# Emby Server

Emby Server is a personal media server with apps on just about every device.

Repository: https://github.com/MediaBrowser/Emby
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/emby-server
Homepage: https://emby.media
Language: C#
License: GPL-2.0
License Family: copyleft
Last push: 2024-03-27T18:20:17+00:00
Link (homepage): https://emby.media
Link (site_page): https://emby.media/about.html

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 23/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4946, "days_push": 889, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 4961, forks 852 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:03.893634+00:00)

## What it is
Emby Server is a self-hosted personal media server that organizes videos, music, photos, and live TV into a rich library and streams them to apps on virtually every device. It exposes a REST API with client libraries and supports transcoding, user management, parental controls, and offline sync.

## Use cases
- stream my movie collection to my tv and phone
- self-host a media server on my NAS
- organize home videos and music with artwork and metadata
- watch my media library remotely while away from home
- record and stream live TV with a DVR
- set up parental controls for kids' media access
- sync media offline to mobile devices
- build a custom client using the Emby REST API

## When to choose
- you want a polished, multi-device personal media server with apps for TVs, phones, and consoles
- you need live TV and DVR support alongside your library
- you want transcoding so media plays on any device
- you want user accounts, parental controls, and remote access built in

## When to avoid
- you require a fully open-source solution - much of Emby is proprietary under a commercial 'Premiere' model
- you prefer community-driven software like Jellyfin, the open fork of Emby
- you only need a lightweight DLNA renderer without library management

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: http-server, streaming, video-processing, audio-processing, image-processing, api-framework, self-hosted
- domain: media, self-hosted, web-development, apis
- platform: cross-platform, windows, self-hosted
- tags: media-server, home-theater, dlna, live-tv, transcoding, rest-api, plex-alternative, jellyfin-fork, macos, linux, android, ios, web-server, docker

## Member repositories
- MediaBrowser/Emby (main) score 23
- MediaBrowser/Emby.Releases (mirror) score 86

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:03.893634+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:17:47.923697+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/MediaBrowser/Emby (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:03.893634+00:00, sha 158997a8e691)
  - homepage: https://emby.media (fetched 2026-08-29T08:59:30.582004+00:00, sha 98009b0a3314)
  - site_page: https://emby.media/about.html (fetched 2026-08-29T08:59:30.586638+00:00, sha e1aaef0f8c55)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.