const char* tag = ((*fit)->getType() == GAME) ? "game" : "folder";
 
+			// check if current file has metadata, if no, skip it as it wont be in the gamelist anyway.
+			if ((*fit)->metadata.isDefault()) {
+				++fit;
+				continue;
+			}
+
 			// check if the file already exists in the XML
 			// if it does, remove it before adding
 			for(pugi::xml_node fileNode = root.child(tag); fileNode; fileNode = fileNode.next_sibling(tag))
diff --git a/es-app/src/MetaData.cpp b/es-app/src/MetaData.cpp
index 2d5340bd2..76c82b9d6 100644
--- a/es-app/src/MetaData.cpp
+++ b/es-app/src/MetaData.cpp
@@ -133,3 +133,12 @@ boost::posix_time::ptime MetaDataList::getTime(const std::string& key) const
 {
 	return string_to_ptime(get(key), "%Y%m%dT%H%M%S%F%q");
 }
+
+bool MetaDataList::isDefault()
+{
+	for (int i = 1; i < mMap.size(); i++) {
+		if (mMap.at(gameDecls[i].key) != gameDecls[i].defaultValue) return false;
+	}
+
+	return true;
+}
diff --git a/es-app/src/MetaData.h b/es-app/src/MetaData.h
index 1143d9204..d111cec78 100644
--- a/es-app/src/MetaData.h
+++ b/es-app/src/MetaData.h
@@ -56,6 +56,8 @@ public:
 	float getFloat(const std::string& key) const;
 	boost::posix_time::ptime getTime(const std::string& key) const;
 
+	bool isDefault();
+
 	inline MetaDataListType getType() const { return mType; }
 	inline const std::vector<MetaDataDecl>& getMDD() const { return getMDDByType(getType()); }