Media Center Server Software

Apr 16, 2019 Kodi was at first a media center for Xbox, called XBMC (Xbox Media Centre). Today, Kodi supports more platforms than any other piece of media software. You can install it on Linux, Mac OS X, Windows 10, iOS, Android, Apple TV OS, and even Raspberry. The software is open-source, free, and easy to install. Plex Media Server is free software that we can use to stream videos, music or photos in common formats such as MP4, AVI, MOV, AAC, MP3, WAV and JPEG via your home network or WLAN. Plex Media Server for Windows 10 One of the main reason, of Plex popularity is its client apps availability for almost every available mainstream platforms.

Windows 10 is one of the most used operating systems and we can easily convert that into a Media server for free of cost to manage our media files such as music, videos and images.

Yes, indeed we can use the inbuilt Windows 10 Mediastreaming option to stream media files over the network but it has limitations and doesn't offer Graphical web management interface as some open source and free Media servers programs are providing such as Plex and Kodi.

1. Plex is a more unique media center software with a client-server model. In other words, the software enables you to stream, or share, your media with multiple devices. As such, Plex Media Server software is required along with a Plex front-end app, which you can add to Windows 10 from this web page.
2. The Plex media server software is based on a client-server model. It offers a wide range of client apps for different devices to support and stream its media server content easily. Plex Media Server was originally called Plex Media Center and was based on Kodi, formerly known as XBMC.

However, before installing anything to stream media files, you should first ask yourself what your software should be able to do. Do you only want to stream your stored content to mobile devices or should the application also manage your data, supplement it with information and at the same time offer access to live TV, media libraries and the like?

List of Windows 10 Media server software

So, in this article, we are going to discuss some free including open-source media server software platformsto install and use on Windows 10 or older operating system of Microsoft such as Windows 8 and Windows 7. All the listed below software don't come with any pre-stored content or content providing services, all these are Personal Media Server platforms to manage and play users own media content or third party content using add-ons.

Plex Media Server for Windows

I know you already would be familiar with it and also we are not discussing it the first time in any article. Plex Media Server is free software that we can use to stream videos, music or photos in common formats such as MP4, AVI, MOV, AAC, MP3, WAV and JPEG via your home network or WLAN.

Professional audio video editing software. Plex Media Server for Windows 10

One of the main reason, of Plex popularity is its client apps availability for almost every available mainstream platforms. Furthermore, the Server part of Plex can be installed on Windows, Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, NAS and more.

After setting up the Plex, we can stream our media files from PC to mobile devices such as iPhone, iPad or Android tablets. Plex free app as an alternative to its web management interface can be used to play media files using a local or remote network on Android and iOS; even Smart TV can also receive the server content.

Furthermore, the installation of Plex on Windows 10 is easy as any other software, just double click on the downloaded setup file of it, follow the wizard in browser to set it up and start using…

Additionally, the user can activate the Plex pass function which is a subscription service to integrate additional features such as downloading selected content to iPhone, iPad for offline access, streaming from clouds such as Dropbox and Google Drive, using Gracenote for track recognition and more… Know more about Plex Pass.

Tip: Install Plex on Windows 10 with just one command…

KODI

Kodi is another cross-platform streaming software for your home network just like the Plex media server. Earlier it is known as XBMC and comes under free and open source (GPL) software, the server is available for Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, Raspberry Pi, iOS and other.

Another reason which makes Kodi best media server for Windows 10 is its huge repository of add-ons that helps the user to expand the features of KODI.

KODI media server

It can play videos, music, DVDs, unencrypted Blu-ray discs and audio CDs or shows slideshows of your photos. Even 3D films can be played without any problems. The freeware supports all important formats and codecs such as MP4, ISO, WEBM, H.264, DivX, XviD, JPEG, animated GIFs as well as MP3, OGG, WMA or M4A and AAC.

You can stream songs and films via WLAN to other computers, game consoles, smart TVs, iPads, Android tablets and smartphones.

Furthermore, we can customize its interface, get information about the weather or display lyrics and subtitles with the help of add-ons.

The ARD and ZDF media libraries or video streams from Eurosport, DAZN and Zattoo are just as easy to access after a few clicks as films on YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion and Facebook.

Emby Media Server

Next open-source platform that can be used to convert Windows 10 into a Media server is Emby. Just like above mentioned two servers for streaming medias this one is also available for multiple platforms to install such as Windows, Linux, macOS, NAS devices, Docker, FreeBSD and Shield Android TV along with a wide range of supported devices for the client app.

Media Center Server Software

The installation of available plugins for Emby server is quite easy, we just need to visit its Web-based Management System to install plugins, edit metadata and subtitles, Sync and more… There is a wide range of add-ons available to extend 'Emby Server' features, for example, access to the cloud services Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive or to platforms such as Vimeo, Last.fm and SoundCloud.

If you want to have an alternative to Kodi and Plex media servers, then try the EMBY, although it is not popular as the rest of the two, enough interesting because of functionality. One can easily use it on Windows 10 to stream films, series, photos, books and music from its installed PC to the other PC using browser, TV or smartphones. New software for mac 2014.

Emby Server can play different media formats such as MP3s, AACs, WAVs, MP4, MOV, MPEG and WMV formats as well as ISO images or tracks down photos and eBooks.The media centre pulls the information from the databases such as TheMovieDb, TheTVDB and The Open Movie Database.

Furthermore, apart from the browser to play the content from Emby server, we use external players such as KODI or its own 'Emby Theater' media player software. Whereas for Android and iOS Emby mobile app is available in the respective app store.

'Emby Server' also easily recognizes common DLNA-capable hardware and automatically adjusts the media data to the target device when streaming.

Just like Plex Pass, Emby also offers Premium features available at the cost of $4.99/per month, $54/1 Year and $119/One-time.

Under this premium plan, the users will have features such as Emby DVR (Schedule individual recordings, series recordings, and more); Offline Media ( download media on smartphones or tablets for offline playback); Fully feature unlocked Emby Apps; Cloud Sync; Cinema Mode; Cover Art plugin; Automatically Convert Content; Emby Theater; Backup and Restore; Podcasts; Use your Amazon Echo or Google Home device to control your Emby apps by voice…

Universal media server

Universal Media Server is another free and open source software in the list that can also be installed easily on Windows 10 just like any other executable file to stream music, photos and videos with the standards DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) and UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) devices. If you want a straight forward, simple media server software for Windows 10 then try this.

Supported hardware includes Panasonic, Samsung, LG, Sharp, Sony and Philips TVs, Xbox One and Xbox 360 from Microsoft, PlayStation 3 and 4, Blu-ray players from Sony and devices with Google Chromecast and Roku 3.

We can stream media files from Universal Media server installed on Windows on smartphone devices such as iPad, iPhone, Android tablets and Windows phones, that are DLNA or UPnP-capable; even popular player 'VLC Media Player', and any browser can be used to access this media server and play the content. Apart from Windows, it is also available for Linux and macOS.

Universal Media Server web interface

OpenFLIXR Media Server

This opensource Windows 10 media server is for those don't want to install it on physical Windows machine. Yes, it OpenFLIXR is a virtualized media server, that we install and use on Windows 10 or any other operating using VirtualBox, VMWARE, Parallels Desktop, KVM / unRAID or even the Windows inbuilt virtualization platform Hyper-V. Thus, if you already have Plex, Kodi or any other media server installed on your Windows 10 or server and want to use any other then simply install it on VM. The best thing you don't require any guest VM operating system to setup OpenFLIXR like others mentioned above.

Furthermore, apart from the browser to play the content from Emby server, we use external players such as KODI or its own 'Emby Theater' media player software. Whereas for Android and iOS Emby mobile app is available in the respective app store.

'Emby Server' also easily recognizes common DLNA-capable hardware and automatically adjusts the media data to the target device when streaming.

Just like Plex Pass, Emby also offers Premium features available at the cost of $4.99/per month, $54/1 Year and $119/One-time.

Under this premium plan, the users will have features such as Emby DVR (Schedule individual recordings, series recordings, and more); Offline Media ( download media on smartphones or tablets for offline playback); Fully feature unlocked Emby Apps; Cloud Sync; Cinema Mode; Cover Art plugin; Automatically Convert Content; Emby Theater; Backup and Restore; Podcasts; Use your Amazon Echo or Google Home device to control your Emby apps by voice…

Universal media server

Universal Media Server is another free and open source software in the list that can also be installed easily on Windows 10 just like any other executable file to stream music, photos and videos with the standards DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) and UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) devices. If you want a straight forward, simple media server software for Windows 10 then try this.

Supported hardware includes Panasonic, Samsung, LG, Sharp, Sony and Philips TVs, Xbox One and Xbox 360 from Microsoft, PlayStation 3 and 4, Blu-ray players from Sony and devices with Google Chromecast and Roku 3.

We can stream media files from Universal Media server installed on Windows on smartphone devices such as iPad, iPhone, Android tablets and Windows phones, that are DLNA or UPnP-capable; even popular player 'VLC Media Player', and any browser can be used to access this media server and play the content. Apart from Windows, it is also available for Linux and macOS.

Universal Media Server web interface

OpenFLIXR Media Server

This opensource Windows 10 media server is for those don't want to install it on physical Windows machine. Yes, it OpenFLIXR is a virtualized media server, that we install and use on Windows 10 or any other operating using VirtualBox, VMWARE, Parallels Desktop, KVM / unRAID or even the Windows inbuilt virtualization platform Hyper-V. Thus, if you already have Plex, Kodi or any other media server installed on your Windows 10 or server and want to use any other then simply install it on VM. The best thing you don't require any guest VM operating system to setup OpenFLIXR like others mentioned above.

OpenFLIXR is an automated downloading and serving media server. It comes with tools like CouchPotato, SickChill, Headphones, Mopidy, Ubooquity, HTPC Manager and SABnzbd to download and can integrate Plex Media Server to bring everything to your screens. It can fetch subtitles automatically from AutoSub, Sub-Zero, Sickrage and CouchPotato.

Recommended virtual hardware specifications are 2vCPU, 3GB RAM and a 100GB disk.

We all are fond of music and videos and everybody has their own collection of media files both on computers and smartphones. But you can't carry every time your huge collection of movies, songs, and other media files with you. In such a situation, the home media server comes in handy. There are a bunch of the best open-source and free media server software available online that can set up on your own personal home computer. You can store all your media files in one place on the media server and can access them remotely or locally using a computer or smartphone. For example, you are out of town and want to access your movies or music, what you will do, just take out your smartphone enter your home media server address, and boom!! Using media servers you can create your own personal YouTube, Netflix, and Vimeo. Some Media servers based on lightweight Linux, which means to save electricity and other resources you can install them on Rasberry Pi.

Best Free & Opensource Media server for Linux, Mac, or Windows

Here we have listed Free and Open source Media server software to be used in 2021 that can be work on both Linux and Windows.

PLEX Media Server (Freemium, not opensource)

We already have a done couple of articles on Plex and it really has some great features that allow it in our best media server list. The Plex Media Server is available for a variety of platforms such as Windows, Linux, Mac, Docker, and third-party NAS (network-attached storage device) Synology, Qnap, Netgear, Seagate, and more…

The Plex media server is not open-source instead of freemium software and offers some features on a subscription base only. However, still here because of its easy to use and install capabilities.

Whereas the Plex player comes under both freemium and open source license GPL v2. Due to its vast range of devices support the Plex continuously gaining popularity as a media streamer.

Plex server and Plex apps

The Plex media server is based on a client-server model. It offers a wide range of client apps for different devices to support and stream its media server content easily. The Plex app is available for Android, Web, Windows, Kodi, Windows Phone, TiVo, SONOS, Android TV, Chrome cast, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Amazon Alexa, Roku, Nvidia Shield, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 & 4 and Smart TV.

Plex Media Server Features:

• Account management
• Support all format videos and audios
• iOS, Windows, and Android Mobile platform support
• Privacy and security
• Media Libraries Sharing
• No Storage Limit
• Online channels
• Live TV
• Plex cloud
• Mobile and Cloud Sync
• Parental control
• Audio Fingerprinting
• Remote Controls
• Media Optimizer and more…

If you are interested in PLEX, also see: How To setup Plex Media Server on Ubuntu Linux.

Kodi Open Source Home Theater Software

Kodi 100% Opensource Media center software that stores all your digital media files in one place like Plex and gives you a beautiful interface to access them. The Kodi was previously known as Xbox Media center or XMBC. Kodi provides a bit different media server software approach. It works more as a local media streamer rather than functions a server-client relationship like PLEX. It was developed as an XMBC open-source media center and still distributed under open source licenses. It plays content from two sources one is locally saved content and the second is via plugins.

Media Center Server Software Review

It has a vast range of Addon for popular web services, applications, and scripts such as Pluto.TV, PS Vue, HDHomeRun, SoundCloud, Kodi Android Installer, Rooster Teeth, and more… It also provides an add-on to stream, video content from various sources like NBC, CBS, Funimation, and Crunchyroll. It is a perfect mixture of a media center PC/homer sever software. Kodi is also multi-platform support Media center/server software and supports Linux, macOS, Windows, Android, and embedded devices like the Raspberry Pi.

Kodi Features:

• TV Shows library supports
• Supporting all the main video formats
• Kodi can play all your music including mp3, flac, wav, and WMA formats
• Import pictures and view them in different styles such as slideshow
• Support Live TV recording
• JSON-RPC based remote interface
• Smartphone and Tablet Apps
• Add-Ons for popular web services, applications, and scripts.
• Works popular backends such as MediaPortal, MythTV, NextPVR, Tvheadend, and much more.

Emby Media Server

Emby is a great and best free Media server similar to Plex in features and user interface. While Plex is a closed source or freemium, Emby is totally open-source media server software. In comparison to Plex, the Emby is much easier to install for newbies and you can see our article: How to Install Emby media server, step by the step installation process. Emby offers lots of customization, media management, and database options.

The Emby Media server is available for Windows, Linux, Nas Devices, Mac OS, Docker, and FreeBSD. Like Plex, the Emby is also has a dedicated Linux installer for Debian, Ubuntu, Arch Linux, OpenSUSE, Fedora, and CentOS. If you are looking for a 100% open-source Media server for your office or home then Emby is the best one.

Web-based Management System of Emby to install plugins, edit metadata and subtitles, Sync, and more…

Emby also offers Apps for the mobile operating system: Emby Web client, Android, iOS, Windows 10, and Windows Mobile. Apart from the Emby Apps, it also has a good collection of TV Apps as follow:

• Android TV
• Amazon Fire Tv
• Shield Android TV
• Apple TV
• Chromecast
• Roku
• Emby Theatre HTML5
• Emby Theatre for Windows
• LG Smart TV
• Samsung Smart TV
• PS4
• Xbox One
• Windows Media Center
• Xbox 360
• Kodi
• PS3

Three dimensional drawing software. Emby Media Server Features

• Emby Server automatically converts and streams the media
• Stream Live TV to any device
• Web-based tools to edit metadata and subtitles
• Easy DLNA
• Parental Controls
• Easily control content access
• Cloud Sync
• Chromecast

Jellyfin Media Server

Jellyfin is another popular open-source project that lets us create quickly a modern media server with an interactive web user interface to manage videos, images, and music from any device.

We can browser media content using Jellyfin on various devices such as computers, apps on your Roku, Android, iOS (including AirPlay), Android TV, or Fire TV device, or via your Chromecast or existing Kodi. Whereas when it comes to installing the Jellyfin server platform it doesn't limit to Linux only, we can set it up on machines running Microsoft Windows, macOS, or in a Docker container.

Learn the process to install Jellyfin on Ubuntu 20.04/18.04 or Debian.

MediaPortal

MediaPortal is a well-featured open-source HTPC media center and similar to Kodi. It does not have features like Emby and Plex, but still, it's very good open-source media server software. Using it you can watch, schedule, and record live TV like TiVo, streaming media, radio, and TV to any HTPC connected to your network., Check the weather, news, slideshow of pictures & videos, and more. It can access easily the web or mobile device. It also based on Client/Server Architecture.

See:How to Install and Configure the MediaPortal Media server on Windows 10 PC

MediaPortal

Media Portal Features

• Watch TV, Videos, and DVD
• Watch Online Videos
• Listening to Music, Radio, and Web Streams
• Schedule Recordings
• Client/Server Architecture
• Skin System
• Plug-in System
• Check Weather Forecast
• Picture and video slideshow Viewer
• Multiple Tuner Support
• Time Shifting, Pause, and Record TV/Radio
• Read RSS Feeds

OpenFLIXR Media Server

OpenFLIXR 2 is the easiest free all-in-one home Media server that offers all media solutions in one package. OpenFLIX Media server software download, install updates of media programs automatically. This home media server is a combination of all well-known open-source projects out there including Plex Media Server.

OpenFLIXR Media Server all-in on video streaming server

Software used in OpenFLIXR are:

• CouchPotato + Radarr for Movies
• SickRage + Sonarr for automated TV show downloading
• Headphones- Automated music downloader
• Mopidy-Music Server
• Ubooquity-Comics and Ebooks & Web-based Reader
• Subtitles- AutoSub, Sub-Zero, Sickrage
• HTPC Manager
• Plex Media Server to organizes movies, series, music, and photos
• SABnzbd, NZBge, qBittorrent
• Netdata + Monit for monitoring
• Home-Assistant
• And More…

The OpenFLIXR media server needs a virtual machine to install since it is a virtual application.

OpenELEC

OpenELEC is a lightweight Linux operating system built to create a media server like Kodi. The full form of the OpenELEC is Open Embedded Linux Entertainment Center. Due to its lightweight, it can be easily installed on Raspberry, Apple TV, or low configurations systems.

Features of OpenELEC are:

• TV Show Management
• Movie Organizer and Player
• Music and Audiobook Player
• Freescale iMX6 ARM builds for Cubox-i, CuboxTV, and Hummingboard boxes
• TV and Personal Video Recorder
• Addon available to expand its feature
• Picture Browser

OSMC Media Center

OSMC Media center is last on our list. It is an open-source media center with a simple design and intuitive navigation system. The OSMC media center is based on Kodi and Debian. It also offers paid hardware kits and other accessories to enhance the OSMC user experience such as the Vero 4K. It is a hardware device with OSMC that supports 4K, HEVC, 10-bit content, and HD audio. It supports almost every type of media file. OSMC Media center is available for Linux, Windows, Mac OS, Rasberry Pi, Vero, and Apple TV.

OSMC Media Center

A verdict on Best Free & Opensource Media Server Software Options

Although Plex, Emby, and Kodi are the best and most popular media servers. But that doesn't mean that other media servers are not good some of them like OpenFlixr are worth trying. We have put everything we know on this list, now it's all upon you which you want to use. If you want to install a media server along with a NAS server then you can go for open-source NAS software like FreeNAS.

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