Jellyfin is one of the most versatile home media options out there, but by default, its the interface is quite soft. Works great, but looks a little dated. The good news? A few tweaks can make it look significantly more modern and responsive.
It’s inside This simple tweak makes Jellyfin glow; you can take it from its most basic form to a polished, tailored experience. It doesn’t take much to do it either. I Jellyfin only changed four things on my serverand now it feels on par with Netflix.
I did it so I could skip the ins and outs
I only watch them when I want to
One of the best features that has graced the streaming service is the ability to skip the input or output of whatever you’re watching. Some shows have great intro sequences, but even the best ones start to lose their luster after seeing it enough times. This is where the Intro Skipper plugin comes in. As the name suggests, this plugin allows you to skip the input to get straight to the action. with something like Game of Thronesif the intro can be about two minutes long, it’s a very welcome addition.
The same goes for moving abroad. I try to look at the movie credits to recognize the work that went into it, but let’s be honest: TV episodes are made for entertainment, and spending a few extra minutes each time isn’t reasonable. Being able to skip straight to the next episode is a time saver.
Enable hardware encryption
Everything just works
Hardware transcoding is something that many users don’t think about. To be honest, you can get by without hardware transcoding if you’re just using your server, but if you enable it, you’ll see a big jump in performance. This setting loads the process of converting video/audio files to the correct format, transferring them from the CPU to the GPU. It also lets you convert files quickly, so you can transfer a file from one device to another without worrying too much about compatibility.
It also helps with subtitles. In short, if you intend to watch content on a device separate from where all your media resides, hardware transcoding can save you a lot of headaches. Not having to worry about codecs is a nice feeling. I can press a button and everything just starts playing, I’m jumping through hoops on the back end to make everything work.
Set up a custom domain
Easier to share, easier to access
Entering my server’s IP address anytime is a bit of a pain. Sure, I’ve completely memorized the number at this point, but what if someone else is trying to gain access? That’s a different story and one of the reasons I suggest a custom domain. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy.
You can even make it part of your existing website; for example, if you own yourname.com, you can make the server something like watch.yourname.com. You’ll need to set up a reverse proxy to do something like this (a better idea than directly exposing Jellyfin to the internet), but it’s not too hard to do. When all is said and done, you’ll be able to access your Jellyfin server by typing in your domain name like watch.yourname.com instead of a long sequence of numbers.
This stopped my Jellyfin server from looking like a bunch of files and a more polished UI
Few things make a media library more polished than the right artwork, images, and metadata. Before I took the time to set up the metadata providers, my library looked a bit random. There were numerous folders without images, and a few were a series of letters rather than a coherent title. Knowing what to look for, I could handle it easily, but it wasn’t something I’d want someone else to try to figure out.
Improving my metadata has led to a more polished, streamlined experience displaying relevant artwork across all of my media. Well, maybe not all of them – there are still a few collections that I try to find metadata for, but it’s usually limited to more niche movies or older anime that aren’t covered as much.
Jellyfin is great out of the box, but a few easy tweaks can make it phenomenal
If you want a simple media server that gets the job done, Jellyfin is perfect. It caters to all types of users. If you want a home media server that feels more like an art project than serving up media files, there are plenty of ways to make that happen, too. These four suggestions serve as a great starting point, but you can always take things further with custom CSS, third-party organization tools like Shoko, and more.
- Compatible with iOS
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Yes
- Compatible with Android
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Yes
