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Jellyfin

Jellyfin is a free software media system that puts you in control of managing and streaming your media.

Jellyfin playback screenshot

Package Information

Property Value
Package Name jellyfin
Upstream jellyfin.org
License GPL-2.0
Default Port 8096

Installation

  1. Install Jellyfin from Package Center
  2. Access web interface at http://your-nas:8096
  3. Complete initial setup wizard

Configuration

Data Location

  • Configuration: /var/packages/jellyfin/var/config/
  • Cache: /var/packages/jellyfin/var/cache/
  • Log: /var/packages/jellyfin/var/log/

Hardware Transcoding

For Intel-based Synology devices:

  1. Install SynoCli Video Driver package
  2. Enable hardware acceleration in Jellyfin Dashboard → Playback → Transcoding
  3. Select "Video Acceleration API (VAAPI)" as the hardware acceleration method
  4. Set the VA-API device to /dev/dri/renderD128

Major Upgrades and Rollback

Major Jellyfin versions migrate the database forward with no downgrade path: an older server cannot read a migrated database. When you upgrade across major versions, the package automatically takes a backup beforehand (jellyfin_backup_v<previous-version>_YYYYMMDD.tar.gz), which is what makes a rollback possible.

What the backup contains

Everything needed to restore your server: configuration, the library database, users, metadata, artwork, playlists, and Jellyfin's own scheduled backups. Skipped on purpose is bulk the server transparently regenerates: prior rollback archives, transcode segments, and the extracted subtitle/attachment caches.

How to roll back

  1. In Package Center, uninstall Jellyfin and choose Restore backup of the package data files when asked (offered only if a backup exists). If several backups accumulated across upgrades, the newest is used.
  2. Manually install the previous version's .spk (manual installation).
  3. Start the package, verify your libraries, then run a library scan.

Caveats

  • Rolling back without restoring the backup is unsupported: the old server cannot read the migrated database.
  • Without a backup there is no restore option at uninstall — keep your own data-directory copy before major upgrades as well.

Troubleshooting

Permission Issues

Jellyfin runs as the sc-jellyfin service account. Ensure this account has read access to your media folders:

  1. Open File Station
  2. Right-click your media folder → Properties
  3. Add sc-jellyfin with read permission

Hardware Transcoding Not Working

  1. Verify SynoCli Video Driver is installed
  2. Check /dev/dri/ devices exist
  3. Review logs in /var/packages/jellyfin/var/log/