# Direct playback not working, always having to transcode **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussions\ **Created:** [September 20, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/direct-playback-not-working-always-having-to-transcode/206947 "2017-09-20T18:37:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![christhirteen13](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/christhirteen13/32/24285_2.png) [@christhirteen13](https://forums.plex.tv/u/christhirteen13)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/direct-playback-not-working-always-having-to-transcode/206947/1 "2017-09-20T18:37:42Z")
Can someone please help I have my Plex Media Server on a Windows Server and most of the time it seems to only transcode from the original files, while streaming from the browser or any other device, which loads slower because sometimes I use x265 as the original file, but I have optimized versions in x264 which also seem to be transcoded.. This is very annoying because all of my movies are already x264 and all of my tv-shows are optimized, this way it seems like I optimized them for nothing.. ![](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/uploads/default/original/3X/1/d/1dcb13095e6f01115450045522591a5653f06fc2.png) ![](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/uploads/default/original/3X/2/7/27a4ae19ec506094ee0e95258c3485c214ce222a.png) ---
**Author:** ![anon18523487](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@anon18523487](https://forums.plex.tv/u/anon18523487)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 2:54am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/direct-playback-not-working-always-having-to-transcode/206947/2 "2017-09-21T02:54:06Z")
If you have optimized versions you need to explicitly choose to play them. The default is to use the original. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 11:51pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/direct-playback-not-working-always-having-to-transcode/206947/3 "2020-01-07T23:51:10Z")