I took a look at a Plex feature that has been around for a while but hasn’t come up much in my previous coverage: media optimization. The idea is straightforward: instead of relying on your Plex server to transcode video on the fly every time someone watches something on a limited connection, you can have the server create alternate, smaller versions of your media in advance. Those optimized files sit alongside the original and can be played back directly, reducing the load on the server.
My latest video dives into this feature here.
In normal use, Plex’s transcoder does a good job adapting high-bitrate files for bandwidth challenged connections, but that assumes the server has enough CPU or hardware acceleration available at the moment someone presses play. If it doesn’t, or if multiple users are competing for those resources, performance can suffer. Optimization shifts that work to the background, letting the server do the heavy lifting ahead of time rather than in real time.
The feature lives in the Plex web app. From the menu attached to a movie or episode, there’s an option to optimize the media. You can also access it from the title’s detail page. When you start an optimization job, Plex lets you give the optimized version a custom name and choose a quality preset. The built-in options are aimed at common use cases like mobile viewing or TV playback, with defined resolutions and bitrates, but there’s also a custom mode if you want more control.
Custom optimization profiles allow you to pick specific resolutions and bitrates, ranging from 1080p down to very low-bandwidth 480p options. These profiles can be named and reused, which makes it easier to target particular devices or scenarios. Once an optimization job is started, the server processes it in the background and uses hardware video encoding if it’s available, which can significantly speed things up.
There are also some useful controls when optimizing TV series. You can limit optimization to unwatched episodes and cap the number of optimized files Plex keeps around. As episodes are watched, Plex can automatically delete the older optimized versions and generate new ones for upcoming episodes. That adds a layer of automation that helps keep storage usage in check.
When it comes time to watch something, Plex exposes the different versions through a “watch version” option. From there, you can explicitly choose between the original file and any optimized versions that exist.
Management of these files is centralized in the server settings under optimized versions. From that screen, you can see what’s currently being processed, what’s finished, and delete optimized media you no longer need. There’s also the ability to reorder optimization jobs if you want one item to be processed before others in the queue.
One additional setting ties optimization to the transcoder configuration. If HEVC optimization is enabled, Plex can create optimized files using HEVC where possible, which can deliver better quality at lower bitrates. That can be especially useful if storage and bandwidth efficiency is a priority.
Overall, optimization feels most useful for servers with limited processing power, older hardware, or libraries full of high-bitrate content that’s frequently accessed remotely. By preparing alternate versions in advance, more users can enjoy content simultaneously.
Disclosure: This video was a paid sponsorship by Plex. They did not review or approve this content prior to uploading and all opinions are my own.