I used to have a jellyfin server on an old desktop but now my only spare computer is a raspberry pi. It should be able to install the app but would a raspberry pi 3b+ actually be able to run a jellyfin server at a usable level? I’ll probably mainly use it for CD rips, so it shouldn’t be super demanding but the raspberry pi isn’t super powerful either. What do y’all think?
If you aren’t relying on transcoding, you’re good. I am sure it can handle one or maybe even two streams. Most modern devices can decode H.264 and H.265/HEVC easily, and some even AV1. Watching videos with these codecs on any Smart TV or phone won’t give you a hard time.
Sure, it can serve files up to players that can decode them. You’re going to be absolutely unable to do any transcoding at all and if you try to serve up anything with a bitrate higher than the network adapter can handle you’re gonna have problems. I bailed on using a Pi4 as a jellyfin server and got a chepo N-100 based box off Amazon (BeeCee something something with 2 NICs) for under $250 and haven’t looked back.
You might be fine if you’re sticking to small files that are handled natively by their players. It only costs your time to try it out.
I have done it for one stream at a time. However, transcoding gave it a hard time. If at all possible I would recommend a Pi 4.
If you are getting new hardware get something with a GPU and proper storage. Even a 6 year old desktop will run better.
I thought Pi 4 can’t do transcoding for jellyfin? Am I mistaken? Or maybe it’s only 4K it can’t do?
the pi 5 lacks hardware transcoding. pi 4 could do it, but it was deprecated by jellyfin.
maybe consider picking up a (used) mini pc instead.
It doesn’t have a proper GPU
So it should be ok if it’s just going to my phone then?
I’d suggest 1080p downloads as your max resolution. Also setup a VPN running on another device. Should do you fine for a while.
Technically yes
Would you want to? It depends
Used a 3b+ for years. I just use the Jellyfin client like the android apps on phone/TV as some videos cause it to struggle in the web player.
@[email protected] in my experience you can definitely play music and watch movies as long as the client doesn’t need transcoding
How would I know if the client needs transcoding?
If the client doesn’t support the codec or resolution of the media then it’ll need transcoding
I found using Kodi helped resolve video codec support in my case. It was for AV1 nlon the Chromecast 4k, which doesn’t support AV1, it seems to mostly work for smaller AV1 encodes. I guess it is using software decoding.
@[email protected] it depends on both the client and how the file is encoded. I’m far from an expert, but I think the Jellyfin Desktop client won’t need transcoding for mkv/mp4 movies. Some browsers will need it, and that is going to be a problem for your server.
