Jellyfin¶

Jellyfin is a free, open-source media server for streaming your personal media library.

Docker Compose Setup¶

Basic Setup¶

services:
  jellyfin:
    image: jellyfin/jellyfin:latest
    container_name: jellyfin
    restart: unless-stopped
    user: 1000:1000
    environment:
      - TZ=Europe/Oslo
    volumes:
      - ./config:/config
      - ./cache:/cache
      - /data/media:/media:ro
    ports:
      - "8096:8096"
    networks:
      - proxy

networks:
  proxy:
    external: true

With Hardware Transcoding¶

services:
  jellyfin:
    image: jellyfin/jellyfin:latest
    container_name: jellyfin
    restart: unless-stopped
    user: 1000:1000
    environment:
      - TZ=Europe/Oslo
    volumes:
      - ./config:/config
      - ./cache:/cache
      - /data/media:/media:ro
    ports:
      - "8096:8096"
    # Intel Quick Sync
    devices:
      - /dev/dri:/dev/dri
    group_add:
      - "video"
      - "render"
    networks:
      - proxy

NVIDIA GPU Transcoding¶

services:
  jellyfin:
    image: jellyfin/jellyfin:latest
    container_name: jellyfin
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - TZ=Europe/Oslo
      - NVIDIA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=all
    runtime: nvidia
    volumes:
      - ./config:/config
      - ./cache:/cache
      - /data/media:/media:ro
    ports:
      - "8096:8096"
    deploy:
      resources:
        reservations:
          devices:
            - driver: nvidia
              count: all
              capabilities: [gpu, video]

Initial Setup¶

Access Jellyfin at http://localhost:8096
Create admin account
Add media libraries:
Movies: /media/movies
TV Shows: /media/tv
Music: /media/music

Library Organization¶

Recommended Structure¶

/media/
├── movies/
│   ├── Movie Name (2020)/
│   │   ├── Movie Name (2020).mkv
│   │   └── Movie Name (2020).srt
│   └── Another Movie (2021)/
│       └── Another Movie (2021).mp4
├── tv/
│   └── Show Name/
│       ├── Season 01/
│       │   ├── Show Name - S01E01 - Episode Title.mkv
│       │   └── Show Name - S01E02 - Episode Title.mkv
│       └── Season 02/
│           └── ...
└── music/
    └── Artist/
        └── Album/
            ├── 01 - Track.flac
            └── 02 - Track.flac

Transcoding Configuration¶

Enable Hardware Transcoding¶

Go to Dashboard > Playback > Transcoding
Select hardware acceleration:
Intel QSV for Intel CPUs
NVENC for NVIDIA GPUs
VAAPI for AMD/Intel
Enable hardware decoding for supported codecs

Codec Support¶

Codec	Intel QSV	NVENC	VAAPI
H.264	Yes	Yes	Yes
HEVC	Gen 6+	GTX 10+	Yes
AV1	Gen 12+	RTX 40+	Limited
VP9	Gen 9+	GTX 10+	Yes

User Management¶

Create Users¶

Go to Dashboard > Users > Add User
Configure permissions:
Library access
Download permission
Remote access

Parental Controls¶

Edit user > Access
Set content restrictions:
Maximum parental rating
Block unrated content

Plugins¶

Recommended Plugins¶

Open Subtitles - Auto-download subtitles
Trakt - Sync watch history
Fanart - Enhanced artwork
TMDb - Better metadata

Install Plugins¶

Go to Dashboard > Plugins > Catalog
Find and install plugins
Restart Jellyfin if required

Open Subtitles Setup¶

Install plugin
Go to Dashboard > Plugins > Open Subtitles
Enter your OpenSubtitles credentials
Configure languages

Remote Access¶

Direct Access¶

Forward port 8096 on your router.

With Reverse Proxy (Recommended)¶

# Traefik labels
labels:
  - "traefik.enable=true"
  - "traefik.http.routers.jellyfin.rule=Host(`media.example.com`)"
  - "traefik.http.routers.jellyfin.entrypoints=https"
  - "traefik.http.routers.jellyfin.tls.certresolver=letsencrypt"
  - "traefik.http.services.jellyfin.loadbalancer.server.port=8096"

Configure in Jellyfin: 1. Dashboard > Networking 2. Set "Base URL" if using path routing 3. Enable "Allow remote connections"

Clients¶

Official Apps¶

Web browser
Android / Android TV
iOS / tvOS
Roku

Third-Party Apps¶

Infuse (iOS/tvOS) - Premium player
Swiftfin (iOS) - Native Swift client
Findroid (Android) - Material Design
Jellyfin Media Player (Desktop)

Performance Tuning¶

Cache Settings¶

volumes:
  - ./cache:/cache
environment:
  - JELLYFIN_CACHE_DIR=/cache

Memory Limits¶

deploy:
  resources:
    limits:
      memory: 4G
    reservations:
      memory: 1G

SSD for Metadata¶

Store config on SSD for faster library scans:

volumes:
  - /ssd/jellyfin/config:/config
  - /ssd/jellyfin/cache:/cache
  - /hdd/media:/media:ro

Backup¶

What to Backup¶

/config - All settings, users, metadata
Database: /config/data/jellyfin.db

Backup Script¶

#!/bin/bash
BACKUP_DIR="/backups/jellyfin"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d)

# Stop container
docker stop jellyfin

# Backup config
tar -czvf "$BACKUP_DIR/jellyfin-$DATE.tar.gz" /path/to/config

# Start container
docker start jellyfin

# Keep last 7 backups
find "$BACKUP_DIR" -name "jellyfin-*.tar.gz" -mtime +7 -delete

Troubleshooting¶

Check Logs¶

docker logs jellyfin
# Or check /config/log/

Common Issues¶

No hardware transcoding
Check device permissions
Verify drivers installed on host
Check container has access to /dev/dri
Library not scanning
Check file permissions
Verify mount paths
Check naming convention
Playback issues
Try direct play instead of transcoding
Check client bandwidth settings
Verify codec support

Verify Hardware Access¶

# Check if GPU is accessible
docker exec jellyfin ls -la /dev/dri

# Check Intel QSV
docker exec jellyfin vainfo

# Check NVIDIA
docker exec jellyfin nvidia-smi