Jellyfin Has a Free Media Server for Movies and TV

#selfhosted #opensource #media #linux

Jellyfin is a free, open-source media system that lets you stream your movies, TV shows, and music from your own server.

What Is Jellyfin?

Jellyfin is a self-hosted Netflix alternative. It organizes your media library, fetches metadata, and streams to any device.

Key features:

Stream movies, TV shows, music, books
Automatic metadata fetching
Hardware transcoding (Nvidia, Intel QSV, VAAPI)
Live TV and DVR
Apps for every platform
Multi-user support
Parental controls
Subtitles (auto-download)
No tracking, no premium tier
100% free forever

Quick Start

docker run -d \
  --name jellyfin \
  -p 8096:8096 \
  -v jellyfin-config:/config \
  -v /path/to/movies:/data/movies \
  -v /path/to/tv:/data/tv \
  jellyfin/jellyfin

Open http://localhost:8096. Setup wizard. Library scan. Stream.

Client Apps

Web: Built-in web player
TV: Android TV, Fire TV, Roku, Samsung, LG
Mobile: iOS, Android
Desktop: Windows, macOS, Linux
Other: Kodi plugin, MPV Shim

Jellyfin vs Plex

Feature	Plex Free	Plex Pass	Jellyfin
Cost	$0	$120/life	$0
Hardware transcode	No	Yes	Yes
Live TV	No	Yes	Yes
Tracking	Yes	Yes	No
Open source	No	No	Yes
Accounts required	Plex account	Plex account	Local only
Plugins	Limited	Limited	Full