Jellyfin

Description / name	Input element
Container Registry
Container Configuration Root Path
Global /movies Path
Global /tv Path
Timezone
User ID
Group ID
Jellyfin Host Port
Jellyfin /config Path
Jellyfin /cache Path

Volunteer-built media solution that puts you in control — stream to any device from your own server, with no strings attached.


Port	`8096`
Registry	`ghcr.io/daemonless/jellyfin`
Daemonless	daemonless/jellyfin
Source	jellyfin/jellyfin
Website	jellyfin.org

Version Tags

Tag	Description	Best For
`latest` / `pkg`	FreeBSD Quarterly. Uses stable, tested packages.	Most users. Matches Linux Docker behavior.
`pkg-latest`	FreeBSD Latest. Rolling package updates.	Newest FreeBSD packages.
Podman on FreeBSD currently requires root. All commands must be run as root (or via `doas`/`sudo`).

Before deploying, ensure your host environment is ready. See the Quick Start Guide for host setup instructions.

Deployment

Podman Compose AppJail Director Podman CLI Ansible

services:
  jellyfin:
    image: ghcr.io/daemonless/jellyfin:latest
    container_name: jellyfin
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - TZ=UTC
      - FFMPEG_PATH=/usr/local/bin/jellyfin-ffmpeg
    volumes:
      - "/path/to/containers/jellyfin:/config"
      - "/path/to/containers/jellyfin/cache:/cache" # optional
      - "/path/to/tv:/tv" # optional
      - "/path/to/movies:/movies" # optional
    ports:
      - 8096:8096
    annotations:
      org.freebsd.jail.allow.mlock: "true"
    restart: unless-stopped

DIRECTOR_PROJECT=jellyfin
PUID=1000
PGID=1000
TZ=UTC
FFMPEG_PATH=/usr/local/bin/jellyfin-ffmpeg

options:
  - virtualnet: ':<random> default'
  - nat:
services:
  jellyfin:
    name: jellyfin
    options:
      - container: 'boot args:--pull'
    oci:
      user: root
      environment:
        - PUID: !ENV '${PUID}'
        - PGID: !ENV '${PGID}'
        - TZ: !ENV '${TZ}'
        - FFMPEG_PATH: !ENV '${FFMPEG_PATH}'
    volumes:
      - JELLYFIN_CONFIG_PATH: /config
      - JELLYFIN_CACHE_PATH: /cache
      - TV_PATH: /tv
      - MOVIES_PATH: /movies
volumes:
  JELLYFIN_CONFIG_PATH:
    device: '/path/to/containers/jellyfin'
  JELLYFIN_CACHE_PATH:
    device: '/path/to/containers/jellyfin/cache'
  TV_PATH:
    device: '/path/to/tv'
  MOVIES_PATH:
    device: '/path/to/movies'

ARG tag=latest

OPTION overwrite=force
OPTION from=ghcr.io/daemonless/jellyfin:${tag}
SET allow.mlock=1

podman run -d --name jellyfin \
  -p 8096:8096 \
  --annotation 'org.freebsd.jail.allow.mlock=true' \
  -e PUID=1000 \
  -e PGID=1000 \
  -e TZ=UTC \
  -e FFMPEG_PATH=/usr/local/bin/jellyfin-ffmpeg \
  -v /path/to/containers/jellyfin:/config \
  -v /path/to/containers/jellyfin/cache:/cache # optional \
  -v /path/to/tv:/tv # optional \
  -v /path/to/movies:/movies # optional \
  ghcr.io/daemonless/jellyfin:latest

- name: Deploy jellyfin
  containers.podman.podman_container:
    name: jellyfin
    image: ghcr.io/daemonless/jellyfin:latest
    state: started
    restart_policy: always
    env:
      PUID: "1000"
      PGID: "1000"
      TZ: "UTC"
      FFMPEG_PATH: "/usr/local/bin/jellyfin-ffmpeg"
    ports:
      - "8096:8096"
    volumes:
      - "/path/to/containers/jellyfin:/config"
      - "/path/to/containers/jellyfin/cache:/cache" # optional
      - "/path/to/tv:/tv" # optional
      - "/path/to/movies:/movies" # optional
    annotation:
      org.freebsd.jail.allow.mlock: "true"

Interactive Configuration

Parameters

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
`PUID`	`1000`	User ID for the application process
`PGID`	`1000`	Group ID for the application process
`TZ`	`UTC`	Timezone for the container
`FFMPEG_PATH`	`/usr/local/bin/jellyfin-ffmpeg`	Path to the FFmpeg binary. Options: /usr/local/bin/jellyfin-ffmpeg (default) or /usr/local/bin/ffmpeg

Volumes

Path	Description
`/config`	Configuration directory
`/cache`	Cache directory (Optional)
`/tv`	TV Series library (Optional)
`/movies`	Movie library (Optional)

Ports

Port	Protocol	Description
`8096`	TCP	Web UI

FFmpeg vs. Jellyfin-FFmpeg

This image includes both standard ffmpeg and jellyfin-ffmpeg. By default, it uses jellyfin-ffmpeg (via the FFMPEG_PATH environment variable).

Why use jellyfin-ffmpeg? While raw encoding performance is similar, jellyfin-ffmpeg includes critical patches for HDR to SDR tone mapping (specifically the tonemapx filter). Stock FFmpeg lacks a proper BT.2390 implementation, which results in "washed out" or blown-out colors when serving HDR10 content to SDR displays.

Port Status Note that jellyfin-ffmpeg is not currently in the official FreeBSD ports tree, but it is provided in this image to ensure a high-quality transcoding experience identical to the official Jellyfin Linux distributions.

Hardware Acceleration (VAAPI)

Intel iGPU hardware transcoding is supported via VAAPI. The image includes libva, libva-intel-media-driver, and gmmlib.

Host setup required — the GPU must be enabled and a devfs ruleset must expose the DRI devices into the jail:

Install the DRM kernel module and firmware:

pkg install drm-kmod libva-intel-media-driver gmmlib
echo 'kld_list="i915kms"' >> /etc/rc.conf
kldload i915kms

Add a devfs ruleset to /etc/devfs.rules:

[devfsrules_jails_gpu=61182]
add include $devfsrules_hide_all
add include $devfsrules_unhide_basic
add include $devfsrules_unhide_login
add path 'bpf*' unhide
add path 'dri' unhide
add path 'dri/*' unhide mode 0666
add path 'drm*' unhide mode 0666

Configure the jail to use ruleset 61182 and enable allow.mlock (already set in the example compose above).
In Jellyfin: Dashboard → Playback → Transcoding → set Hardware acceleration to VAAPI, device /dev/dri/renderD128.

Implementation Details

Architectures: amd64
User: bsd (UID/GID set via PUID/PGID). Defaults to 1000:1000.
Base: Built on ghcr.io/daemonless/base (FreeBSD 15.0).
mlock: Requires --annotation 'org.freebsd.jail.allow.mlock=true' (ocijail 0.5.0+)

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