Jellyfin: Your Own Netflix

What You'll Build

Jellyfin turns a folder of video files into a polished streaming service with posters, descriptions, "continue watching", and apps for smart TVs, phones, and browsers. It's completely free — no accounts, no premium tier, no tracking.

Port: 8096 · Time: 30 minutes · Difficulty: Easy (hardware transcoding is Medium)

What You Need

• Your home server from Foundations 1 (Docker installed, ~/stacks folder).
• Nginx Proxy Manager with your *.home.example.com certificate (recommended).
• Your videos on a drive, e.g. /mnt/data/media.

Step 1: Organise the Files

Jellyfin looks up posters and details by folder and file name, so naming matters:

/mnt/data/media/
├── movies/
│   └── The Matrix (1999)/
│       └── The Matrix (1999).mkv
└── tv/
    └── Planet Earth (2006)/
        └── Season 01/
            ├── Planet Earth (2006) S01E01.mkv
            └── Planet Earth (2006) S01E02.mkv

Step 2: Start Jellyfin

mkdir -p ~/stacks/jellyfin && cd ~/stacks/jellyfin

# Intel/AMD GPUs only: find the "render" group's number for hardware transcoding
getent group render | cut -d: -f3        # e.g. 993

nano compose.yaml

services:
  jellyfin:
    image: jellyfin/jellyfin:latest
    container_name: jellyfin
    restart: unless-stopped
    user: "1000:1000"
    group_add:
      - "993"                     # ← the render group number from above
    ports:
      - "8096:8096"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/config          # settings, users, watch history
      - ./cache:/cache            # temporary transcoding files
      - /mnt/data/media:/media:ro # your films and shows (read-only)
    devices:
      - /dev/dri:/dev/dri         # Intel/AMD GPU for hardware transcoding (remove if none)

docker compose up -d

Step 3: The Setup Wizard

1. Open http://192.168.1.50:8096, choose your language, and create your admin user.
2. Add Media Library: type Movies, folder /media/movies. Add another: type Shows, folder /media/tv.
3. Pick your metadata language and country → Next.
4. Remote access: leave "Allow remote connections" on (it's needed for the proxy), but leave automatic port mapping off.
5. Finish and log in. Posters appear as the library scan runs.

Step 4: Hardware Transcoding

When a device can't play a file directly (or you're on slow mobile data), Jellyfin converts it on the fly. A modern Intel iGPU does this easily; the CPU alone struggles with 4K.

1. Dashboard → Playback → Transcoding.
2. Hardware acceleration: Intel QuickSync (QSV) for Intel, or VAAPI for AMD. Device: /dev/dri/renderD128.
3. Tick the codecs your GPU supports (H.264, HEVC; AV1 on very new chips) → Save.
4. Test: play a film and pick a low quality from the settings (gear) menu. Dashboard → Activity should show "(HW)" for the stream.

Step 5: Watch on Every Screen

Server address in the apps: https://jellyfin.home.example.com. Create a separate user for each person so everyone has their own "continue watching" list; use parental ratings on kids' accounts.

Add It to Your Proxy, Dashboard, and Backups

• Nginx Proxy Manager: new proxy host jellyfin.home.example.com → scheme http, 192.168.1.50, port 8096, Websockets on, your wildcard certificate, Force SSL.
• Homepage: add a tile in services.yaml (how).
• Uptime Kuma: add an HTTP monitor for the new address (how).
• Backups: ~/stacks/jellyfin is already covered by the restic script. Your media folder is big and replaceable from the discs — back it up only if you have space.

Troubleshooting

• Film shows the wrong poster or none — check the folder/file naming, then on the item: ⋯ → Identify.
• Library is empty — the container can't read the folder. Check the /media path and that user 1000 can read the files.
• Playback buffers constantly — it's transcoding in software. Set up Step 4, or pick "Direct play" friendly formats (H.264/HEVC in MKV/MP4).
• "Permission denied" on /dev/dri — wrong render group number in group_add.

What's Next?

• Music: Navidrome (your own Spotify) →
• Audiobooks & podcasts: Audiobookshelf →