Jellyfin tvOS client buyer's guide¶

Swiftfin documents two players: Swiftfin/VLCKit and Native/AVPlayer. The VLCKit path lists containers such as AVI, FLV, M4V, MKV, MOV, MP4, MPEG-TS, TS, 3G2, 3GP, and WebM; video codecs including AV1 with hardware caveats, H.264, H.265/HEVC, MPEG-1/2/4, VC-1, VP8, VP9, ProRes, and WMV variants; audio including AAC, AC3, ALAC, DTS, EAC3, FLAC, MP3, Opus, PCM, Vorbis, WMA, and others; subtitles including ASS, DVBSub, DVDSub, PGS, SSA, SRT, TTML, VTT, and others; HDR support including HDR10, HLG, and several Dolby Vision/HDR10+ caveated paths.

App Store lists video/container support for 33GP, AVI, AV1, ASF, BDMV, DIVX, DVDMEDIA, DVR-MS, FLV, H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC, ISO/IMG, M4V, MKV, MOV, MP4, MPEG, MTS/M2TS, MXF, OGM, OGV, RMVB, TS, VC1, VIDEO_TS, VOB, VP9, WEBM, WMV, and WTV. Audio includes AAC, AC3/E-AC3, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DTS-HD MA, FLAC, MP3, OGG, PCM, and WMA. Subtitles include DVB, DVDSUB, MicroDVD, MPL2, PGS, SMI, SSA/ASS, SRT, SUB, SUP, Timed Text, TXT, VobSub, VTT, and XSUB. HDR claims include HDR, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision.

App Store and VidHub docs list containers/formats including MKV, AVI, MP4, MOV, RMVB/RM, WEBM, WMV, and MPEG, plus HD/4K/HDR and Dolby Vision claims. Subtitle support includes embedded subtitles and external SRT, SSA, ASS, and SUB, while current release notes mention secondary subtitles, PGS subtitle fixes, Dolby Atmos support, DDP 2.0 Atmos-tagging fixes, ISO playback fixes, SMB guest login, SMB speed improvements, and Plex-related fixes. I did not find a full public video codec table, audio codec table, or Dolby Vision profile list.

Developer confirmation received 2026-06-27 lists containers MKV, WebM, MP4/M4V, MOV, MPEG-TS, AVI, and FLV. Video codecs listed are H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC, VP9, AV1, MPEG-4, MPEG-2, VP8, and ProRes. HDR formats listed are HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, and Dolby Vision profiles 5, 7, and 8. Audio codecs listed are AAC, AC3, E-AC3/DD+, DTS, DTS-HD MA, TrueHD, FLAC, Opus, MP3, and PCM. Subtitle formats listed are text subtitles including SRT, VTT, ASS, SSA, TTML, SUB, and SMI, plus image subtitles including PGS, DVD Sub, and DVB Sub.

The public TestFlight page describes a custom player engine with direct play for "nearly every codec", including 4K HDR, HDR10+, and HEVC, plus software-optimized AV1 decoding and native adaptive frame-rate/high-fidelity audio support. A developer Reddit post describes custom playback with 4K HDR, "Enhanced HDR", Spatial Audio, and heavy subtitles. I did not find a full public container/audio/subtitle compatibility table or named Dolby Vision profile list.

Containers: MP4, M4V, and MOV direct play; MKV direct stream/remux; AVI limited. Video: MPEG4 limited, H.264, H.265, VP9. Dynamic range: SDR, HLG, HDR10+, Dolby Vision profiles 5, 7, 8.1, and 8.4. Audio up to 7.1: AAC, AC3, EAC3 + Atmos, ALAC, FLAC, Opus, Vorbis. Subtitles: PGS, WebVTT, SRT, ASS; DVD/VobSub via transcode.

App Store claims high-quality video support, live streaming, and transcoding. Current release notes list JellyTV Remux, an optional experimental engine for compatible MKV files using a local Apple-friendly HLS/fMP4 stream. Older release notes mention HDR/Dolby Vision playback routing fixes and TrueHD/DTS audio routing to the JellyTV Engine. I did not find a full public codec/container table.

Moonfin-Core lists video support for H.264, HEVC/H.265, VP8, VP9, AV1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and VC-1; audio support for AAC, MP3, FLAC, Opus, Vorbis, AC3, EAC3, DTS, TrueHD, PCM, and ALAC; containers MP4, MKV, WebM, AVI, MOV, TS/M2TS, and WMV/ASF; subtitles SRT, ASS/SSA, VTT/WebVTT, TTML, and SUB, with bitmap subtitle support on desktop. The project docs say Apple TV uses MPVKit and supports Dolby Vision Profile 7 direct play.

Video/container support includes MP4, MKV, VOB, BIK, DAT, TS, MTS, M2T, M2TS, MPG, MPEG, AVI, RMVB, FLV, SWF, WEBM, 3GP, MOV, ISO, and more. Audio includes MP3, FLAC, AAC, WMA, APE, M4A, WAV, DFF, and DSF. Image support includes JPEG, PNG, GIF, WEBP, BMP, and HEIC. The listing also claims 4K/8K, 120fps, HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, native Dolby Vision, and ASS subtitle handling. The reviewed App Store text does not name AC3, E-AC3, DTS, TrueHD, Atmos, or PGS.

App Store claims wide codec support including HEVC, AV1, VP9, HDR playback, and advanced ASS/SSA subtitle rendering. It does not publish full container/audio/HDR tables.

App Store says Reefy uses a VLC-based player with broad codec support and surround passthrough. The GitHub README says it is a Swiftfin fork using VLC for direct playback. I did not find a full codec table.

App Store claims H.264, HEVC, AV1, MKV/MP4 containers, HDR, embedded tracks, embedded/external subtitles, and local MP4/MOV playback. Current App Store release notes also mention VP9 and ASS/SRT handling.

The project README says Streamyfin uses MPV via MPVKit and describes MPV as having wide format support. I did not find a tvOS-specific codec table.

App Store says the app can adjust quality, video tracks, audio tracks, and subtitles. Current public source requests HEVC/H.264 video in MP4, HEVC Main10, HDR10/HDR10Plus/DOVI range types, DOVI HEVC codec tags, and AAC/AC3/EAC3/ALAC/MP3 audio. The media model code explicitly treats AV1 as unsupported for bitrate purposes. Subtitles are selected through Jellyfin's encode subtitle method rather than a published direct subtitle format list.

App Store claims 4K, HDR, Dolby Vision, Blu-ray ISO/BDMV, MKV, MP4, MOV, AVI, FLV, WMV, and PiP. Current App Store release notes also mention FFmpeg 8.0, Dolby Vision Profile 5 color accuracy, TrueHD support, and smoother subtitle switching.

App Store describes native playback but does not publish codec/container support. In the developer Reddit thread, LiquidFin is described as AVPlayer-first with on-device FFmpeg remuxing for non-supported formats such as MKV; the developer also says there is an option to use VLCKit but that path loses features such as Picture-in-Picture and HDR playback.

App Store release notes mention fixed video playback for HEVC and MKV libraries on Plex and Jellyfin. Nostalgex focuses on EPG-style channel packages, mini guide overlay, collection channels, family-safe channels, and retro mode rather than publishing a full codec table.