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+--- Thread: Storage Use & Least Playback Taxing Video Format (/t-storage-use-least-playback-taxing-video-format)
Storage Use & Least Playback Taxing Video Format - noob - 2025-11-01
Greetings,
Apologies if this is answered elsewhere, I could not find in my searches.
I am hosting JF pre-October update on Docker V4.49, on Ubuntu Desktop 24.04.3 LTS OS on this hardware https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beelink-Lake-N100-Processor-Computer-MINI-S12/dp/B0BZGPTLPG/ref=pd_ci_mcx_pspc_dp_d_2_t_1 . Which in turn is attached to NAS.
The SSD on the device is 500GB and is almost full, mostly used by the docker. The only other application I run on it is PiHole. I have media library on the NAS that is taking 11.8Tb of space, but I have not viewed most of it.
Working on the assumption that the storage is mainly used by JF, is it normal for it to take so much space on the SSD? I tried to look into what exactly is using so much space and suspect it is the transcoding temp folder. I no longer can expand it, to check. At one point, after I could not expand it in the docker file viewer, I did delete it, it did re-appear, but the space is still taken. I still cannot expand it.
If possible, I would like to not utilise encoding/decoding on the host device or streaming device as lately it cannot play 4k smoothly. I use JF app instlaled on LG smart TV for playing and web-browsers. I use Handbrake for converting the files. I have one 4k video that plays smoothly, but lately new 4k files are stuttering (coding/decoding enabled). Is there a preferred video format? For 4k I tend to use the Handbrake 4k AV1 pre-set, but lately it is not playing well.
Thank you.
RE: Storage Use & Least Playback Taxing Video Format - flymetothemoon - 2025-11-01
For transcoding use RAMDISK, so you don't wear your ssd out. I don't know if it exists on Ubuntu because I use Windows.
For storage, use a big HDD to store just the files(movies, series, music, pictures etc.), you can find higher capacity for same money compared to ssd.
There might be a lot of cache taking up a lot of space if you have many devices and many users with many devices.
The easiest video format on hardware is probably HEVC, x265 in mkv. AV1 is fine if the server and all clients have AV1 support. Make sure the gpu is being utilized for the transcoding and all settings are correct in jellyfin host. Hope I touched upon all stuff
RE: Storage Use & Least Playback Taxing Video Format - noob - 2025-11-02
Thank you for the reply.
There seems to be RAMDISK for Linux, I will have a look. Same here, for the storage I use HDDs, SSD is just for the OS and JF.
I have mainly 3 users. I tried to tidy up the cache, but not seem to make a dent. Do you clear your cache, what is your JF disk usage for comparison?
From looking at the support pages, I understood that AV1 is supported, yet I had to enable transcoding on JF for playback. Is there a format that would not require it for 4k video content, so I could disable it and not rely on it? I tended to to create files in mp4 format as my understanding it is friendly for streaming over the internet.
Thank you.
RE: Storage Use & Least Playback Taxing Video Format - 34626 - 2025-11-02
Welcome to :-)
May i ask for some details how the beelink is connected to the NAS? It could sound like it is set to sync data due to a micconfiguration.
RE: Storage Use & Least Playback Taxing Video Format - noob - 2025-11-10
Apologies for going missing. Direct USB connection.
RE: Storage Use & Least Playback Taxing Video Format - cpottle9 - 2025-11-10
Hi Noob,
Your mini PC is similar to mine.
Mine has an N100 CPU (older than an N150 and a little slower).
The other difference, I am running Ubuntu from 240 GByte nvme SSD.
My videos are stored on an external (USB) 2 Tbyte hard drive.
The nvme SSD is currently 95% empty.
I am using Ubuntu Server 24.04.3 LTS.
The Ubuntu Desktop will consume a lot of space for the GUI applications that you don't need for jellyfin.
I don't have any 4K content.
I have 450 Gbytes of content on the external drive.
Most is DVD (480p) with a little bluray (1080p).
Jellyfin stores the metadata on my internal drive.
I see flymetothemoon posted suggesting you transcode to a RAMDISK.
The ubuntu equivalent is called tmpfs.
I read a thread on this forum where someone calculated that if you are constantly transcoding (24 hours per day) to an nvme SSD you might wear out the drive in something like 10 years.
I can't find it right now, but I don't think you need to worry about wearing out your SSD.
I processed my content using handbrake too.
For bluray I set format to MKV using H.264 codec (more or less the fast 1080p preset).
I use MKV because I want to the option to turn subtitles on for my wife who is hard of hearing.
Playing back bluray content to a chrome browser on Windows 11 with subtitles disabled Jellyfin does remuxing, but not transcoding.
When I turn on subtitles it does transcode.
I enabled hardware transcoding in Jellyfin.
That might help you.
Last comment, is your smart TV connecting by ethernet or WIFI?
If WIFI you should check if it is 2.4 GHZ or 5 GHZ (maybe even 6 GHZ wifi if your TV and router support it).
5 GHZ and 6 GHZ WIFI will be a lot faster as long as your TV is fairly close to your router.
RE: Storage Use & Least Playback Taxing Video Format - noob - 2025-11-25
Hello cpottle9,
Thank you for your reply, much appreciated!
I use ethernet connection for the TV.
Thank you for sharing your handbrake settings, I will compare them too. I am not sure how to compare your disk usage as the size difference of libraries is substantial, but the Desktop vs Server OS is noted! Originally I had server as well, but second time opted for desktop as wanted an GUI desktop OS as it has additional uses such as Steam Remote Play and browsing.
Out of curiosity, do you stream the MKV video files outside the location of the storage? I sometimes watch the content from another city, hence I change files to MP4 (plus the savings on file size/storage), wonder if there is actually no real difference. Might just test that.
Thank you.
RE: Storage Use & Least Playback Taxing Video Format - Duvel - 2025-11-25
From what I understand at this point :
* You seem to have no idea of your directories' sizes and where/what your big files are.
* You suspect the cache/transcoding but you havent any log or folder size that would define it as the culprit.
You should begin to have a better view on your filesystem and to locate the biggest folder(s) on it, and for that I advise you to use ncdu
Its probably not installed by default, so install it from your package manager. on Debian based systems :
Code:
sudo apt install ncduthen you can just throw:
Code:
sudo ncdu /And let in run. It will scan all your folders and subfolders from the root ( as you told "/"). And then present you the tree structure with the exact size of everything sorted from biggest to smallest. And you can browse each folder until you find the culprit(s)
You can run it from the top of any subfolder which is faster but not complete, for instance :
Code:
sudo ncdu /var/logsYou can also restrict the search to files in the same filesystem with
Code:
sudo cdu -x /After that you will have a clear idea of which folder eats the space, and if it is the cache folder or something else, and only then we can talk about the cache if it is the culprit.
RE: Storage Use & Least Playback Taxing Video Format - cpottle9 - 2025-11-26
Hi noob,
No, I only watch my videos on my home network.
About half is over gigabit ethernet, most of the rest 5 GHZ wifi.
Almost all the time I use chrome as a browser on windows 10 or 11.
I occasionally watch from a phone or tablet running the android app.
I am running on bare ubuntu, no docker or proxmox.
RE: Storage Use & Least Playback Taxing Video Format - noob - 2025-12-09
Hello Duvel,
Thank you for participating. You are correct. I have tried ncdu and it led me to .docker/desktop/vms/data Docker.raw (404.1GB). I tried to prune the docker, but that did not give much.