Jellyfin Media Server

Key Features

• Complete freedom from tracking, telemetry, and premium feature paywalls
• Hardware-accelerated transcoding support for Intel QuickSync, NVIDIA NVENC, and AMD VCE
• Live TV and DVR functionality with tuner integration for over-the-air broadcasts
• Multi-user profiles with individual libraries, watch history, and parental control settings
• DLNA server capabilities for automatic discovery by smart TVs and media players
• Extensive plugin ecosystem for metadata providers, notification services, and additional features
• Native mobile apps for iOS and Android plus TV apps for Roku, Android TV, and webOS
• Advanced subtitle support including automatic downloading and custom styling options

Common Use Cases

• 1Family media server replacing multiple streaming subscriptions with personal movie and TV collections
• 2Home theater enthusiasts creating a centralized hub for 4K movies with hardware transcoding
• 3Privacy-focused households avoiding commercial streaming services that track viewing habits
• 4Cord-cutting setups combining personal media libraries with live TV and DVR recording
• 5Remote access scenarios where users stream their home media collection while traveling
• 6Multi-generational families needing separate user profiles with age-appropriate content filtering
• 7Photographers and videographers sharing personal content libraries with clients or family members

Prerequisites

• Minimum 2GB RAM recommended for smooth operation, 4GB+ for 4K transcoding workloads
• GPU with hardware encoding support (Intel iGPU, NVIDIA GTX 1050+, or AMD RX 400+) for transcoding
• Properly organized media library with consistent file naming for automatic metadata detection
• Available ports 8096 (HTTP), 8920 (HTTPS), 7359 (auto-discovery), and 1900 (DLNA) on host system
• Understanding of media formats, codecs, and transcoding concepts for optimization
• Network storage or large local storage capacity for media files and transcoding cache

docker-compose.yml

1services: 
2  jellyfin: 
3    image: jellyfin/jellyfin:latest
4    container_name: jellyfin
5    environment: 
6      - JELLYFIN_PublishedServerUrl=${SERVER_URL}
7    volumes: 
8      - jellyfin-config:/config
9      - jellyfin-cache:/cache
10      - /path/to/media:/media:ro
11    ports: 
12      - "8096:8096"
13      - "8920:8920"
14      - "7359:7359/udp"
15      - "1900:1900/udp"
16    devices: 
17      - /dev/dri:/dev/dri
18    networks: 
19      - jellyfin-network
20    restart: unless-stopped
21
22volumes: 
23  jellyfin-config: 
24  jellyfin-cache: 
25
26networks: 
27  jellyfin-network: 
28    driver: bridge

.env Template

1# Jellyfin
2SERVER_URL=http://localhost:8096
3
4# Change /path/to/media to your media directory
5# Remove devices section if no hardware transcoding

Usage Notes

Quick Start

1# 1. Create the compose file
2cat > docker-compose.yml << 'EOF'
3services:
4  jellyfin:
5    image: jellyfin/jellyfin:latest
6    container_name: jellyfin
7    environment:
8      - JELLYFIN_PublishedServerUrl=${SERVER_URL}
9    volumes:
10      - jellyfin-config:/config
11      - jellyfin-cache:/cache
12      - /path/to/media:/media:ro
13    ports:
14      - "8096:8096"
15      - "8920:8920"
16      - "7359:7359/udp"
17      - "1900:1900/udp"
18    devices:
19      - /dev/dri:/dev/dri
20    networks:
21      - jellyfin-network
22    restart: unless-stopped
23
24volumes:
25  jellyfin-config:
26  jellyfin-cache:
27
28networks:
29  jellyfin-network:
30    driver: bridge
31EOF
32
33# 2. Create the .env file
34cat > .env << 'EOF'
35# Jellyfin
36SERVER_URL=http://localhost:8096
37
38# Change /path/to/media to your media directory
39# Remove devices section if no hardware transcoding
40EOF
41
42# 3. Start the services
43docker compose up -d
44
45# 4. View logs
46docker compose logs -f

One-Liner

Run this command to download and set up the recipe in one step:

1curl -fsSL https://docker.recipes/api/recipes/jellyfin-complete/run | bash

Troubleshooting