Jellyfin

Last updated
Jellyfin
Developer(s) Jellyfin Team
Initial releaseDecember 30, 2018;5 years ago (2018-12-30)
Stable release
10.9.0 [1]   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg / 11 May 2024;1 day ago (11 May 2024)
Repository
Written in C# (Server)
Operating system Cross platform
Platform Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, iPadOS, Amazon Fire TV, Kodi, Roku, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Docker
Available in Multi Language
Type Media server
License GPLv2
Website jellyfin.org   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Jellyfin is a free and open-source media server and suite of multimedia applications designed to organize, manage, and share digital media files to networked devices. Jellyfin consists of a server application installed on a machine running Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux or in a Docker container, [2] and another application running on a client device such as a smartphone, tablet, smart TV, streaming media player, game console or in a web browser. [3] Jellyfin also can serve media to DLNA and Chromecast-enabled devices. [4] It is a fork of Emby. [5]

Contents

Features

Jellyfin follows a client–server model that allows for multiple users and clients to connect, even simultaneously, and stream digital media remotely. Because Jellyfin runs as a fully self-contained server, there is no subscription-based consumption model that exists, and Jellyfin does not utilize an external connection nor third-party authentication for any of its functionality. This enables Jellyfin to work on an isolated intranet in much the same fashion as it does over the Internet. Because it shares a heritage with Emby, some clients for that platform are unofficially compatible with Jellyfin; however, as Jellyfin's codebase diverges from Emby, this becomes less possible. Jellyfin does not support a direct migration path from Emby. [6]

Jellyfin is extensible, and optional third-party plugins exist to provide additional feature functionality. The project hosts an official repository, however plugins need not be hosted in the official repository to be installable. [7]

One of the main advantages of Jellyfin is in the way it handles Live TV and TV tuners. While other media servers have a hard limit on channel number (e.g., 480 for Plex), Jellyfin has no such limit.

Version 10.6.0 of the server software introduced a feature known as "SyncPlay", which provides functionality for multiple users to consume media content together in a synchronized fashion. Support to read epub ebooks with Jellyfin was also added. Also introduced is multiple plugin repositories. Anyone can now create unofficial plugins for Jellyfin and do not need to wait for them to be added to the official plugin repository. The web front end has been split off in a separate system in anticipation of the move towards a SQL backend and High Availability with multiple servers. [8]

Development

The project began on December 8, 2018, when co-founders Andrew Rabert and Joshua Boniface, among other users, agreed to fork Emby as a direct reaction to closing of open-source development on that project. [9] [10] [11] [12] A reference to streaming, Jellyfin's name was conceived of by Rabert the following day. [13] An initial release was made available on December 30, 2018.

Version history

Jellyfin's unique version numbering began with version 10.0.0 in January 2019.

Major versionRelease dateNotes
10.9.0May 11, 2024
10.8.0June 11, 2022
10.7.0March 8, 2021
10.6.0July 19, 2020Introduction of SyncPlay feature & epub reading
10.5.0March 8, 2020Hardware acceleration encoding and decoding support added for the Raspberry Pi
10.4.0October 6, 2019
10.3.0April 19, 2019
10.2.0February 16, 2019
10.1.0January 25, 2019
10.0.0January 7, 2019
3.5.2-5December 30, 2018Only release to use original Emby version numbering

See also

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References

  1. "Release 10.9.0". 11 May 2024. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  2. "Jellyfin Docker Compose: Powerful FREE Media Server in 5 min | SHB". 2023-03-17. Retrieved 2023-05-01.
  3. Sava, Alexandra (July 20, 2020). "Collect, manage, organize and stream all your favorite movies". Softpedia. Archived from the original on July 23, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  4. Anand (March 13, 2020). "Plex vs Emby vs Jellyfin vs Kodi: In-depth Comparison". SmartHomeBeginner. Archived from the original on July 13, 2021. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  5. "Home | Documentation - Jellyfin Project". jellyfin.org. Archived from the original on 2021-07-23. Retrieved 2020-05-06.
  6. "Migrating from Emby to Jellyfin". Jellyfin. Archived from the original on July 23, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  7. "Plugins". Jellyfin. Archived from the original on July 23, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  8. "Jellyfin Release - v10.6.0". Jellyfin. July 19, 2020. Archived from the original on July 21, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  9. "Jellyfin: Free Software Emby Media Server Fork Is Announced After Emby Becomes Proprietary". Linux Uprising. December 19, 2018. Archived from the original on July 22, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  10. Malmlund, Matt (July 14, 2020). "7 Best Home Media Server Software Choices". Heavy.com. Archived from the original on July 23, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  11. Ashwin (August 19, 2019). "Jellyfin is an open source alternative for Plex, and here's how to setup a server on Windows". Ghacks. Archived from the original on July 23, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  12. King, Bertel (August 14, 2019). "The 8 Best Media Server Software Options for Linux". MakeUseOf. Archived from the original on July 11, 2020. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  13. "A new name for the project #2". Jellyfin via GitHub. August 9, 2018. Archived from the original on January 17, 2023. Retrieved July 22, 2019.