Which Media Servers and Players Work with Tunarr?

Updated

Tunarr works with Plex, Jellyfin, and Emby on both sides of the setup: you can pull media from those servers as sources, and you can watch Tunarr channels through them by adding Tunarr's spoofed HDHomeRun tuner. If you use a different player, Tunarr also generates M3U files that any third-party IPTV player app can open. Local media files are supported as a source as well, so a media server isn't strictly required to build channels.

Media sources you can connect

Tunarr's configuration docs list four source types:

Source type What it covers
Plex Movies, shows, other video, music, music videos
Jellyfin Same media categories
Emby Same media categories
Local Files stored on disk rather than served by a media server

The practical takeaway: if your library already lives in Plex, Jellyfin, or Emby, you point Tunarr at that server and it reads your existing media. If you keep files outside a media server, the Local source covers that case.

How you watch the channels

Tunarr doesn't replace your media server's player. It exposes channels in two ways:

  • Spoofed HDHomeRun tuner — add it to Plex, Jellyfin, or Emby as a tuner, and your channels appear alongside live TV in those apps. This is the path that keeps you inside the media server's own interface and clients.
  • Generated M3U files — load these into a third-party IPTV player app. This is the path for players outside the Plex/Jellyfin/Emby ecosystem.

Compatibility depends on the combination

The source and the playback client are separate choices, and they don't have to match. You could source media from Emby and watch through Jellyfin, or source from Plex and watch in an IPTV app via M3U. What matters is:

  1. Source side — your media server is one of Plex, Jellyfin, or Emby, or your files are reachable as a Local source.
  2. Playback side — your player can either add an HDHomeRun tuner (Plex, Jellyfin, Emby) or open an M3U playlist (IPTV apps).

If your player does neither, Tunarr has no documented way to reach it.

Before you commit

Check that your intended player supports tuner or M3U input, since that determines whether the HDHomeRun route or the M3U route applies to you. The project's Stream Troubleshooter and Common Issues pages are the place to look if a channel connects but won't play. Installation itself is covered separately via Docker or standalone binaries, so confirm your hosting method before wiring up sources and clients.