Does plex automatically select a 1080P version when transcoding for a download?

Plex Media Server
1

I was having difficulty downloading a 4K version of a movie. The download was failing repeatedly. So I created a 1080P version of the same movie and put it next to the prior one with the name “Movie (year) 1080p.mkv”.

After this, I could select which version to play, but I didn’t see a way to select which version to download. When I hit download, Plex decided to transcode the 1080P version – but was this dumb luck, or will it always choose the 1080P version over the 4K version when attempting to transcode?

2

I have optimized versions of my 4K movies and Plex always uses the lower resolution video when playing on non 4K TVs and transcodes the lower resolution when using remote so I assume it would do the same for transcoding for downloads.

3

Did they introduce this in a recent server version? I’m on 1.24.3.5033 and it still transcodes from the 4K version if there’s a 1080p version available.

4

It does on mine. You need to make sure that both 4k and the 1080p are under the same title.