Your own Jellyfin server, streaming your library anywhere

Will it play 4K smoothly?

Often the server barely has to work at all. When a TV, phone or browser can play a file as it is, Jellyfin simply sends it. The heavy lifting, called transcoding, only starts when a device cannot handle the format, the connection is too slow for the file, or subtitles have to be burned into the picture.

The hardest job of all is turning HDR video into normal colour for screens that cannot show HDR. Jellyfin's guide says doing that on the processor alone is very demanding, and gives an example: converting 4K 60 fps Dolby Vision faster than real time takes a chip like the 16-core Ryzen 9 5950X. A suitable graphics card takes that work off the processor.

Which graphics card does Jellyfin suggest?

• NVIDIA: GTX 16 series or RTX 20 series and newer, but not the GTX 1650. The newest RTX 50 cards have the best picture quality on Jellyfin's list.
• Intel: an Arc card from the A-series onward. Jellyfin always recommends Intel on non-Apple hardware.
• AMD: not recommended for a dedicated graphics card.
• With a separate card, the main processor's make and speed do not affect how fast or how well videos are converted.

Memory and disks

Jellyfin's guide suggests 8 GB of memory for most setups; a Linux server without a desktop can get by on 4 GB. Give the system, Jellyfin's own files and the transcoding cache an SSD of about 100 GB, because they are read in small random pieces. The films and series can sit on large hard drives, as long as the drives read faster than the videos' bitrate. The guide warns against SMR hard drives for Jellyfin's own files, which is one more reason to keep those on the SSD.

Spread the library across several drives in a RAID array, so one failing disk is a swap, not a re-rip of your whole collection.

Up and running in an evening

1. Order your server with Ubuntu; Jellyfin's install script works on every Ubuntu LTS from 20.04 to 26.04.
2. Download Jellyfin's official script install-debuntu.sh and the matching .sha256sum file from repo.jellyfin.org, check it with sha256sum -c, then run it with sudo bash install-debuntu.sh.
3. Keep Jellyfin's data on the server's own drives. The script refuses to put its data folder on network storage.
4. If you have an NVIDIA card, add NVIDIA's driver plus the encoder packages Jellyfin lists, then switch on NVIDIA hardware acceleration in the dashboard.
5. Open port 8096 in a browser through an SSH tunnel, finish the setup wizard, and add your libraries.

Watching from anywhere, safely

Jellyfin's networking guide says plainly that opening its port straight to the internet is not recommended. Put a web server such as Caddy or nginx in front with a proper certificate from Let's Encrypt, and let only that through the firewall. Port 7359, used for finding the server on a home network, should never face the internet.

The server that fits

Every library is a different size, so a custom-built server fits Jellyfin better than a fixed plan. You choose the drives and how many, the RAID level, the memory and a graphics card, and the monthly price updates as you go. Check that the card you pick is one Jellyfin recommends; our GPU servers page lists all the cards we offer.

The port is unmetered and unshared, so streaming to the family never adds a traffic charge. Most builds are ready 4 to 24 hours after your order clears review. Want simple bulk space instead? Our storage servers are a good starting point.

Whose films are these?

Jellyfin is for media you have the right to keep and share: home videos, discs you bought, a studio or school archive. Keeping family photos too? Our Immich guide covers that.

Questions people ask

Does Jellyfin need a graphics card?

Not to play files your devices already support. You want one when videos have to be converted, and especially for turning HDR into normal colour, which Jellyfin says is very hard work for a processor alone.

Can I use an AMD graphics card?

Jellyfin's guide does not recommend AMD for a dedicated card. It suggests NVIDIA GTX 16 or RTX 20 and newer (not the GTX 1650), or Intel Arc.

How much memory does Jellyfin need?

About 8 GB for most setups, according to Jellyfin's guide. A Linux server without a desktop can manage on 4 GB.

What port does Jellyfin use?

Its web page is on port 8096; port 8920 is used only if you switch on HTTPS inside Jellyfin itself. Rather than opening either to the internet, put an HTTPS web server in front, as Jellyfin's networking guide recommends.

Which hard drives should I avoid?

For the films, any drive whose read speed beats your videos' bitrate will do. The guide's warning about SMR hard drives is for Jellyfin's own files, so keep the system, metadata and cache on an SSD.

Which Ubuntu versions can I install it on?

Jellyfin's official install script works on the Ubuntu LTS releases from 20.04 to 26.04, plus Debian 11, 12 and 13.