Jellyfin Hosting: What It Needs and What to Run It On

Jellyfin hosting needs very little for direct play and a lot for transcoding. The official guide asks for 8 GB of RAM and a 100 GB SSD, and it says that transcoding on the CPU alone is not recommended. So size the server around how your viewers stream, and around the port.

This guide sums up what Jellyfin hosting asks for in the documentation, adds the storage maths and maps three kinds of library to a dedicated server. If you are still choosing between Jellyfin and Plex, read the comparison first.

What Does Jellyfin Hosting Involve?

Jellyfin hosting involves five parts: a Linux server, the Jellyfin application, storage for your media, a network port and HTTPS. The application streams your files to apps and browsers, and it converts them when a device cannot play them as they are.

Flow diagram of Jellyfin hosting: viewers on apps, browsers and TVs connect over HTTPS to a reverse proxy with a TLS certificate, which passes requests to the Jellyfin server and transcoder, which reads the media disks, with an SSD for the cache.

In practice, when a device cannot play a file, Jellyfin converts it on the fly. The Jellyfin documentation says it uses jellyfin-ffmpeg, its own build of FFmpeg, for that work. That transcoding is the one task that decides how big the server must be.

Jellyfin Server Requirements: What Does the Official Guide Ask For?

Jellyfin’s hardware guide asks for 8 GB of RAM and a 100 GB SSD for the system, the Jellyfin files and the transcoding cache. For a Linux server with no desktop, it says 4 GB of RAM may be enough. The hardware selection page also requires a CPU with SSE4.1 support since version 10.11.

Table comparing what Jellyfin’s guide asks for with the Swify Dedicated 1 at 120 euros a month: 8 GB of RAM, or 4 GB on a Linux server with no desktop, against 64 GB; a 100 GB SSD against 1 TB of SSD; an Intel Core i5-2300 or better with a graphics card, and very demanding transcoding without one, against a Xeon Gold 5215 with 10 cores; and a recommended graphics card against none on standard plans.

Horizontal bar chart of RAM in gigabytes: Jellyfin’s guide recommends 8 GB, and the Swify Dedicated 1 has 64 GB, which is eight times more.

Jellyfin Hardware Requirements: Why Is a Graphics Card Recommended?

Because transcoding on the CPU is very demanding, and the guide says so in plain words. It adds that heavy codecs such as HEVC, VP9 and AV1 can be very demanding even on modern CPUs when no hardware acceleration is available.

Standard Swify plans have no graphics card, so the CPU does the work. Our comparison counts it with Plex’s rule of 2,000 PassMark points per 1080p stream: from 7 to 20 streams across the plans, and none to 3 for 4K. For 4K HDR with several viewers, Jellyfin hosting calls for a graphics card, so ask us for a server that has one.

How Much Storage Does Jellyfin Hosting Need?

Storage follows the bitrate: a two-hour film takes about 9 GB at 10 Mbps and 36 GB at 40 Mbps. A library of 1,000 films therefore takes 9 TB or 36 TB. The bitrates come from Plex’s CPU guidance, which lists 10 Mbps for 1080p, 40 Mbps for 4K SDR and 50 Mbps for 4K HDR.

Horizontal bar chart of disk space for 1,000 two-hour films: 9 terabytes at 1080p and 10 Mbps, 36 terabytes at 4K SDR and 40 Mbps, and 45 terabytes at 4K HDR and 50 Mbps.

Put the system, the Jellyfin files and the transcoding cache on the SSD, and the media on large hard disks. The hardware acceleration guide adds that on a modern graphics card, the speed of the drives can limit transcoding, and it suggests an SSD or a RAM disk for the cache.

Jellyfin Hosting: Which Swify Plan Fits?

A Dedicated 1 fits a library that mostly direct-plays, and the bigger plans add transcoding headroom. For Jellyfin hosting, pick by how your viewers watch, and add drives for the library.

Table of where to start with Jellyfin hosting on a Swify plan: a Dedicated 1 with 10 cores and 64 GB for a family library that mostly direct-plays; a Dedicated 5 with 20 cores and 128 GB for mixed devices, about 11 transcodes of 1080p; a Dedicated 7 with 40 cores and 128 GB for many viewers, about 20 transcodes; a server with a graphics card, quoted to order, for 4K HDR with several viewers; and any plan plus hard disks from the builder for a library of 10 TB or more.

Also, every Swify plan has a 1 Gbps unmetered port, which carries about 100 direct-play streams of 1080p. Our streaming guide has the bandwidth maths.

How Do You Install Jellyfin on a Dedicated Server?

Add Jellyfin’s official repository and install the package, which is the route the documentation prefers on Debian and Ubuntu. The manual installation guide says the repository gives automatic updates and resolves the dependencies. On Ubuntu, enable the Universe repository first.

1. Update the system, then read Jellyfin’s install script before you run it.
2. Run the script, which adds the repository and installs the packages.
3. Check that the service is running.
4. Open the setup page through an SSH tunnel, and keep port 8096 closed to the internet.
5. Add your media folders as read-only, and let the first scan finish.
6. Put a reverse proxy in front, as the next section explains.

curl -fsSL https://repo.jellyfin.org/install-debuntu.sh -o install-jellyfin.sh
less install-jellyfin.sh
sudo bash install-jellyfin.sh
sudo systemctl status jellyfin
ssh -L 8096:localhost:8096 user@YOUR-SERVER-IP

Swify servers are unmanaged with full root access, so you choose Debian or Ubuntu and the update day. Both are on the builder’s list.

How Do You Reach Jellyfin Safely From Outside?

Put a reverse proxy with a TLS certificate in front of Jellyfin, and expose only that proxy. Jellyfin’s networking guide advises against forwarding its ports straight to the internet, and says HTTPS is best handled on a reverse proxy.

Which Ports Does Jellyfin Hosting Need Open?

Only the proxy’s port 443, plus SSH. Jellyfin itself binds 8096 for HTTP, 8920 for HTTPS and 7359 over UDP for discovery on the local network, and HTTPS stays off until you add a certificate.

Table of Jellyfin’s ports: 8096 over TCP is the default HTTP port, reached through the proxy or an SSH tunnel and kept closed to the internet; 8920 over TCP is the default HTTPS port, off until you add a certificate, so the proxy should handle HTTPS; 7359 over UDP is client discovery on the local network, not needed on a server; and 443 over TCP is the reverse proxy, the only web port open to the world.

How Do You Set Up HTTPS for Jellyfin Hosting?

Install a reverse proxy, point it at Jellyfin and add a trusted certificate. Jellyfin’s reverse proxy guide has working configurations. The guide recommends a trusted authority such as Let’s Encrypt, and warns against self-signed certificates, so test the result with SSL Labs, as it suggests. Then keep SSH to keys, give each viewer their own account and back up before you upgrade.

What About Backups and Updates for Jellyfin Hosting?

Back up before every upgrade, because Jellyfin cannot be downgraded. The backup guide says that once a new version has started, its database changes are applied at once, and the only way back is to restore a backup. Since the repository delivers new versions with the rest of the system, take the copy first.

What Should You Back Up Before an Upgrade?

Back up the data directory, the configuration and, if you cannot re-download them, your media.

Table of what to back up for Jellyfin on Debian or Ubuntu: the data directory at /var/lib/jellyfin, which holds the database and metadata and must be copied with Jellyfin stopped; the configuration at /etc/jellyfin; the built-in backups at /var/lib/jellyfin/data/backups, available since version 10.11 and made while Jellyfin runs; and your media folders, which Jellyfin’s backups do not include.

The built-in backup covers the database, and optionally the metadata, subtitles and trickplay data. A manual copy needs Jellyfin stopped first, or the database may be locked and hard to recover.

sudo systemctl stop jellyfin
sudo cp -a /var/lib/jellyfin /media/backups/jellyfin-data
sudo cp -a /etc/jellyfin /media/backups/jellyfin-config
sudo systemctl start jellyfin

Is RAID a Backup for Jellyfin?

No. Mirrored disks protect you from a drive failing, but they copy a deletion as faithfully as a file. Also, keep one copy of the backup on another machine.

Jellyfin Hosting: The Short Version

Jellyfin hosting needs a Linux server with 8 GB of RAM, a 100 GB SSD, disks for the media and HTTPS in front. Direct play is cheap, and transcoding on a CPU is the part that needs the bigger plan.

• Size the CPU for transcodes: from 7 to 20 streams of 1080p across the Swify plans.
• Size the disks from the bitrate: 9 TB for 1,000 films at 1080p.
• Use a reverse proxy with TLS, and keep port 8096 closed.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Jellyfin hosting?

What are the Jellyfin server requirements?

How much RAM does Jellyfin need?

Can Jellyfin run without a GPU?

How much storage does a Jellyfin library need?

What port does Jellyfin use?

How do I install Jellyfin on Debian or Ubuntu?

Can I share my Jellyfin server with friends?

Can I downgrade Jellyfin?