Jellyfin MPV Shim vs Kodi

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted media servers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureJellyfin MPV ShimKodi
CategoryMedia ServersMedia Servers
LicenseGPL-3.0GPL-2.0
LanguagePythonC++
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM256 MB512 MB
Deploymentbinary, sourcebinary, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 2,309★ 21,064
First released20192002
ReplacesPlex Media PlayerPlex

Why pick each one

Choose Jellyfin MPV Shim if…

  • Excellent video quality
  • Low resource use
Jellyfin MPV Shim details

Choose Kodi if…

  • Extremely flexible
  • Massive add-on library
  • Long-standing project
Kodi details

Frequently asked questions

Is Jellyfin MPV Shim or Kodi better?

Neither is universally better. Kodi has the larger community, while Jellyfin MPV Shim is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Jellyfin MPV Shim and Kodi free and open-source?

Yes. Jellyfin MPV Shim is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Kodi under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Jellyfin MPV Shim and Kodi with Docker?

Jellyfin MPV Shim: check the project docs for container support. Kodi: check the project docs for container support.

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