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this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2025
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Jellyfin allows you to download whatever you want to your local device. But in a world of streaming, it seems to be a much smaller usecase. I take my tablet camping with me all the time, download some shows via Jellyfin and watch via Jellyfin. Maybe you're using the term "caching" differently from the use case, but if local files is what you're after, it absolutely does it. Just click download in a couple of different locations.
Did they? Or is that still the old hack of "just download the raw file. Your tablet is just a computer"?
Because I didn't see it advertised on the main web page and a quick google got me to https://github.com/jellyfin/Swiftfin/discussions/364 which is open and abandoned tickets for the ios apps.
https://forum.jellyfin.org/t-offline-downloads?pid=16373#pid16373 suggests it is also in the same boat for android. You can find workarounds but they aren't using jellyfin.
Which is "fine". I watched WAY too many movies over the years with VLC on a laptop. But... why are we using a shim to treat a library as a streaming service in that case? Which gets back to Jellyfin just not actually being a Plex alternative for the majority of users.
Oh no! Please GOD, anything but tHe rAw fIlE!!
Seriously though, wtf did I just read? That can't possibly be your real stance, can it?
This is a huge problem. The blueray remux might be 80 gigs. Most children’s devices will already be filled with other crap.
I run ffmpeg on my phone. Alternately, I could shrink the file on my server and then download it without much trouble. You’re in a vanishingly small subset of users who know enough to care about file-size and know what can be done about it, but can’t be bothered to do it themselves.
I was avoiding suggesting getting more storage, but it sounds like in your case, keeping a 720p x265 version of each file(~1gb per movie) on-hand would cost you nothing.
Alternately I could keep using plex.
Your kids will be ok without the 4K60 version of Paw Patrol.
Correct, they could do without, which is why I rely on Plex's transcoded downloads to cram a cross-country flight's worth of stuff onto their iPads.
Good suggestion though.
Or you just get a smaller version to begin with and save your hard drive space and your compute time.
Half of my collection is DTS HD MA or TrueHD and many have HDR. Offline caching with transcoding is an essential feature if we want jellyfin to pull ahead. Berating people who are pointing out areas of improvement is not a winning strategy.
I run ffmpeg on my phone. Alternately, I could shrink the file on my server and then download it without much trouble. You're in a vanishingly small subset of users who know enough to care about file-size and know what can be done about it, but can't be bothered to do it themselves.
It's honestly kind of silly to suggest that only technically minded users care about file sizes. We're lucky enough to even know why the file is so big. My regular friends will just complain that it won't fit, blame jellyfin, and then go back to Netflix.
You know that regular people with 64GB phones exist right? Suggesting that a non technical person should just know that they need to convert a 30GB remux using ffmpeg is absurd.
Your regular friends are constantly using your Plex server to download files for offline viewing, eh?
Yes? Is that odd to you? If jellyfin supported it then that would be one less reason against switching which would be a good thing, wouldn't you think? If you advocate for using jellyfin then shouldn't you want such basic features to be supported for those who want to use them?
Even though I still use Plex full time, I very much want Jellyfin to succeed (I run it and offer it to everyone I share with), and so I want Jellyfin to be usable for people of all skill levels. I can't get my parents to use an app that requires them to know anything about file sizes or codec compatibility or converting anything. That is why Plex is as successful as they are.
If you're satisfied with Jellyfin lacking certain features, that's your perogative. But I don't think it's that hard to empathize with someone wanting more feature parity, especially if the motivation is to make Jellyfin accessible to more people and increase adoption.
I mean the person you’re talking to is having trouble grasping the concept of friends.