(NEXSTAR) – Some people love a good action flick, while others go crazy for horror. But what about folks who prefer more niche genres, like coming-of-age romantic comedies that take place in picturesque Italian villages over the course of a single summer?

Those viewers might be a little harder to please — unless, of course, they’re aware of Netflix’s “secret” category codes.

What are Netflix’s ‘secret’ codes?

Netflix’s “secret category codes” were created during the early years of the company, back when Netflix was only dealing in DVD-by-mail services, Netflix revealed in a 2024 article. They were created to help build a “genre tree” that Netflix subscribers could access on the website, thereby directing them to the types of movies or TV shows they wanted to see most.

But a tech-savvy fan was able to “scrape” the site to obtain the codes, ultimately sharing the list on the internet, according to Netflix’s 2024 post. “And people have been using those codes (along with the thousands more that have been added since) to this day,” Netflix wrote.

How do you find the codes?

Netflix, by its own admission, has created more than 36,000 of these genre codes for movie or TV categories, which cover everything from inspirational soccer stories (81648636) to supernatural soap operas (81238162). But Netflix itself does not host any public-facing “channels” outlining the complete list, a representative for the streaming service told Nexstar.

From time to time, Netflix will reveal some of its own newer category codes, usually when announcing a new categorization genre. In 2022, for instance, Netflix was inspired to create a category for “Short-A– Movies” in response to a “Saturday Night Live” sketch. (The code — 81603903 — was revealed in the URL of the “Short-A– Movies” link that Netflix provided when retweeting the sketch.)

Netflix also revealed a whole slew of its secret category codes in the 2024 article referenced earlier, including “Binge-Worthy British Crime TV Shows” (1192582), “Witchcraft & the Dark Arts” (81552046) and “Action With a Side of Romance” (81647318), among dozens of others.

For longer lists, Netflix viewers might want to consult non-Netflix sources like Netflix-Codes.com, which comes recommended by CNET, or Whats-On-Netflix.com, which Reader’s Digest once highlighted. The latter site even has a searchable table containing more than 4,100 codes.

Netflix’s representative, however, said the company “can’t verify non-Netflix websites that host codes,” so users would be wise to check for themselves to see whether the codes are accurate.

How do you use the codes?

To use an active code (or to “order off the secret menu,” as Netflix says), users accessing Netflix via an internet browser must type in “netflix.com/browse/genre/” and add their selected code to the end of URL. And if using the app, viewers can try entering the code into the search bar, but in many cases, it doesn’t appear to work quite as well.

Anyone struggling to find something to watch might also be delighted to learn that Netflix is constantly adding categories to its internal “genre tree,” like its “WWE Collection” for wrestling fans (81921063), or its “All Laughs, No Track” category (81647534) featuring sitcoms with no laugh tracks. And yes, there is indeed a relatively new “Italian Summer” category (81602646) highlighting movies, TV series, and reality shows focusing on summer romances in picturesque Italian villages.

“New codes are being added whenever inspiration strikes,” Netflix said.