Host Jellyfin without installing anything
Your media library playable from a browser, a TV or a phone, with no licence, no subscriber-only features and no account at a vendor.
Starting at €8.99/month
Introduction
Jellyfin installed, updated and backed up by us, on a machine in France. A free media server: your films, series and music reachable from a browser, a TV or a phone. No licence fee, no advertising tracking, and your files stay yours. You install nothing and configure no server: the application is online a few minutes after you order, under your own name.
The plan that suits it is App Confort at €8.99/month incl. VAT — 4 GB of memory. Jellyfin plays your files as they are first: when the client can decode the original format, the server simply hands it over and memory use stays low. Transcoding is what asks for room — as soon as a browser cannot read HEVC, or an image-based subtitle has to be burnt into the picture, ffmpeg opens buffers for every stream. Add to that the library database, the poster cache, and chapter-thumbnail extraction during the first scan.
People usually arrive from Plex or Emby. Jellyfin follows the same folder naming conventions — a "Film (2019).mkv" inside a folder of the same name, series in "Season 01" — so the library rebuilds itself on the first scan, and entries are filled in from TheMovieDB and TheTVDB. NFO files written by Kodi or Emby are read back, which saves retyping descriptions. For playback there is the web interface, the Android and iOS apps, Android TV and Fire TV, a Kodi add-on, and casting to a Chromecast.
What managed hosting changes
Direct play first, transcoding when needed
If the device can decode the file, it receives it untouched. If not, ffmpeg converts it on the fly — remuxing, re-encoding the video, burning in image subtitles — and playback starts anyway, with nothing prepared in advance.
Clients for nearly everything
Browser, Android and iOS apps, Android TV and Fire TV, a Kodi add-on, casting to Chromecast. The mobile apps also download episodes so you can watch them offline on the train.
One account per person, with its own limits
Everybody has their own resume list and favourites. You can restrict an account to certain libraries, block anything above a rating, or switch off downloads — handy when the children have their own profile.
SyncPlay: the same scene at the same second
Several accounts start the same video and Jellyfin keeps the playheads aligned, pauses included. That is what lets you watch a film with someone far away without counting down out loud.
Why hand it over rather than install it
A household done with paying a licence
The features proprietary servers keep behind their subscription — remote access, TV apps, offline downloads — are simply part of the software. No screen ever offers you an upgrade.
A ripped disc collection
Twenty years of DVDs and Blu-rays in MKV get posters, synopses and trailers back. The multiple audio tracks and subtitles from the original disc stay selectable.
A film club screening at a distance
SyncPlay starts the same copy at the same second for everyone, with the conversation running alongside on a chat app. No more counting "three, two, one, play".
Children with a profile of their own
An account limited to the children's library, blocked above an age rating, with downloads off. They browse on their own without landing in the rest of the collection.
A music school and its recordings
Audition recordings and listening libraries go into a music library, with playlists per class. Pupils reach them from the browser, with nothing to install.
Hosted in France
In our own infrastructure in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, which we operate ourselves. The bandwidth does not cross the Atlantic before it reaches your living room, and the person on the phone speaks your language.
Frequently asked questions
The files stay where they are. Jellyfin reads the same naming conventions, so you declare the folders and run a scan: entries fill in from TheMovieDB and TheTVDB, and NFO files already written by Emby or Kodi are read back. What does not transfer officially is watch history — community scripts copy it across from Plex, but it is not a feature of the software. Since Jellyfin began life as a fork of Emby, coming from Emby is the smoothest path.
MKV, MP4, AVI, TS and WebM containers, H.264, HEVC, AV1, VP9 and MPEG-2 video, AAC, MP3, FLAC, Opus, AC3, E-AC3 and DTS audio. For subtitles, text files such as SRT and ASS/SSA are sent separately and stay adjustable on screen; the image-based subtitles of Blu-rays and DVDs (PGS, VobSub) have to be burnt into the picture, which triggers a transcode.
The plan has no graphics card: transcoding runs on the processor. A film the device can already play goes through effortlessly, but converting 4K HEVC on the fly is beyond what this plan handles comfortably — the right habit is to keep files your clients can read natively. Live TV and recording need a tuner plugged in on site, which a remote server does not have. And DLNA, designed for a local network, makes no sense across the internet.
App Confort, at €8.99/month incl. VAT. It provides 4 GB of memory where the application asks for 1 GB at minimum: the headroom serves the system, not the decor. You can change plan later without reinstalling.
Yes, they are part of the service. They count twice over here: the Jellyfin apps on televisions and phones move forward with the server, and staying current is what keeps playback working on every device.