Home > Tips & Tricks > Plex Supported & Unsupported Media Formats

Plex Supported & Unsupported Media Formats

With Plex, you can enjoy your movie, TV show, music, and photo collections at your fingertips. Anywhere you go, on the devices you love. In this page, we won't highlight the Plex outstanding features, but the media format supported by Plex. If you want to play any video files on your Plex smoothly, check this Plex Supported/Unsupported Formats list.

Plex for PlayStation General Media Support
Video Support	Container: MP4	Resolution: 1920x1080 or smaller ( PS3 has a max of 1280x720	Video Encoding: H.264 (level 4.0 or lower)	Audio Encoding: AAC	Bitrate: 20Mbps or lower
Note: Other content will need to be either Direct Streamed or transcoded.
Music Support	M4A
Note: Other server supported audio formats (e.g. MP3, ALAC, FLAC, OGG, etc.) will be automatically transcoded for compatibility.

Plex for Smart TVs & TiVo General Media Support
Direct Play Video Support	Container: MP4	Resolution: 1920x1080 or smaller		Video Encoding: H.264 (level 4.0 or lower)		Video Frame Rate: 30fps		Audio Encoding: AAC
Note: Other content will usually need to be either Direct Streamed or transcoded. Enabling subtitles of any type will require them to be transcoded (burned) into the video stream.
4K (UHD) Direct Play Video Support	Container: MP4		Resolution: 3840x2160 or smaller		Video Encoding: HEVC (H.265)		Video Frame Rate: 30fps
Note: 4K content not matching the above properties will be transcoded to 1080p. Transcoding 4K content is a very intensive process and will require a powerful computer running Plex Media Server.
Direct Play Music Support	MP3				M4A
Note: Other audio formats such as FLAC or ALAC will be transcoded by your Plex Media Server to be compatible.

Plex for Xbox One General Media Support
Video Support	MP4 container		Video Encoding: H.264, H.265 (HEVC), mpeg4, VC-1		Audio Encoding: AAC, AC3, EAC3, MP3
	MKV container		Video Encoding: H.264, H.265 (HEVC), mpeg4, VC-1		Audio Encoding: AAC, AC3, ALAC, FLAC, MP3
Note: Other content will need to be either Direct Streamed or transcoded. We're working with Microsoft to bring support for more native formats.
Music Support	AAC	FLAC	MP3	M4A	WAV	ALAC
Notes: 1. Other supported audio formats will be automatically transcoded for compatibility. 2. At present, there is no support for 3rd-party applications to play DTS audio. Content with DTS audio will have the audio automatically transcoded by the Plex Media Server in order to preserve the surround sound audio channels.

Plex for Xbox 360 General Media Support
Direct Streamed:	Video Encoding: H.264	Video Bit Depth: 8-bit	Audio Encoding: AAC 2.0
Notes: 1. The Plex for Xbox 360 app does not currently Direct Play media. 2. Other content will need to be transcoded.
Is 5.1 audio supported?	The Plex for Xbox 360 app is not currently able to output 5.1 surround sound audio and is limited to 2.0 stereo output. Content with more audio channels will automatically have the audio transcoded to be compatible.
Does the app support DTS audio?	At present, it is not possible to natively play DTS audio. Content with DTS audio will have the audio automatically transcoded to be compatible by the Plex Media Server.

As you see, media compatibility and video quality limitations vary by device. Plex media sever actually can support for all file types directly or with transcoding on the fly. However, there are some things that happen during transcoding that deserve your consideration.

Processor Usage: Transcoding a media file on the fly can be CPU intensive. Generally, the more powerful the Plex Media Server's CPU the better, as transcoding is a CPU intensive process. If you have a choice between adding more RAM (assuming there's enough RAM for the operating system to run well) or a faster/better CPU, choose CPU for better Plex transcoding performance.

Disk Usage: The transcoding process uses temporary disk storage for the converted media. If you're using Mobile Sync, or your Plex Media Server is transcoding for several users, it can use gigabytes of temporary storage. By default, the temporary files are stored on the OS boot disk. This can cause problems if your boot drive is very small (e.g., a small SSD). You can change the location for the temporary files in the Plex Media Server settings.

To avoid these issues, a good suggestion is to convert unsupported videos, audios especially in MKV, MTS, FLV, VOB, AVI, MOV, DTS, AC3 to Plex most compatible format with a desktop app before your streaming. Brorsoft Video Converter Ultimate / iMedia Converter for Mac is an all-in-one BD/DVD/Video solution which can convert all video, audio files and even rip Blu-ray, DVD contents to a format fully compatible with Plex.

Besides, this total media converter suite also features other practical features, like: freely select source subtitles and audio tracks, reset output file parameters, edit videos for customization, create 3D movies, etc. It would be the best solution to enhance your video enjoyment on Plex.

Plex Supported & Unsupported Media Formats

Plex for PlayStation General Media Support

Plex for Smart TVs & TiVo General Media Support

Plex for Xbox One General Media Support

Related Guides:

Tips & Tricks

General Solution

Social Connection

Free Consulation

Sales Support

Popular Topics

Hot Articles