If you are someone who owns a vast library of media content like movies, TV shows, and more, it’s always a wise choice to go with media servers. For those hearing the term for the first time, it is a type of digital storage and streaming system that lets you store and access different types of media files, including audio, video, and photos, from one central location.
These days, there are a bunch of media servers available on the market. However, Plex is considered one of the best streaming media servers. If you have used Plex in the past, but are looking for a solid alternative to it, Jellyfin is the one you should be using.
Now, you may ask: What is Jellyfin? Is it any better than Plex or other media servers out there? Well, you’ll find everything you need to know about Jellyfin here.
In this guide, you’ll learn about some of the best Jellyfin plugins and how to install them. So, without further ado, let’s jump right into it.
What is the Jellyfin media server?
Jellyfin is a popular open-source media server that allows you to send your favorite media content stored on a computer to any other device where you have it installed. Think of it as having your own version of Netflix or Spotify.
Unlike the popular Plex media server, Jellyfin is completely free to use. What’s nice about this media server is that it supports all the most common media formats, including MP3 for audio and H.264 for video. Let’s not forget that Jellyfin also supports a wide range of image formats, such as JPEG, PNG, GIF, RAW, BMP, WEBP, and more.
If you have a media collection with a supported file type, Jellyfin allows you to stream on all major operating systems, such as Windows, macOS, and Linux. It also has a collection of the best optional plugins that you can always install to get additional features.
Best Jellyfin Plugins
1. Jellyfin Fanart plugin
While Jellyfin is a great media server, the way it looks is honestly pretty mundane. Fortunately, there are a few good plugins to help you make your favorite media server look cool.
The Fanart plugin is one such example. This Jellyfin plugin adds all sorts of images from Fanart.tv to your media collection. It’s worth noting that there are over 700,000 images for you to choose from.
Installation instructions on Github
2. Intro Skipper
If you don’t like wasting 60 seconds of your life watching the same intro from your favorite TV shows again and again, this Jellyfin plugin is for you. As the name suggests, Intro Skipper allows you to skip the same intro sequence by detecting similar themes from each season of a TV show. Additionally, it’s completely free to use.
3. Jellyscrub
Next on our list of the best Jellyfin plugins is the Jellyscrub. It is one of the most popular plugins among binge-watchers, so what does it do? Well, it’s a plugin that generates Trickplay files used to display previews when you’re scrubbing, allowing you to check previews of what’s happening at that point of the video timeline.
If you’ve ever used YouTube on a desktop and moved the cursor through the video timeline to check a preview of what’s next, you probably know what I’m talking about.
4. Awesome Jellyfin
Although you can share your Jelly installation with others, it’s tough to keep everyone updated with all the newly added media, especially when you’re frequently updating them. This is where the Awesome Jellyfin plugin comes in handy.
It aims to solve that problem through a newsletter. After you install this popular Jellyfin plugin, it scans your media library once every four hours. Next, it compiles a list of newly added media and converts the same into HTML so that you can share it via email.
5. Jellyfin YouTube Metadata Plugin
YouTube has long been a great source of entertainment for users around the globe, thanks to existing video content from different niches. However, videos uploaded to YouTube only provide you with a short title and description, which may not be useful in deciding whether you want to watch it or not.
That’s where the YouTube Metadata Plugin comes into play. When you browse a vast collection of YouTube videos using Jellyfin, this plugin allows you to decide what you want to watch by displaying video metadata.
6. FinTube
If your go-to entertainment source is YouTube, just like me, FinTube is the Jellyfin plugin you should be installing right away. It allows you to download YouTube’s content and link everything via Jellyfin. More importantly, this plugin is handy for storing YouTube content that may not be available forever on the platform.
7. Jellyfin Discord Music Bot
Discord fanatics, this Jellyfin plugin is just for you, and I’m not kidding. It is a simple and lightweight Discord Bot that integrates with your Jellyfin media server and allows listening to your favorite music directly from Discord.
Some commands that you can use to control the playback are summon, disconnect, play, add, pause/resume, seek, skip, spawn, and help. The Interactive Play Controller can be triggered using the spawn command.
Installation instructions on Github
8. ListenBrainz (Alternative to MusicBrainz)
Did you recently discover a new song or music on TikTok or an Instagram reel that you don’t remember anymore? Well, we have been in that situation, so you are not alone. While many of you associate metadata with videos, it is more important when it comes to music.
That’s simply because we watch videos, and what we see sticks with us for a long time. That’s not the case with music. This is where ListenBrainz comes to your rescue.
This Jellyfin plugin allows your media server to fetch metadata about music tracks, albums, and artists from ListenBrainz, which is considered a great source of music information. In short, this plugin allows your music collection to look better and more organized in Jellyfin.
9. Jellyfin TMDB Box Sets Plugin
If you love watching movies, we are guessing that you probably know about The Movie Database (TMDB). For those unaware, it’s a community-driven website that has all the information about movies, TV shows, and celebrities.
Well, the plugin in question here brings that experience to your Jellyfin server. Once you install this plugin, your server can automatically create box sets and collections according to TMDB data.
If you are into TV shows, you can try the TheTVDB plugin (installation instructions here), which works similarly. The only difference is that it brings the same experience based on TheTVDB data. Not to forget, this plugin is also a favorite among those who binge-watch movies.
Installation instructions on Github
10. Jellystat Plugin
Jellystat is a free and open-source Statistics App for Jellyfin. So, if you are a stat person who loves going through graphs and images, this plugin should be your go-to choice.
The plugin can easily monitor your logging sessions and provide tracking stats for all libraries and user accounts on your server. Jellystat can also monitor the watch history and offers insights about how everyone has been interacting with content on Jellyfin.
Installation instructions on Github
Disclaimer: Before you move ahead, you should know that the process to install the above Jellyfin plugins is a bit different. While many of them can be easily installed by following the steps given below using repository URL, some may require you to visit their respective installation instruction pages on Github.
Here’s how you can install Jellyfin plugins
The installation is quite straightforward for the Jellyfin plugins with available repository URL. Here’s how you can install those plugins to your Jellyfin media server.
- Once logged in to your Jellyfin server, click on the hamburger menu on the top left of the homepage.
- From the menu, click the “Dashboard” option under the “Administration” tab.
- Now, scroll down the menu appearing on the left and click “Plugins.”
- While there are already some good plugins available through the Catalog option. You can always add a new one by clicking the “Repositories” option.
- Now head to the plugin repository page on GitHub we added above for each plugin and scroll down to the installation instructions section. Now, look for the URL with JSON filename (typically ends with .json) and copy it.
- Now, head back to the Repositories page on your Jellyfin server, and tap the “+” icon.
- Lastly, in the “Repository Name” section add the name for your plugin. Then, paste the copied link from GitHub to the “Repository URL” section, and hit “Save.”
That’s all you have to do to install your favorite Jellyfin plugins. Finally, the installed plugins can be viewed inside the “Catalog” section.
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