2025-07-13, 03:53 AM
I'm running Jellyfin on a server in my apartment. While I have great downlaod speeds with my ISP (1Gb down), I have pretty terrible upload speeds (30Mb up).
When I connect to my server remotely via VPN to play media files, I often encounter playback issues. In almost all cases, I'm using an Apple TV and the Infuse player on that client. My media files are all 1080p.
However, not ALL media files have playback issues even though they are all 1080p. I understand that this is likely due to the fact that they all have different video bitrates. Files with a bitrate of 15000 kbps play fine, but files with a bitrate that exceeds my ISP's upload speed (30000 kbps) end up buffering constantly.
I understand that in in the Jellyfin dashboard under Playback -> Streaming, you can set an "Internet streaming bitrate limit (Mb)". However, when I set this to something like 15, it doesn't do anything. I assume this is because all of my video files are technically fully compatible with the streaming clients and are utilizing Direct Play, and that this bitrate-limit setting might only be used in cases of transcoding.
So my questions are:
1. Is my understanding of the situation accurate?
2. Is there any way for me to limit the bitrate on the Jellyfin side without transcoding? If not, is there a way for me to always force transcoding?
3. Any other suggestions for how I might solve this?
Thank you in advance!
When I connect to my server remotely via VPN to play media files, I often encounter playback issues. In almost all cases, I'm using an Apple TV and the Infuse player on that client. My media files are all 1080p.
However, not ALL media files have playback issues even though they are all 1080p. I understand that this is likely due to the fact that they all have different video bitrates. Files with a bitrate of 15000 kbps play fine, but files with a bitrate that exceeds my ISP's upload speed (30000 kbps) end up buffering constantly.
I understand that in in the Jellyfin dashboard under Playback -> Streaming, you can set an "Internet streaming bitrate limit (Mb)". However, when I set this to something like 15, it doesn't do anything. I assume this is because all of my video files are technically fully compatible with the streaming clients and are utilizing Direct Play, and that this bitrate-limit setting might only be used in cases of transcoding.
So my questions are:
1. Is my understanding of the situation accurate?
2. Is there any way for me to limit the bitrate on the Jellyfin side without transcoding? If not, is there a way for me to always force transcoding?
3. Any other suggestions for how I might solve this?
Thank you in advance!