# Windows app does not transcode downloads **URL:** \ **Category:** Plex Players\ **Tags:** server-qnap, player-windows\ **Created:** [September 14, 2025, 9:07am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/windows-app-does-not-transcode-downloads/930913 "2025-09-14T09:07:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![angrywilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c5a1d2/32.png) [@angrywilson](https://forums.plex.tv/u/angrywilson)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2025, 9:07am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/windows-app-does-not-transcode-downloads/930913/1 "2025-09-14T09:07:01Z")
Server Version1.42.1.10060: Player Version1.110.0.351-4e48eb83: I am not sure if this is a feature issue or that something is wrong. On my windows app in the download settings I choose something other than original quality but when I download a movie the system does not transcode the file, it just downloads the original file. I tried this on two different servers and the result was the same. \ ---
**Author:** ![nibbles](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/nibbles/32/150497_2.png) [@nibbles](https://forums.plex.tv/u/nibbles)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 6:33am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/windows-app-does-not-transcode-downloads/930913/2 "2025-09-15T06:33:28Z")
Downloads and optimized file errors might have been fixed in the latest beta: > [@Plex Media Server](https://forums.plex.tv/t/plex-media-server/30447/689): > > Plex Media Server 1.42.2.10122 is now available to Plex Pass users in the Beta update channel. NEW: (Playback) Better caching of codec testing to improve start time of playback sessions (PM-3913) (Preferences) Split transcoder slots into CPU and GPU slots (PM-3891) FIXES: (Ad Detection) Logs were left next to the target media file instead of in the Plex Log folder (PM-3580) (Docker) Various issues related to permissions could occur when explicitly setting UID and GID. (PM-3925) (Downloads)… ---
**Author:** ![angrywilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c5a1d2/32.png) [@angrywilson](https://forums.plex.tv/u/angrywilson)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 1:20pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/windows-app-does-not-transcode-downloads/930913/3 "2025-09-15T13:20:16Z")
Thanks for the suggestion. Just tried that but it did not help. ---
**Author:** ![nibbles](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/nibbles/32/150497_2.png) [@nibbles](https://forums.plex.tv/u/nibbles)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2025, 4:46pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/windows-app-does-not-transcode-downloads/930913/4 "2025-09-15T16:46:01Z")
Darn, well I don’t have a Windows box to test with, either. Perhaps what you want is to first Optimize a video to a lower quality, e.g. 4K to 1080p, which stores that on your server, then try to download the optimized one if your goal is offline playback? ---
**Author:** ![MovieFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@MovieFan](https://forums.plex.tv/u/MovieFan)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2025, 12:21am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/windows-app-does-not-transcode-downloads/930913/5 "2025-09-16T00:21:44Z")
You can’t download optimized versions so that won’t work. What quality setting did you set and what is the bitrate of the file? Maybe a transcode isn’t needed. I’ve tested and it does transcode for me. If you are sure transcoding should be happening, recreate and provide both the server and client logs. ---
**Author:** ![angrywilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c5a1d2/32.png) [@angrywilson](https://forums.plex.tv/u/angrywilson)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2025, 4:06am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/windows-app-does-not-transcode-downloads/930913/6 "2025-09-16T04:06:32Z")
I set the app settings to medium quality for both video and audio. Thanks [Plex Media Server Logs\_2025-09-16\_05-59-31.zip](https://forums.plex.tv/uploads/short-url/qoMt8TImJE2qcvatmt762Pp57Yy.zip) (3.8 MB) [Plex.log](https://forums.plex.tv/uploads/short-url/v2wyvNOgnwMu8zLtQA2EmpUFiwQ.log) (238.1 KB) ---
**Author:** ![MovieFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@MovieFan](https://forums.plex.tv/u/MovieFan)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2025, 2:03am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/windows-app-does-not-transcode-downloads/930913/7 "2025-09-19T02:03:49Z")
Your client logs don’t show any downloads. Are you sure you git the correct log? Can you download something again and grab new logs. I just need the first minute of the download, you can cancel after that. ---
**Author:** ![angrywilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c5a1d2/32.png) [@angrywilson](https://forums.plex.tv/u/angrywilson)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2025, 6:36pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/windows-app-does-not-transcode-downloads/930913/8 "2025-09-22T18:36:53Z")
[Plex.log](https://forums.plex.tv/uploads/short-url/joHYEcMAseQw9a8mVWDujQxHA3h.log) (145.7 KB) How about this one? ---
**Author:** ![Tobith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Tobith](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Tobith)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2025, 6:46pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/windows-app-does-not-transcode-downloads/930913/9 "2025-09-30T18:46:39Z")
Same problem here. I have “Video Quality” set to “Medium”, but Plex on Windows is downloading the original video file. Player version: 1.110.0.351-4e48eb83 Server Version: 1.43.0.10162 (on Mint Linux) Even if I set the quality to Low and tell Plex to download a 1080p Blu-ray rip, it still downloads the entire original file with no transcoding. This is definitely a bug. ---
**Author:** ![MovieFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@MovieFan](https://forums.plex.tv/u/MovieFan)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 12:26am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/windows-app-does-not-transcode-downloads/930913/10 "2025-10-01T00:26:33Z")
Still not seeing any download activity in your log. Can you try again but get me your [server log](https://support.plex.tv/articles/200250417-plex-media-server-log-files/) this time? Let’s try looking there. ---
**Author:** ![nibbles](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/nibbles/32/150497_2.png) [@nibbles](https://forums.plex.tv/u/nibbles)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 5:43am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/windows-app-does-not-transcode-downloads/930913/11 "2025-10-01T05:43:15Z")
@MovieFan I’m able to replicate this bug using Plex for Mac on a Mac Studio M1. Client: Plex For Mac - v1.110.0.351 on macOS Sequoia 15.7.1 Server: QNAP PMS - v1.42.2.10156 on QTS 4.5.4-2957 ```auto * 21:50:00 started PMS * 21:55:00 started Plex for Mac * 21:57:00 on Plex for Mac Navigate to Settings -> Downloads * 21:58:00 on Plex for Mac changed Downloads -> Video Quality to 480p * 21:59:00 on Plex for Mac navigated to the movie I want * 22:00:00 on Plex for Mac clicked the download arrow. * 22:03:00 on PFM Settings -> Troubleshooting -> Download Logs and Quit. ``` ```auto * 192.168.REDACT.PMS/24 - my QNAP PMS used for this bug report. * 192.168.REDACT.MAC/24 - my Mac Studio that also has a secondary PMS ``` [Plex Media Server Logs\_2025-09-30\_22-03-08.zip](https://forums.plex.tv/uploads/short-url/5hoWCnhRRglztIKGa7u2kXqJOci.zip) (75.3 KB) [Plex.log.zip](https://forums.plex.tv/uploads/short-url/8o13kgcJh3sNZGL2TfDQDDGlnpG.zip) (15.5 KB) I set my Video Quality to Low 480p, but it downloaded the original 1080p. (sorry about the CORS errors. still trying to figure that out) Thanks for reading 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MovieFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@MovieFan](https://forums.plex.tv/u/MovieFan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 10:06am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/windows-app-does-not-transcode-downloads/930913/12 "2025-10-02T10:06:11Z")
I’m able to reproduce this issue now. I must have been on an earlier version. I am now running 1.110.0.351-4e48eb83 for Windows, which is the same version as the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Chris\_Main](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85e7bf/32.png) [@Chris\_Main](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Chris_Main)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 10:57pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/windows-app-does-not-transcode-downloads/930913/13 "2025-10-02T22:57:08Z")
I’m also getting the same issue. I’ll set download quality to anything less than original, yet the full file gets downloaded. I see zero load on my gpu for transcoding during the download. However, if I change quality during playback transcoding works correctly Edit: After more testing I’m finding that version 1.108.1.307-dd5b87aa on Windows will transcode downloads properly, but on another machine using version 1.110.0.351-4e48eb83 transcoding doesn’t happen. I’ve set download video quality to Low (480p) on both machines and get a 981mb download on one and a 36gb file on the other. As a workaround I’ve downgraded my other machine to 1.108.1.307 and everything is working temporarily Server: Unraid 1.42.2.10156 Client 1 (working): 1.108.1.307-dd5b87aa on Windows Client 2 (not working): 1.110.0.351-4e48eb83 on Windows ---
**Author:** ![crakerjac21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@crakerjac21](https://forums.plex.tv/u/crakerjac21)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2025, 6:44pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/windows-app-does-not-transcode-downloads/930913/14 "2025-10-13T18:44:11Z")
I’m seeing something similar on Linux. > [@Downloads not using "optimized versions"](https://forums.plex.tv/t/downloads-not-using-optimized-versions/932433/3): > > Yeah… That looks like the same issue. But what IS high, medium and low… It’s like speed limit saying medium speed. There was a comment in that other thread saying that optimized versions cannot be downloaded. On the previous UI, this was NOT the case. I could definitely download the pre-optimized versions. However, there is a comment above here stating that optimized versions cannot be downloaded. Before the UI update, YES, I COULD download/sync pre-optimized content. For me, this is the REASON to optimize the video files… so they just need to download/sync and not try to transcode on the fly. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2026, 6:44pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/windows-app-does-not-transcode-downloads/930913/15 "2026-01-11T18:44:16Z")
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