Jellyfin: Open Source Media & Streaming

What is Jellyfin?

Jellyfin is a free and open-source media server that lets an individual or an organisation manage and stream their own movies, music, and other media from a dedicated server to end-user devices through multiple client apps.

What it is

Jellyfin is the Free Software Media System, and this repository contains its backend server and API. The code is written in C# on the .NET platform and released under GPL-2.0, and it is one project among many in the Jellyfin GitHub organisation, sitting alongside the separate jellyfin-web client. Jellyfin is descended from Emby's 3.5.2 release and was ported to .NET to enable full cross-platform support, and it runs on all major operating systems except FreeBSD, which remains incompatible.

The concrete problem it solves is streaming and managing a media library without depending on a proprietary vendor. Jellyfin is an alternative to the proprietary Emby and Plex, delivering media from a dedicated server to end-user devices through multiple apps. Where those products gate features behind paid tiers, Jellyfin states that there are no premium licences or features and no hidden agendas, which leaves the operator in control of managing and streaming the media.

Key capabilities

Backend server and API that delivers media from a dedicated server to end-user devices through multiple client apps.
Hosts the static files for the jellyfin-web client by default, or can be configured so the web client is hosted separately while the backend is served from this repository.
Cross-platform execution through the .NET port, covering all major operating systems except FreeBSD.
Builds from source against the .NET 10 SDK and integrates jellyfin/jellyfin-ffmpeg for media handling.
Licensed GPL-2.0 with no premium licences or features, so no capability sits behind a paid tier.
Translation of Jellyfin and its subprojects through the project's Weblate instance.
Contribution routed through a contributing guide, community standards, and a feature request hub.

Who uses it and how

Individuals running a dedicated server to stream their own media to end-user devices through multiple apps.
Server contributors building from source with the .NET 10 SDK in Visual Studio 2022 or Visual Studio Code, with ffmpeg installed for debugging.
Web client developers who run this backend while hosting the web client separately, the arrangement the README recommends for development.
Translators localising Jellyfin and its subprojects through the Weblate instance.
Operators on Windows, macOS, and Linux, with FreeBSD explicitly unsupported.

Getting started

Install from the official downloads page or the installation guide, then follow the quick start guide. To run from source, clone https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin.git and build with the .NET 10 SDK and ffmpeg installed, obtaining the web client files separately.

How it compares

Jellyfin is an alternative to the proprietary Emby and Plex, and it differs first on licence: Jellyfin is GPL-2.0 free software with no premium licences or features, while those products are proprietary. Because the operator runs the server and holds the media, data ownership and hosting stay with the self-hoster rather than a vendor, and the cost model is hardware and operations rather than a subscription or a feature unlock. Jellyfin also inherits from Emby's 3.5.2 release, so it shares lineage with one of the products it replaces while diverging on licensing.

When to use it — and when not to

A self-hoster must run and maintain the server, provide storage for the media, and keep dependencies such as ffmpeg and the .NET SDK in place, and must obtain the web client files separately because they are not included in this repository. FreeBSD users should not choose Jellyfin, since the platform is still incompatible. Anyone wanting a managed service with no operational work should look elsewhere, and the 684 open issues alongside a README that is largely orientation rather than documentation suggest the project expects self-sufficiency.

project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline

Jellyfin

The Free Software Media System

Jellyfin is a Free Software Media System that puts you in control of managing and streaming your media. It is an alternative to the proprietary Emby and Plex, to provide media from a dedicated server to end-user devices via multiple apps. Jellyfin is descended from Emby's 3.5.2 release and ported to the .NET platform to enable full cross-platform support.

There are no strings attached, no premium licenses or features, and no hidden agendas: just a team that wants to build something better and work together to achieve it. We welcome anyone who is interested in joining us in our quest!

For further details, please see our documentation page. To receive the latest updates, get help with Jellyfin, and join the community, please visit one of our communication channels. For more information about the project, please see our about page.

Want to get started?
Check out our downloads page or our installation guide, then see our quick start guide. You can also build from source.

Something not working right?
Open an Issue on GitHub.

Want to contribute?
Check out our contributing choose-your-own-adventure to see where you can help, then see our contributing guide and our community standards.

New idea or improvement?
Check out our feature request hub.

Don't see Jellyfin in your language?
Check out our Weblate instance to help translate Jellyfin and its subprojects.

Jellyfin Server

This repository contains the code for Jellyfin's backend server. Note that this is only one of many projects under the Jellyfin GitHub organization on GitHub. If you want to contribute, you can start by checking out our documentation to see what to work on.

Server Development

These instructions will help you get set up with a local development environment in order to contribute to this repository. Before you start, please be sure to completely read our guidelines on development contributions. Note that this project is supported on all major operating systems except FreeBSD, which is still incompatible.

Prerequisites

Before the project can be built, you must first install the .NET 10 SDK on your system.

Instructions to run this project from the command line are included here, but you will also need to install an IDE if you want to debug the server while it is running. Any IDE that supports .NET 6 development will work, but two options are recent versions of Visual Studio (at least 2022) and Visual Studio Code.

ffmpeg will also need to be installed.

Cloning the Repository

After dependencies have been installed you will need to clone a local copy of this repository. If you just want to run the server from source you can clone this repository directly, but if you are intending to contribute code changes to the project, you should set up your own fork of the repository. The following example shows how you can clone the repository directly over HTTPS.

git clone https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin.git

Installing the Web Client

The server is configured to host the static files required for the web client in addition to serving the backend by default. Before you can run the server, you will need to get a copy of the web client since they are not included in this repository directly.

Note that it is recommended for development to host the web client separately from the web server with some additional configuration, in which case you can skip this step.

There are two options to get the files for the web client.

Build them from source following the instructions on the jellyfin-web repository
Get the pre-built files from an existing installation of the server. For example, with a Windows server installation the client files are located at C:\Program Files\Jellyfin\Server\jellyfin-web

Running The Server

The following instructions will help you get the project up and running via the command line, or your preferred IDE.

Running With Visual Studio

To run the project with Visual Studio you can open the Solution (.sln) file and then press F5 to run the server.

Running With Visual Studio Code

To run the project with Visual Studio Code you will first need to open the repository directory with Visual Studio Code using the Open Folder... option.

Second, you need to install the recommended extensions for the workspace. Note that extension recommendations are classified as either "Workspace Recommendations" or "Other Recommendations", but only the "Workspace Recommendations" are required.

After the required extensions are installed, you can run the server by pressing F5.

Running From the Command Line

To run the server from the command line you can use the dotnet run command. The example below shows how to do this if you have cloned the repository into a directory named jellyfin (the default directory name) and should work on all operating systems.

cd jellyfin                          # Move into the repository directory
dotnet run --project Jellyfin.Server --webdir /absolute/path/to/jellyfin-web/dist # Run the server startup project

A second option is to build the project and then run the resulting executable file directly. When running the executable directly you can easily add command line options. Add the --help flag to list details on all the supported command line options.

Build the project

dotnet build                       # Build the project
cd Jellyfin.Server/bin/Debug/net10.0 # Change into the build output directory

Execute the build output. On Linux, Mac, e

Frequently asked questions

Is Jellyfin free to use?

Jellyfin is open source under the GPL-2.0 licence. There is no licence fee and no seat count — you can self-host it or, where the project offers one, pay a vendor for a managed version instead.

What does Jellyfin do?

Self-hosted media server for movies, music, and more

What is Jellyfin written in?

Jellyfin is primarily written in C#. Its source is publicly available at https://github.com/jellyfin/jellyfin, and it has 57,244 GitHub stars.