Transcoding music files through the internet is finally fixed after many months of waiting as stated here:
There is however one issue Plex developers must address, it’s related to the audio quality setting we choose for the music to be transcoded, for example, all my Mp3 files are in 320Kbps and if I choose that quality in settings, the server should play the files directly, instead, the server is converting them into the same bitrate, so it’s not taking into account what bitrate the file has before performing transcoding.
The idea is to play directly Mp3 files or any other audio format with the same bitrate selected in settings and convert or transcode the ones with a bitrate higher than the one selected in settings (usually FLAC).
I don’t have any music to add as I use Spotify. I’m guessing Plex will transcode them if they are VBR. Songs that are CBR are direct streamed. MP3 and M4A in CBR streamed with no conversion. MP3 of 324 and M4A of 315, both VBR, are transcoded. This is my thought process. Can you double check that to see if that’s the case?
Grabbed a song from Play. Converted it to multiple formats and bitrates. Player settings on Android (Pixel 1st gen) is set to stream at 320.
MP3 @ 320 cbr directly played.
MP3 @ 256 cbr directly played.
MP3 @ 322 vbr converted to 320.
MP3 @ 260 vbr directly played.
It’s as I thought. It will convert if your bitrate goes over the limit. I tested with M4A as well. With my limit set to 320, it only converted if the file was over 320 (which was only possible if I encoded using VBR). I set my limit to 256 and every version over 256 was processed before streaming. This lead to believe it might a problem with your install as I had no issues.
You can try and reinitialize your PMS. By default your PMS library information is stored in C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Plex Media Server If you have chosen a different location, you’ll need to adjust.
Close PMS.
Open your PMS folder and delete Cache and Logs.
Go back up a directory and rename Plex Media Server to 0.Plex Media Server so it’s at the top if the list.
Open regedit and delete HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Plex, Inc.\Plex Media Server.
a. (This is where server settings are stored. Your media will be fine and remain intact.)
Open [Settings] > [Apps] and from that list find Plex Media Server, click Modify and then Repair.
When it’s finished make sure to not start the service. Navigate back to C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local and delete the newly created Plex Media Server folder.
Rename your 0.Plex Media Server to its original name.
Start the service and follow the setup process.
When you have completed that, try again with streaming. If you are unable to stream directly, provide logs.
I followed your instructions but didn’t work, then I uninstalled the entire Plex server and deleted everything related to Plex from my hard drive, I then reinstalled the server again but still doesn’t work, MP3s are getting transcoded.
Your audio file uses something other than 44100 hz. If your songs are encoded using a sampling rate of 48000 hz, it’s pointless. That sample rate is commonly used for digital video. A lower sample rate of 32000 hz commonly used for FM radio or voice notes.
From the log on line 675: aresample=async=1:ocl='stereo':osr=44100[0]
As you can see that tells me your song does not have the right sample rate. I re-sampled a song I had using Adobe Audition and added it to Plex. And indeed with a 48000 hz rate, it was transcoded.
Edit: For more clarification when I did my original test they were 44.1 hz by default as that’s the standard. Changing to 48000 hz resulted in a transcode on multiple devices.
That is weird, they are supposed to be 44100, I was testing this with only 5 files, I’m gonna add the rest of the mp3s to the server and I’m going to test each one of them to see what happens, I’ll let you know…
I mean I could be wrong, it also adds Stereo in there too. Your songs could be using Mono or 5.1.
They all are stereo.
Edit: It could also be transcoding from a limitation of your device.
If that’s true then all the FLAC files should be transcoded when playing directly using local wifi.
Edit 2: Upload one the culprit songs to something like dropbox or google drive. PM me the link.
OK, I’m going to upload 4.
Edit 3: Welp, I guess I was wrong. App cannot direct play this item. Direct play is disabled It’s your device.
Obviously since I’m using mobile data but that shouldn’t be the reason to be transcoded unless something is wrong with the app in this situation.
Looks like this hasn’t been fixed correctly because there are other people saying at my other post their songs are not getting transcoded but played directly.
I tested all my devices really quick. My tablet will only transcode if 48000hz, wifi only model. My phone direct plays them all on wifi or data. Chromecast direct plays. Testing with both MP3 and M4A. The only time they all transcode is when I drop my bitrate from 320 to something like 192.
It’s really odd in your case. Do you have other devices you can test with besides your phone?
Edit: I don’t even see an option in the Android app to enable or disable direct play.
