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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

AMD VAAPI Transcoding (MS-S1 MAX)

The Strix Halo iGPU exposes hardware video encode/decode through VAAPI. The Compose snippet above (/dev/dri passthrough + video/render groups) is the right setup — turn on VAAPI in the Jellyfin dashboard (see Transcoding Configuration).

Initial Setup

  1. Access Jellyfin at http://localhost:8096
  2. Create admin account
  3. Add media libraries:
  4. Movies: /media/movies
  5. TV Shows: /media/tv
  6. Music: /media/music

Library Organization

/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

  1. Go to Dashboard > Playback > Transcoding
  2. Select hardware acceleration:
  3. VAAPI for the MS-S1 MAX (AMD Strix Halo iGPU)
  4. Enable hardware decoding for supported codecs

Codec Support (VAAPI on Strix Halo)

Codec Decode Encode
H.264 Yes Yes
HEVC Yes Yes
AV1 Yes Yes
VP9 Yes No

User Management

Create Users

  1. Go to Dashboard > Users > Add User
  2. Configure permissions:
  3. Library access
  4. Download permission
  5. Remote access

Parental Controls

  1. Edit user > Access
  2. Set content restrictions:
  3. Maximum parental rating
  4. Block unrated content

Plugins

  1. Open Subtitles - Auto-download subtitles
  2. Trakt - Sync watch history
  3. Fanart - Enhanced artwork
  4. TMDb - Better metadata

Install Plugins

  1. Go to Dashboard > Plugins > Catalog
  2. Find and install plugins
  3. Restart Jellyfin if required

Open Subtitles Setup

  1. Install plugin
  2. Go to Dashboard > Plugins > Open Subtitles
  3. Enter your OpenSubtitles credentials
  4. Configure languages

Remote Access

Direct Access

Forward port 8096 on your router.

# 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

  1. No hardware transcoding
  2. Check device permissions
  3. Verify drivers installed on host

  4. Check container has access to /dev/dri

  5. Library not scanning

  6. Check file permissions
  7. Verify mount paths

  8. Check naming convention

  9. Playback issues

  10. Try direct play instead of transcoding
  11. Check client bandwidth settings
  12. Verify codec support

Verify Hardware Access

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

# Check VAAPI (the path used on the MS-S1 MAX)
docker exec jellyfin vainfo

See Also