Jellyfin

Jellyfin is a personal media server that helps you manage and stream your media library (movies, TV shows, music, and photos) to many devices. It provides a web interface and native clients, user management, and streaming features typically found in commercial media platforms.

Key Features

• Library management with metadata fetching, posters/backdrops, and organization for movies, series, music, and photos
• Streaming to web, mobile, and TV clients with per-user profiles and access controls
• Hardware-accelerated transcoding via FFmpeg (where supported) and adaptive streaming options
• Live TV and DVR support via tuners and IPTV integrations, with guide data support depending on setup
• Subtitle support (including external subtitles and subtitle extraction), audio track selection, and playback resume
• Multi-user administration: accounts, policies, and permissions for libraries and playback features
• Remote access support (typically behind a reverse proxy) and mobile-friendly web UI
• Plugin ecosystem to extend metadata providers, authentication, and integrations

Use Cases

• Replace hosted streaming platforms by serving a private home media library to TVs and phones
• Centralize family media with separate users, parental restrictions, and watched-status tracking
• Set up Live TV + DVR with a tuner or IPTV source for a unified “TV + library” experience

Limitations and Considerations

• Some advanced features (certain metadata providers, authentication methods, Live TV/guide sources) may require plugins or third-party services
• Playback compatibility can vary by client/device; server-side transcoding may be needed and can be resource-intensive

Jellyfin is commonly used as a Plex alternative for users who want a fully controllable media server. It supports a broad range of clients and can scale from a single-machine home server to more capable setups with hardware transcoding.