We all are fond of music and videos and everybody has their own collection of media files both on computers and smartphones. But you can't carry every time your huge collection of movies, songs, and other media files with you. In such a situation, the home media server comes in handy. There are a bunch of the best open-source and free media server software available online that can set up on your own personal home computer. You can store all your media files in one place on the media server and can access them remotely or locally using a computer or smartphone. For example, you are out of town and want to access your movies or music, what you will do, just take out your smartphone enter your home media server address, and boom!! Using media servers you can create your own personal YouTube, Netflix, and Vimeo. Some Media servers based on lightweight Linux, which means to save electricity and other resources you can install them on Rasberry Pi.
Best Free & Opensource Media server for Linux, Mac, or Windows
Here we have listed Free and Open source Media server software to be used in 2021 that can be work on both Linux and Windows.
PLEX Media Server (Freemium, not opensource)
We already have a done couple of articles on Plex and it really has some great features that allow it in our best media server list. The Plex Media Server is available for a variety of platforms such as Windows, Linux, Mac, Docker, and third-party NAS (network-attached storage device) Synology, Qnap, Netgear, Seagate, and more…
- To build your own ultimate home media server, you're going to need some kind of network-attached storage system, commonly called an NAS. This is basically a mini computer with at a hard drive.
- Setup DLNA Media Server from Control Panel in Windows 10 Right click on the Start button at the bottom left corner on your Windows 10 PC, choose Control Panel from the pop-up menu, then search ' media ' without the quotes at the top right corner of the Control Panel home screen.
The Plex media server is not open-source instead of freemium software and offers some features on a subscription base only. However, still here because of its easy to use and install capabilities.
The VLC media player from VideoLAN is a free, open-source player that runs on Mac, UNIX, Windows and Linux. It can be used as both a media client and a media server, serving audio and/or video files to any size network - public or private. The Emby Media server is available for Windows, Linux, Nas Devices, Mac OS, Docker, and FreeBSD. Gameboy emulator pc. Like Plex, the Emby is also has a dedicated Linux installer for Debian, Ubuntu, Arch Linux, OpenSUSE, Fedora, and CentOS. If you are looking for 100% open-source Media server for your office or home then Emby is the best one.
Whereas the Plex player comes under both freemium and open source license GPL v2. Due to its vast range of devices support the Plex continuously gaining popularity as a media streamer.
Plex server and Plex apps
The Plex media server is based on a client-server model. It offers a wide range of client apps for different devices to support and stream its media server content easily. The Plex app is available for Android, Web, Windows, Kodi, Windows Phone, TiVo, SONOS, Android TV, Chrome cast, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Amazon Alexa, Roku, Nvidia Shield, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 & 4 and Smart TV.
Plex Media Server Features:
- Account management
- Support all format videos and audios
- iOS, Windows, and Android Mobile platform support
- Privacy and security
- Media Libraries Sharing
- No Storage Limit
- Online channels
- Live TV
- Plex cloud
- Mobile and Cloud Sync
- Parental control
- Audio Fingerprinting
- Remote Controls
- Media Optimizer and more…
Auto tune pro trial. If you are interested in PLEX, also see: How To setup Plex Media Server on Ubuntu Linux.
Kodi Open Source Home Theater Software
Kodi 100% Opensource Media center software that stores all your digital media files in one place like Plex and gives you a beautiful interface to access them. The Kodi was previously known as Xbox Media center or XMBC. Kodi provides a bit different media server software approach. It works more as a local media streamer rather than functions a server-client relationship like PLEX. It was developed as an XMBC open-source media center and still distributed under open source licenses. It plays content from two sources one is locally saved content and the second is via plugins.
It has a vast range of Addon for popular web services, applications, and scripts such as Pluto.TV, PS Vue, HDHomeRun, SoundCloud, Kodi Android Installer, Rooster Teeth, and more… It also provides an add-on to stream, video content from various sources like NBC, CBS, Funimation, and Crunchyroll. It is a perfect mixture of a media center PC/homer sever software. Kodi is also multi-platform support Media center/server software and supports Linux, macOS, Windows, Android, and embedded devices like the Raspberry Pi.
Kodi Features:
- TV Shows library supports
- Supporting all the main video formats
- Kodi can play all your music including mp3, flac, wav, and WMA formats
- Import pictures and view them in different styles such as slideshow
- Support Live TV recording
- JSON-RPC based remote interface
- Smartphone and Tablet Apps
- Add-Ons for popular web services, applications, and scripts.
- Works popular backends such as MediaPortal, MythTV, NextPVR, Tvheadend, and much more.
Emby Media Server
Emby is a great and best free Media server similar to Plex in features and user interface. While Plex is a closed source or freemium, Emby is totally open-source media server software. In comparison to Plex, the Emby is much easier to install for newbies and you can see our article: How to Install Emby media server, step by the step installation process. Emby offers lots of customization, media management, and database options.
The Emby Media server is available for Windows, Linux, Nas Devices, Mac OS, Docker, and FreeBSD. Like Plex, the Emby is also has a dedicated Linux installer for Debian, Ubuntu, Arch Linux, OpenSUSE, Fedora, and CentOS. If you are looking for a 100% open-source Media server for your office or home then Emby is the best one.
Web-based Management System of Emby to install plugins, edit metadata and subtitles, Sync, and more…
Emby also offers Apps for the mobile operating system: Emby Web client, Android, iOS, Windows 10, and Windows Mobile. Apart from the Emby Apps, it also has a good collection of TV Apps as follow:
- Android TV
- Amazon Fire Tv
- Shield Android TV
- Apple TV
- Chromecast
- Roku
- Emby Theatre HTML5
- Emby Theatre for Windows
- LG Smart TV
- Samsung Smart TV
- PS4
- Xbox One
- Windows Media Center
- Xbox 360
- Kodi
- PS3
Emby Media Server Features
- Emby Server automatically converts and streams the media
- Stream Live TV to any device
- Web-based tools to edit metadata and subtitles
- Easy DLNA
- Parental Controls
- Easily control content access
- Cloud Sync
- Chromecast
Jellyfin Media Server
Media Server Pc
Jellyfin is another popular open-source project that lets us create quickly a modern media server with an interactive web user interface to manage videos, images, and music from any device. Pubg on iphone.
We can browser media content using Jellyfin on various devices such as computers, apps on your Roku, Android, iOS (including AirPlay), Android TV, or Fire TV device, or via your Chromecast or existing Kodi. Whereas when it comes to installing the Jellyfin server platform it doesn't limit to Linux only, we can set it up on machines running Microsoft Windows, macOS, or in a Docker container.
Learn the process to install Jellyfin on Ubuntu 20.04/18.04 or Debian.
MediaPortal
MediaPortal is a well-featured open-source HTPC media center and similar to Kodi. It does not have features like Emby and Plex, but still, it's very good open-source media server software. Using it you can watch, schedule, and record live TV like TiVo, streaming media, radio, and TV to any HTPC connected to your network., Check the weather, news, slideshow of pictures & videos, and more. It can access easily the web or mobile device. It also based on Client/Server Architecture.
See:How to Install and Configure the MediaPortal Media server on Windows 10 PC
MediaPortal
Media Portal Features
- Watch TV, Videos, and DVD
- Watch Online Videos
- Listening to Music, Radio, and Web Streams
- Schedule Recordings
- Client/Server Architecture
- Skin System
- Plug-in System
- Check Weather Forecast
- Picture and video slideshow Viewer
- Multiple Tuner Support
- Time Shifting, Pause, and Record TV/Radio
- Read RSS Feeds
OpenFLIXR Media Server
OpenFLIXR 2 is the easiest free all-in-one home Media server that offers all media solutions in one package. OpenFLIX Media server software download, install updates of media programs automatically. This home media server is a combination of all well-known open-source projects out there including Plex Media Server.
OpenFLIXR Media Server all-in on video streaming server
Software used in OpenFLIXR are:
- CouchPotato + Radarr for Movies
- SickRage + Sonarr for automated TV show downloading
- Headphones- Automated music downloader
- Mopidy-Music Server
- Ubooquity-Comics and Ebooks & Web-based Reader
- Subtitles- AutoSub, Sub-Zero, Sickrage
- HTPC Manager
- Plex Media Server to organizes movies, series, music, and photos
- SABnzbd, NZBge, qBittorrent
- Netdata + Monit for monitoring
- Home-Assistant
- And More…
The OpenFLIXR media server needs a virtual machine to install since it is a virtual application.
OpenELEC
OpenELEC is a lightweight Linux operating system built to create a media server like Kodi. The full form of the OpenELEC is Open Embedded Linux Entertainment Center. Due to its lightweight, it can be easily installed on Raspberry, Apple TV, or low configurations systems.
Features of OpenELEC are:
- TV Show Management
- Movie Organizer and Player
- Music and Audiobook Player
- Freescale iMX6 ARM builds for Cubox-i, CuboxTV, and Hummingboard boxes
- TV and Personal Video Recorder
- Addon available to expand its feature
- Picture Browser
OSMC Media Center
OSMC Media center is last on our list. It is an open-source media center with a simple design and intuitive navigation system. The OSMC media center is based on Kodi and Debian. It also offers paid hardware kits and other accessories to enhance the OSMC user experience such as the Vero 4K. It is a hardware device with OSMC that supports 4K, HEVC, 10-bit content, and HD audio. It supports almost every type of media file. OSMC Media center is available for Linux, Windows, Mac OS, Rasberry Pi, Vero, and Apple TV.
Media Server Pc Case
OSMC Media Center
A verdict on Best Free & Opensource Media Server Software Options
Although Plex, Emby, and Kodi are the best and most popular media servers. But that doesn't mean that other media servers are not good some of them like OpenFlixr are worth trying. We have put everything we know on this list, now it's all upon you which you want to use. If you want to install a media server along with a NAS server then you can go for open-source NAS software like FreeNAS.
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If you have a large collection of local photos, music and videos, you may want to access these media files on all your devices, such as desktop PC, laptop, streaming boxes, smart TV, smart phones, tablets, etc.
Connecting PC to your TV is dead simple. It's just an HDMI cable away. All you need is an HDMI cable provided both your PC and TV have the HDMI port, the HDMI-out port on PC and the HDMI-in port on TV. What you need to do is connecting one end of the HDMI cable to the HDMI-out port on your PC and the other end to the HDMI-in port on the TV. On your TV side, choose the input source to the connected HDMI port. An HDMI cable is not expensive. Before you buy one, you need to choose the HDMI version, HDMI 1.4, 2.0 or both supported, and cable length. You may need a VGA cable if your computer or TV is old. If you do not have an applicable cable for wired connection and screencast between PC and TV, you can refer to following wireless video streaming solutions.
If your PC and TV are DLNA-enabled, you can directly play media files from computer on to TV big screen without any cable. See this step-by-step guide to cast photos, music and videos from PC to TV using the system built-in programs in Windows 10. No need any third-party software required.
Today, we will talk about how you can set up DLNA or UPNP media streaming server on Windows 10 computer so you can access media content from any other devices. For example, you can access and play music and movies stored on your PC from your mobile phone without replying on copying these media files from computer to cell phone.
Xbox One Media Server Pc
Enabling DLNA Media Server via Windows Media Player in Windows 10
Microsoft Windows Media Player can still be found in Windows 10, although not updated for couple of years. Run Windows Media Player on your PC, select Stream on the toolbar, and choose 'Automatically allow devices to play my media', you will be prompted to select the shared folder, library and device, select and share Photo, Video and/or Music.
In Windows Media Player, select 'More streaming options' on its toolbar, where you can choose which PCs and devices are allowed to access the shared content on your computer. If you see some unknown devices, in this device list, click on it to open its properties dialogue, you can then find out its Mac address and IP address. Every device in your local network has its unique Mac and IP addresses. For example, you can follow this guide to find out IP address on Windows 10 computer.
Setup DLNA Media Server from Control Panel in Windows 10
Right click on the Start button at the bottom left corner on your Windows 10 PC, choose Control Panel from the pop-up menu, then search 'media' without the quotes at the top right corner of the Control Panel home screen. Click the 'Media streaming options' link in the Network and Sharing Center section. Follow on-screen tips to turn on media streaming, name your media library, allow devices to access your shared media, select media type(s) to share and finally finish the setup of media streaming server on Windows 10 computer.
Adding content to media server in Windows 10
When you have turned on media streaming and authorized the devices in Windows Media Player, you need to choose what songs, pictures and movies that can be streamed over the network. By default, all the music that you load in the 'My Music', photos in the 'My Pictures', and movies in the 'My Videos' folders gets added to your PC's media library. If you want to add more media files saved in other locations or folders to share and make them available to any other devices on your network, you do not have to move or copy the actual media files to the current media library folders. You can add new folders to the libraries instead. To do that, run Windows Media Player for Windows 10, then click the Organize button and choose Manage Libraries from the drop-down menu. In the sub-menu, you will find four media types: Music, Videos, Pictures, and Recorded TV. Choose the media type first, then go to add new folders and locations to be monitored for that type of media and add more photos, videos, and/or songs to the media libraries of Windows Media Player and media server on your Windows 10 computer.
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