Super High Bandwidth

Plex Players
1

I’ve been trying to troubleshoot this issue for some time now. I have invested hours and still can’t figure it out. Plex buffers on my all of my android devices in my home network. Galaxy s26ultra, galaxy s23ultra, galaxy s23. there is no issue streaming to all of my other devices. Samsung TV, computer, LG tv…

When I try playing on my via the plex app (client 2026.13.0 (971050317), I verify in the plex dashboard that it shows Direct Play for both audio and video. The bandwidth goes thru the roof, like 300-550 Mbps (and stays there) when normally it stays between 0-100 Mpbs for all other devices (even when playing multiple streams). the CPU stays level, RAM stays level so i don’t think it’s trying to transcode. If I play it thru a web browser on my my galaxy devices there is absolutely no issue. https://192.168.1.22:32400/web

It looks like an issue with the client

I’ve enabled direct play, i’ve disabled any subtitles.

any recomendations?

2

The file may be poorly muxed, with the video and audio tracks improperly interleaved.

Direct playing such files can cause steady, very high bandwidth between the server and client.

Try remuxing the file with MKVToolNix or similar tools.

This copies the tracks to a new MKV file and ensures they are properly interleaved.

While remuxing, remove any unnecessary audio and subtitle tracks. Doing so will lower the bandwidth required when direct playing (since less tracks are sent to the client).

3

Is the play mode then Direct Play as well? Or is it Direct Stream? (or Transcoding)
If so, this would confirm @FordGuy61 's analysis above.