How to install Jellyfin on Unraid

Updated October 6, 2026 · 5 min read

Unraid makes it easy to install Jellyfin: it's one template away in Community Applications. The parts worth slowing down for are which template you pick, how the paths map, and how to hand Jellyfin your graphics chip.

Which Jellyfin template

Search the Apps tab (Community Applications) for Jellyfin and you'll see more than one result. They all run Jellyfin; they differ in who builds the image and in their defaults:

• Official image (jellyfin/jellyfin): built by the Jellyfin project. Its Unraid template uses host networking by default, which helps with DLNA and finding HDHomeRun tuners.
• linuxserver.io (lscr.io/linuxserver/jellyfin): a popular community image with bridge networking and the usual PUID and PGID settings.
• hotio (ghcr.io/hotio/jellyfin): another well-kept community image, also bridge by default.

Any of them is a fine choice. Pick one and stick with it. Two Jellyfin containers pointed at the same appdata folder will corrupt each other's database, and switching images later means checking paths carefully.

Install it, step by step

1. Make a media share. If you don't have one yet, create a share for media under Shares, for example media, with folders such as movies and shows. It appears at /mnt/user/media.
2. Open the template. In Apps, search for Jellyfin and click Install on the template you chose.
3. Keep the config path on appdata. The container's /config should map to /mnt/user/appdata/jellyfin. That's the default; leave it there, ideally on a cache pool so the database is fast.
4. Map your media. Map the template's media paths to your share, such as container /data/movies to /mnt/user/media/movies. To add another folder, use Add another Path, Port, Variable, Label or Device with Config Type Path. Set Access Mode to Read Only if Jellyfin shouldn't change your files.
5. Check the user. Leave PUID at 99 and PGID at 100, Unraid's nobody user and users group, so Jellyfin's files match everything else on the array.
6. Apply. Click Apply. Unraid downloads the image and starts the container.
7. Run the first-run wizard. Open http://<Unraid address>:8096, create the administrator with a strong password, and add libraries using the container paths, such as /data/movies, not the /mnt/user paths.

Intel graphics

Most Unraid boxes built on an Intel desktop processor have an integrated graphics chip that converts video far faster than the processor alone.

1. In Apps, install the Intel GPU TOP plugin. It loads the driver for the integrated graphics, so you don't edit any boot files.
2. Edit the Jellyfin container and add a Device with the value /dev/dri.
3. In Jellyfin's Dashboard, set hardware acceleration to Intel QuickSync (QSV) or VAAPI, and tick only the formats your generation of chip decodes.

The plugin also gives you intel_gpu_top in the terminal. Run it while a video converts: if the Video bar moves, the chip is doing the work. Jellyfin hardware transcoding explains the formats and what to tick.

NVIDIA graphics

1. In Apps, install the Nvidia-Driver plugin and follow its instructions. Its page under Plugins shows your card's UUID, which starts with GPU-.
2. Edit the Jellyfin container in Advanced View and add --runtime=nvidia to Extra Parameters.
3. Add a variable NVIDIA_VISIBLE_DEVICES set to that UUID, with no spaces before it, and a variable NVIDIA_DRIVER_CAPABILITIES set to all.
4. In Jellyfin's Dashboard, choose NVIDIA NVENC and tick the formats your card handles.

A card passed through to a virtual machine isn't available to Docker at the same time. Use it for one or the other.

Questions