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Guide

Jellyfin data usage, measured

Jellyfin is free and open source, and like Silux Media it costs nothing to run. But its streams use more data: about 2.5 GB per hour at 1080p in our live tests, against about 1.0 GB for Silux Media at the same picture quality.

Jellyfin vs Silux Media, measured

  • 8 Mbps · 1080p: Jellyfin 2.46 GB/hour, Silux Media 1.02 GB/hour — 58% less
  • 4 Mbps · 720p: Jellyfin 1.15 GB/hour, Silux Media 0.56 GB/hour — 51% less
  • 2 Mbps · 720p: Jellyfin 0.79 GB/hour, Silux Media 0.38 GB/hour — 52% less
  • 1 Mbps: Jellyfin 0.39 GB/hour, Silux Media 0.21 GB/hour — 49% less
  • 0.5 Mbps: Jellyfin 0.21 GB/hour, Silux Media 0.12 GB/hour — 44% less

How we measured it

Measured on live Plex, Jellyfin and Emby servers with 8 film and TV test clips. Silux Media had to match or beat each server's picture quality (Netflix VMAF, every frame) before we counted every byte sent — video, audio and container.

Why the gap

  • Jellyfin transcodes to H.264 at a fixed speed setting; Silux Media uses AV1 or HEVC where your device supports them
  • Jellyfin sends 256 kb/s AAC audio; Silux Media uses Opus at a fraction of the size
  • Silux Media targets picture quality per scene instead of filling a bitrate cap

Questions

How much data does Jellyfin use per hour?

About 2.5 GB per hour at 1080p (8 Mbps setting) in our live tests; Silux Media used about 1.0 GB for the same picture.