Auto create Optimized Versions for media in certain folder

Plex Media Server NAS & Devices
,
1

Hi,

I do understand the concept of Optimized Versions inside Plex Media Server.
However it’s somehow limited to manually selecting the media to optimize.
And in the settings of Plex Media Server you have to configure a limit on those Optimized Versions.

Is there a way I can configure Plex Media Server to automatically create an Optimized Version of media, upon a library scan?
In this use case, I have 4K footage from a GoPro 7 but my smart-tv can’t handle 4K video.
I want Plex Media Server to create an optimized version of every video file, so my smart-tv can play it directly when browsing through the Plex Media Library. But off course I want to keep the original 4K media.

Thanks in advance.

3

Thank you for your reply. That’s a bummer … And what about that limit? Is there a workaround for that?

5

The limit described here:

Creating Optimized Versions

7

Yes I mean the number of items limit.
Off course I understand this limit doesn’t count when I use an external program.
But what if I am not using an external program.

If I set this limit to 5, Plex Media Server will only keep 5 Optimized Versions of any media, right?

9

Thanks very much. It wasn’t very clear to me in the documentation.

10

I am pretty sure, this is possible.

  1. create your folder for the optimized versions on your media storage. Make sure Plex is allowed to write to it (often an issue when running Plex on a NAS or when using network storage)
  2. put one single file into it. (a small, non-empty txt file will suffice)
  3. edit the library in question, go to the ‘Add Folders’ tab and add your newly created folder (i.e. do not replace the folder that is already there)
  4. now go to the library in question, use the ‘Library’ view (and not the ‘Recommended’ or ‘Collections’ view)
  5. without selecting any particular item first, click on the vertical ellipsis ⋮ in the upper, right corner of the library view
    select ‘Optimize’
    In the following dialog window, set the ‘Version storage location’ to your newly created folder.

Warning: this will optimize every item in your library right away. This may take a very long time – particularly if your server has a weak CPU.
You can restrict the items to process to only those of e.g. a certain resolution, if you create a filter inbetween steps 4 and 5

The resulting optimization job will remain active as long as you don’t delete it from
Settings - Server - Manage - Optimized Versions
Which means it will start to optimize newly added items as well.
However, if you delete the sync job, all created ‘optimized versions’ will get erased as well.
So make sure to copy them elsewhere if you want to keep them.

The above is not possible for users of a Western Digital MyCloud Home NAS device.

2 Likes
16

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.