Skip to main content

Container

Container images​

Official container image: jellyfin/jellyfin Docker Pull Count.

LinuxServer.io image: linuxserver/jellyfin Docker Pull Count.

hotio image: hotio/jellyfin Docker Pull Count.

Jellyfin distributes official container images on Docker Hub for multiple architectures. These images are based on Debian and built directly from the Jellyfin source code.

Additionally the LinuxServer.io project and hotio distribute images based on Ubuntu and the official Jellyfin Ubuntu binary packages, see here and here to see their Dockerfile.

Docker​

Docker allows you to run containers on Linux, Windows and MacOS.

The basic steps to create and run a Jellyfin container using Docker are as follows.

  1. Follow the official installation guide to install Docker.

  2. Download the latest container image.

    docker pull jellyfin/jellyfin

  3. Create persistent storage for configuration and cache data.

    Either create two directories on the host and use bind mounts:

    mkdir /path/to/config
    mkdir /path/to/cache

    Or create two persistent volumes:

    docker volume create jellyfin-config
    docker volume create jellyfin-cache

  4. Create and run a container in one of the following ways.

note

The default network mode for Docker is bridge mode. Bridge mode will be used if host mode is omitted. Using host networking (--net=host) is optional but required in order to use DLNA.

Using Docker command line interface:

docker run -d \
 --name jellyfin \
 --user uid:gid \
 --net=host \
 --volume /path/to/config:/config \ # Alternatively --volume jellyfin-config:/config
 --volume /path/to/cache:/cache \ # Alternatively --volume jellyfin-cache:/cache
 --mount type=bind,source=/path/to/media,target=/media \
 --restart=unless-stopped \
 jellyfin/jellyfin

Bind Mounts are needed to pass folders from the host OS to the container OS whereas volumes are maintained by Docker and can be considered easier to backup and control by external programs. For a simple setup, it's considered easier to use Bind Mounts instead of volumes. Multiple media libraries can be bind mounted if needed:

--mount type=bind,source=/path/to/media1,target=/media1
--mount type=bind,source=/path/to/media2,target=/media2,readonly
...etc

Using Docker Compose​

Create a docker-compose.yml file with the following contents. Add in the UID and GID that you would like to run jellyfin as in the user line below, or remove the user line to use the default (root).

version: '3.5'
services:
  jellyfin:
    image: jellyfin/jellyfin
    container_name: jellyfin
    user: uid:gid
    network_mode: 'host'
    volumes:
      - /path/to/config:/config
      - /path/to/cache:/cache
      - /path/to/media:/media
      - /path/to/media2:/media2:ro
    restart: 'unless-stopped'
    # Optional - alternative address used for autodiscovery
    environment:
      - JELLYFIN_PublishedServerUrl=http://example.com
    # Optional - may be necessary for docker healthcheck to pass if running in host network mode
    extra_hosts:
      - "host.docker.internal:host-gateway"

Then while in the same folder as the docker-compose.yml run:

docker compose up

To run the container in background add -d to the above command.

You can learn more about using Docker by reading the official Docker documentation.

Unraid Docker​

An Unraid Docker template is available in the repository.

  1. Open the unRaid GUI (at least unRaid 6.10.0) and click on the Apps tab.

  2. Enable apps and search for "jellyfin". Install the app that is tagged as official.

  3. Edit library paths to add your host paths and apply the changes. (You can then go to the UI via the "Actions" button on the installed app.)

  4. Go to the "Docker" tab and enable autostart for jellyfin.

Podman​

Podman allows you to run rootless containers. It's also the officially supported container solution on Fedora Linux and its derivatives such as CentOS Stream and RHEL. Steps to run Jellyfin using Podman are similar to the Docker steps.

  1. Install Podman:

    sudo dnf install -y podman

  2. Create and run a Jellyfin container:

    podman run \
     --detach \
     --label "io.containers.autoupdate=registry" \
     --name myjellyfin \
     --publish 8096:8096/tcp \
     --rm \
     --user $(id -u):$(id -g) \
     --userns keep-id \
     --volume jellyfin-cache:/cache:Z \
     --volume jellyfin-config:/config:Z \
     --mount type=bind,source=/path/to/media,destination=/media,ro=true,relabel=private \
     docker.io/jellyfin/jellyfin:latest

  3. Open the necessary ports in your machine's firewall if you wish to permit access to the Jellyfin server from outside the host. This is not done automatically when using rootless Podman. If your distribution uses firewalld, the following commands save and load a new firewall rule opening the HTTP port 8096 for TCP connections.

    sudo firewall-cmd --add-port=8096/tcp --permanent
    sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Podman doesn't require root access to run containers, although there are some details to be mindful of; see the relevant documentation. For security, the Jellyfin container should be run using rootless Podman. Furthermore, it is safer to run as a non-root user within the container. The --user option will run with the provided user id and group id inside the container. The --userns keep-id flag ensures that current user's id is mapped to the non-root user's id inside the container. This ensures that the permissions for directories bind-mounted inside the container are mapped correctly between the user running Podman and the user running Jellyfin inside the container.

Keep in mind that the --label "io.containers.autoupdate=image" flag will allow the container to be automatically updated via podman auto-update.

The z (shared volume) or Z (private volume) volume option and relabel=shared or relabel=private mount option tell Podman to relabel files inside the volumes as appropriate, for systems running SELinux.

Replace jellyfin-config and jellyfin-cache with /path/to/config and /path/to/cache if you wish to use bind mounts.

This example mounts your media library read-only by setting ro=true; set this to ro=false if you wish to give Jellyfin write access to your media.

Managing via Systemd​

To run as a systemd service see podman-systemd.unit.

As always it is recommended to run the container rootless. Therefore we want to manage the container with the systemd --user flag.

  1. Create a new user that the rootless container will run under.

    useradd jellyfin

    This allows users who are not logged in to run long-running services.

    loginctl enable-linger jellyfin

    Open an interactive shell session.

    machinectl shell jellyfin@

  2. Install .config/containers/systemd/jellyfin.container

    Contents of ~/.config/containers/systemd/jellyfin.container

    [Container]
    Image=docker.io/jellyfin/jellyfin:latest
    Label=io.containers.autoupdate=registry
    PublishPort=8096:8096/tcp
    RemapUsers=keep-id
    Volume=jellyfin-config:/config:Z
    Volume=jellyfin-cache:/cache:Z
    Volume=jellyfin-media:/media:Z

    [Service]
    # Inform systemd of additional exit status
    SuccessExitStatus=0 143

    [Install]
    # Start by default on boot
    WantedBy=default.target

  3. Reload daemon and start the service.

    systemctl --user daemon-reload

    systemctl --user start jellyfin

  4. To enable Podman auto-updates, enable the necessary systemd timer.

    systemctl --user enable --now podman-auto-update.timer

  5. Optionally check logs for errors

    journalctl --user -u jellyfin

  6. exit the current session.

TrueNAS SCALE / TrueCharts​

Jellyfin is available as a TrueNAS SCALE App inside the TrueCharts App Catalog with direct integration into the GUI, no CLI needed. Direct support is available on the TrueCharts Discord and the source code is available on GitHub.

  1. Install the TrueCharts Catalog to TrueNAS SCALE, see website for more info.

    1. Go to Apps page from the top level SCALE menu
    2. Select Manage Catalogs tab on the Apps page
    3. Click Add Catalog
    4. After reading the iXsystems notice, click Continue and enter the required information: Name: truecharts Repository: https://github.com/truecharts/catalog Preferred Trains: enterprise and stable Branch: main
    5. Click Save and allow SCALE to refresh its catalog with TrueCharts (this may take a few minutes)

  2. Click Available Applications and search for Jellyfin

  3. Click Install, which will take you to the GUI Wizard and you'll be able to fill out the necessary info

    • Server URL to publish in UDP Auto Discovery response.
    • Networking, Ingress (Reverse Proxy), Security Options
    • Adding Storage (for media folders) is also a standalone guide available in the TrueCharts documentation. For Jellyfin the recommendation is to add storage as Additional App Storage

  4. Click Save and once it's up and running you'll be able to click Open to access Jellyfin.