Want to stream your local movie and music collection to your TV, phone, or tablet — without subscriptions or cloud accounts? A self-hosted media server is the answer, and with Docker it takes about 2 minutes.

Media Server Setup
Figure 1. Mediaserver Cover Image

Why Jellyfin?

  • Completely free and open-source (no premium tiers)

  • No account or phone-home required

  • Apps for Android, iOS, Roku, Fire TV, and more

  • Hardware transcoding support

Prerequisites

  • A Linux machine (Raspberry Pi, NAS, old laptop — anything works)

  • Docker installed

  • Media files on a local disk or USB drive

Jellyfin with Docker

Quick Setup
docker run -d \
  --name jellyfin \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  -v /path/to/config:/config \
  -v /path/to/usb:/media \
  -p 8096:8096 \
  jellyfin/jellyfin
Replace /path/to/usb with your actual media directory (e.g., /mnt/usb/movies).

Visit http://localhost:8096/ to enter the setup wizard. Add /media as a library and create a user — that’s it.

Accessing from Other Devices

From any device on the same network, open http://<your-server-ip>:8096 in a browser, or install the Jellyfin app on your phone/TV.

Resources