Emby
Emby is an open source media server that allows you to organize, play, and stream your personal media collection across devices. It supports a wide range of media types and allows central management of your library.
Emby: Open Source Media Server for Organizing and Streaming Personal Media
Emby is an open source media server that allows you to organize, play, and stream your personal media collection across devices. It supports a wide range of media types and allows central management of your library.
What is Emby?
Emby is an open-source media server designed to help you organize, play, and stream your media collection across devices. It allows you to bring together your personal videos, music, photos, and live TV into one unified platform that is accessible from any device on your network.
Some key features of Emby include:
- Supports a wide range of media formats including videos, music, photos, audiobooks, and live TV
- Automatic metadata retrieval and rich artwork for your media
- User-friendly web interface for managing your media library
- Mobile apps allow streaming on the go
- Flexible media streaming to many devices like smart TVs, streaming boxes, gaming consoles, and mobile devices
- Remote access when away from home network
- Active open-source development community
Overall, Emby excels at being an extensible, full-featured media server and delivery platform for personal media libraries with support for many devices and formats.
Emby Features
Features
- Automatic media library organization
- Metadata and artwork retrieval
- Transcoding of media for streaming
- Support for multiple media types (video, music, photos)
- Device syncing and streaming
- User management and access controls
- Plugins and extensions
Pricing
- Freemium
- Subscription-Based
Pros
Free and open source
Feature rich
Good device support
Easy to setup and use
Active development community
Cons
Can be resource intensive
Limited mobile apps
Some features require premium subscription
Less plugins than some competitors
Official Links
Reviews & Ratings
Login to Review4.0
★
★
★
★
★
10 reviews
Rating Breakdown
Ease of Use
★
★
★
★
★
3.7
Features
★
★
★
★
★
4.5
Value for Money
★
★
★
★
★
4.3
Customer Support
★
★
★
★
★
3.0
Overall Experience
★
★
★
★
★
4.1
Recent Reviews
E
elenaapp928
Mar 15, 2026
★
★
★
★
★
A Lifesaver for My Family's Media Library
After years of trying different solutions, Emby has finally given me a seamless way to manage and stream our entire media collection. Setting it up on my NAS was straightforward, and the apps for our Roku, phones, and tablets work …
R
rgarcia8743
Mar 12, 2026
★
★
★
★
★
Frustratingly buggy and unreliable
I wanted Emby to be a simple, self-hosted solution for my media collection, but it's been a headache. The server software is prone to random crashes, and transcoding videos for remote streaming constantly fails or stutters on hardware that handles …
dakota_white20
Mar 12, 2026
★
★
★
★
★
Perfect for my Home Media Center
I switched from Plex to Emby about a year ago, and it's been fantastic for my family. It handles all my movies, TV shows, and music library without a hitch. The ability to organize my media exactly how I want …
avery_moore66
Mar 12, 2026
★
★
★
★
★
Finally a Media Server That Just Works
Setting up Emby was a breeze compared to other media servers I've tried. It automatically organized my messy collection of movies and TV shows with great metadata, and streaming to my phone, tablet, and TV is flawless. I love that …
mwhite9090
Mar 10, 2026
★
★
★
★
★
Great for organizing, but the free version can be a hassle
Emby is fantastic for centralizing my movie and music collection, and the interface is clean and modern. However, I'm frustrated by the constant prompts to upgrade to premium on mobile devices, which feels pushy for an open-source app. The server …
Rating Distribution
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