What Kinds of Media Can I Manage and Stream with Jellyfin?

Jellyfin can manage and stream movies, TV shows, music, live TV and DVR recordings, books, comics, magazines, and photos. It also includes SyncPlay for watching together remotely. You run the Jellyfin server on your own system, then access your library through official and third-party clients on web, desktop, Android, Apple, Amazon, Roku, Kodi, and other platforms. This applies if you want a self-hosted media system rather than a hosted streaming service.

Media types Jellyfin supports

The project describes its library as covering the following categories:

Movies and shows

Movies are presented for easy browsing with artwork. Shows are sorted automatically by season, so you do not have to arrange episodes manually before watching.

Music

Music playback covers your artists and playlists, and it is described as available at home or on the go — meaning the same library can follow you across devices rather than being tied to one screen.

Live TV & DVR

Beyond files you already own, Jellyfin can handle live television and DVR. You can watch TV and set automatic recordings, which then expand your library over time.

Books, comics, and magazines

Jellyfin is not limited to video and audio. It also covers reading material: books, comics, and magazines.

Photos

Photos can be organized in Jellyfin and shared with friends and family.

SyncPlay

SyncPlay is a shared-viewing feature: it lets you start a synchronized session so a movie night can happen remotely with friends or family.

Where you can watch

Jellyfin says it offers a large array of official and third-party clients, available on most popular platforms. The listed platforms include:

• Web
• Desktop
• Android
• Apple
• Amazon
• Roku
• Kodi
• And more

The stated goal is that your media is ready to follow you wherever you go, so the same server library can be reached from different client devices.

How the interface is organized

The project's own walkthrough describes four screens that shape how you use the library:

• Home screen — highlights your media library, and sections can be customized to each user's individual preferences.
• Library screen — lists your media with filter and sort options so you can find exactly what you are looking for.
• Details screen — displays all the information about a piece of media.
• Playback screen — gives you the controls to play or cast your media, or to start a SyncPlay session with friends or family.

What to check before you commit

Jellyfin is Free Software, licensed under the GNU GPL: you can use it, study it, modify it, build it, and distribute it for free, as long as your changes are licensed the same way. The project is community built and relies entirely on contributions from volunteers.

Two practical conditions follow from that:

• You need to run the Jellyfin server on your own system. The library lives with you, not on someone else's service.
• Feature availability depends on the client you choose. The site lists many platforms but points to a client finder rather than promising identical behavior everywhere.

If your goal is to collect, manage, and stream your own movies, shows, music, live TV, books, and photos from a server you control, Jellyfin covers all of those categories. If you want a fully hosted service with no server of your own, this is not that model.