Plex Downloads - VERY SLOW even on local lan!?

[stevezau]

Server Version#: Version 1.41.0.8930

Running Plex via docker on Ubuntu.

Hello, I have Plex running on my local network. when i go to download items for offline viewing on my iPad the download is VERY Slow. About 15-20mbps.

This makes no sense… Even if it was going via the internet i have 1gbps up and 1gbs down.

Anyone know how i can trouble shoot this?

I have set remote bandwidth to 1000… The Debug logs just show

Sep 03, 2024 12:11:45.170 [136743359621944] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.50.242:57633 (WAN)] GET /statistics/bandwidth?timespan=6 (19 live) #e9dc8 TLS GZIP Signed-in Token (stevezau) (Chrome)
Sep 03, 2024 12:11:45.178 [136744143956792] DEBUG - Completed: [192.168.50.242:57633] 200 GET /statistics/bandwidth?timespan=6 (19 live) #e9dc8 TLS GZIP 8ms 3799 bytes (pipelined: 25)
Sep 03, 2024 12:11:45.362 [136744143956792] DEBUG - Activity: updated activity f24b85df-a5a6-423f-97a4-4f8d3fbdacb0 - completed 3.2% - Media download by stevezau
Sep 03, 2024 12:11:46.055 [136744143956792] DEBUG - Activity: updated activity f24b85df-a5a6-423f-97a4-4f8d3fbdacb0 - completed 3.2% - Media download by stevezau
Sep 03, 2024 12:11:46.914 [136744143956792] DEBUG - Activity: updated activity f24b85df-a5a6-423f-97a4-4f8d3fbdacb0 - completed 3.2% - Media download by stevezau
Sep 03, 2024 12:11:47.155 [136743351233336] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.50.242:57633 (WAN)] GET /statistics/bandwidth?timespan=6 (19 live) #e9dda TLS GZIP Signed-in Token (stevezau) (Chrome)
Sep 03, 2024 12:11:47.157 [136743359621944] DEBUG - Request: [192.168.50.242:57730 (WAN)] GET /status/sessions (19 live) #e9db3 TLS GZIP Signed-in Token (stevezau) (Chrome)
Sep 03, 2024 12:11:47.157 [136743359621944] DEBUG - [Req#e9db3] [Now] Adding 2 sessions.
Sep 03, 2024 12:11:47.163 [136744143956792] DEBUG - Completed: [192.168.50.242:57730] 200```

[dbirch]

Does the server have to transcode it for playback?

[stevezau]

I set it to orig. But it did do some transcoding for some reason. I waited for the transcode to finish… after it finished, downloads were still incredibly slow.

[stevezau]

any other ideas anyone?

[ozsmac]

Plex is notorious for slow downloads on iPad or iPhone, other apps (like Infuse) don’t exhibit such issues.

Things to try if you can:

Settings / Downloads
Set “Video Quality” = Original

Make sure that your server is connected via ethernet to your router, not Wi-Fi, if possible.

Do you have the same issue on two different clients, if you have the ability to run two different clients of different types?

[stevezau]

Server is wired in gigabit.

I will do some deeper testing when i get back from Holidays…

However, before i left i loaded a test plex server via docker on my mac and it was much faster but still not local lan transfer speeds. Something is def not right.

[Craig_Holliday]

@stevezau
Hi!
Internally some team members have reported the same issues.
Our most recent release, 8.39.1, has many improvements around downloads.
One of which is the ability to turn off “background downloads”.
Not to get too into the weeds but we think there may be a bug with the API we use for downloads in iOS.

So if you go to Settings > Downloads > Turn off “Use Background Downloads”.
Then start a download and keep your app open, you may have a better experience.

This is just a workaround we put in to make downloads usable in these cases.

[stevezau]

Hi Craig,

Thank you for letting us know! Appreciate it.

I will do some testing when I get back next week.

Is there anyway we can track issues/bugs in plex?

Thanks
Steve

[Craig_Holliday]

Forum posts are the best way to keep track of issues.
We do our best to keep track of posts and link them to private issues on our side.
We don’t have a public way to expose that information.

[stevezau]

I did some testing.

I have an iPad Pro 10.5inch. And iPhone 16 pro max.

Both are on my local network. Both are able to get 500mbps+ speeds to the server. I tested it by putting a test file on an apache server and downloading via Safar. This rules out wifi issues.

On the iPad Pro 10.5 (padOS 17.7) and Plex 8.39.1

• I tested downloading locally on multiple different file types in plex.
• I tested it with background downloads on and off
• All tests are the same, I am seeing 10mbps on downloads.
• I also loaded up a brand new plex server docker with 1 video file. Same result

On the iPhone Pro Max

• I ran the same tests but i am seeing steady 300-400mbps speeds

I have another user with a newer iPad. He tested it remoly and also seeing very slow speeds.

Could this be an iPad bug @Craig_Holliday ?

Anything else you suggest to t-shoot?

[Craig_Holliday]

It’s possible but unfortunately I haven’t been able to reproduce the issue on iPads.

Whenever myself or anyone testing internally had issues like this, turning off background downloads seemed to help.

Sorry, I don’t have anything else that may fix the issue right now.

[stevezau]

Hi Craig, that’s a shame, guess I’m stuck with no other options.

Thanks for trying to help anyway.

[ozsmac]

I’m surprised that this can’t be reliably re-created, I have three iPads in my house currently and all have the same issue.

I can confirm that for me, turning off background downloading does address some of the speed issue, however this still needs to be fixed, something is broken on iPad only (iPhone works perfectly with Background Download enabled).

This issue dates back years and years, over multiple network (1Gbps and 10Gbps), Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi 5, Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E and now Wi-Fi 7) and iPad technologies. This thread has some of the discussion - Slow downloads using the new 'Downloads' feature

Here are test on the same iPad, to the same server, over the same network. Network type is Wi-Fi, both are 2x2 clients, same access point used for all testing and no other active use or streaming.

iPad Background Download enabled

iPad Background Download disabled

iPhone Background Download enabled (iPhone