I think it is time to ask: Are Plex HTPC and Plex for Mac/Windows/Linux dead?
Plex HTPC has not had an update since last July
Plex for Mac/Windows/Linux has had only one update since May and that was to support the web update for editing some metadata on the server.
There are still plans for them but I don’t have liberty to get into the details.
Can I presume those “plans” are now less firm after the layoffs this past week?
Don’t tempt them to update it to a new UI, they work perfectly fine as they are, mostly. Last thing we need is more functionality ripped out and a clunky navigation setup.
oof, and unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be those who are from the exec team 
It’s clear to anyone watching that Plex is revamping its clients and with that either the desktop app will see similar or cease entirely. The above mentions there are plans hinting at the former but fails to expound on whether those plans include what users would expect from the Desktop apps:
Audio passthrough
Multi-channel audio
Refresh rate matching
High quality scaling (jinc-based scalers and FSRCNNs)
Debanding
Anti-ringing
HDR metadata passthrough
Downloads (not present in Plex HTPC)
Wide Codec Support (beyond H.263/4/5, AV1, MP3, AAC, AC3, EAC3)
and more
Accomplishing the above requires some significant outlay of work. In light of the last 3 rounds of layoffs, this seems less likely. Combined with the fact that the desktop apps are very heavily skewed toward personal media, the likelihood drops even further.
Without the above, the spirit of the desktop apps is dead. What would be their point over simply using a browser on a set-top box instead?
So, the real question is: will this future app have a good playback engine that supports the above or will it be what one finds in a web browser?
Edit: Added wide codec support entry
Doesn’t the desktop app already have audio passthrough, multi channel, refresh rate matching and HDR? Genuine question, not being antagonistic but I was quite sure the audio features were present, and HDR works.
Edit. Okay I think I had already your point misconstrued, you were asking that these features would be maintained as they are already present, right? I can’t find any settings for debanding, (by which I assume you mean deinterlacing?) or anti-ringing (unsure of meaning tbh).
Correct.
These are part of the video quality settings and are post-procesing settings.
Banding is artifacts in a gradient where a slow color change from one to another can result in bands of color instead of a smooth gradient. Debanding smooths these bands
Anti-ringing reduces artifacts in some upscaling algorithms.
Yeah, I’d rather keep the software as it is now instead of them making it objectively worse like the various other players.
The last time Plex decided to “upgrade” things, we get that shoddy “Report” system, an ad-infested “Discovery” section, and a loss of customization.
Don’t need things to get worse.
Plexamp has Elan
Plex HTPC has ….
Elan is no longer with Plex.
Yeah, this is super unfortunate and makes me sad. Not sure what if anything else will happen in the Plexamp space going forward. 
I’m well aware but as he said on Reddit a few days ago, he still manages Plexamp.
Hence my comment about Plex HTPC and its future.
I learnt years ago that there is more current information about Plex elsewhere than on the Plex forum itself.
HDR has never worked on the MacOS HTPC or Plex app, people have been asking since 2020.
So, there was an issue with the MoltenVK lib in the way Plex built MPV that I tried to diagnose during the last MPV bump but ran out of time. It would’ve brought a significant performance and capability increase to MacOS bringing it on par with what HPTC has on windows. This includes HDR, HDR Metadata passthrough, and I believe even the FSRCNN scalers.
This was next on my list of things to do in the desktop apps but the July 2025 layoffs ended that.
Well you can play videos via the Plex web-interface in a web-browser but because of bad video codec support in web-browsers that causes a video transcode on the server most of the time. With the Plex app that usually doesn’t happen so with the Plex app you get a Direct Play most of the time.
Ah, I guess I forgot to add wide codec support to my list above. Rest assured that if my fears of the next generation app lacking a good playback engine are realized, you won’t have better codec support than a browser in that app.
Many of us know how much you contributed to Plex HTPC.
If it does end up on the pile of rubbish outside the back door of Plex, what is the closest alternative ?
Purely as a HTPC player ?
Do I revert to the one shown in my avatar ?
Perhaps Emby, JF, Infuse ?
I’m reluctant to go back to Kodi, I currently have Infuse Pro lifetime and I have tried Emby and JF.
Infuse is effortless but missing some key options.
JF and Emby still have a way to go.
Kodi may have to be it.
Whatever happens, thanks for your efforts with Plex HTPC. It has been and still is a very useful piece of software.
Edit - don’t forget the remote control interface that Plex HTPC offers. Sure, I can use my K400 Plus if a browser is it but the Harmony 650 is so much nicer.
We still have third-party apps to fall back on at least. People in the Linux topics seems to have forgotten that and are claiming Plex is “dropping Linux support”.
