Streaming & Playback
streamarr.media plays movies, shows, and more directly in your browser or app. Pressing Play always does the right thing — whether the file is already on the server or still has to be fetched first.
Smart Play
When you press Play, the server checks availability and reacts automatically:
| What you see | What is happening |
|---|---|
| "Checking availability..." | The server looks for a playable file |
| Progress bar with Speed and Remaining | No file yet — the best matching release is being downloaded |
| "Download complete, importing…" | The download finished and is being added to the library |
| "No release found" | Nothing suitable was found — use Search Releases to pick one manually |
| Error message | Something went wrong — Retry or Go Back |
The waiting screen shows the poster and title of what you picked, and playback starts by itself as soon as the file is ready. You can press Cancel at any time.
Direct play or transcode
The player detects which video and audio formats your device can play. Compatible files are direct played in original quality; everything else is transcoded on the server in real time. This is fully automatic — you never have to choose.
Seeking
Jumping to a part of the video that has not been transcoded yet can take a few seconds while the stream restarts at the new position. Positions you already buffered are instant.
Player controls
The top bar shows a back button, the title (for episodes: show name, season/episode number, and episode title) and the time the video will end ("Ends at …"). The bottom bar contains:
- Play/Pause — also by clicking the video, plus 10-second skip buttons in both directions
- Previous / Next Episode — for shows and playlists, with a small preview of the episode
- Volume — slider and mute button (on phones, use the hardware volume keys)
- Timeline — click or drag to seek; hovering shows the target time, and where the server has generated trickplay previews you also get thumbnail images while scrubbing
- Audio Track, Subtitles, Quality — see below
- Picture-in-Picture — keep watching in a floating window (if your browser supports it)
- Fullscreen
A heart button marks the title as a favorite; on small screens the secondary actions move into a ⋮ menu.
Quality
The Quality menu lists every version the server knows about: the file you are watching, other Downloaded files, lower Transcode resolutions generated on the fly, and better releases that are not on disk yet (greyed out, badged Download required).
Audio tracks & subtitles
Pick any embedded audio track from the Audio Track menu — switching may briefly restart the stream. The Subtitles menu lists all available subtitle tracks plus Off. Your audio and subtitle choices are remembered per title and reused the next time you play it.
Skip intro, outro & credits
When a title has markers, Skip Intro, Skip Outro, and Skip Credits buttons appear at the right moments. Under User Settings → Playback Preferences you can choose per marker type whether to show a skip button, skip automatically, or disable skipping.
Next episode & playlists
For episodes, the previous/next buttons walk through the show, and when an episode ends the next one starts automatically. Playing from a playlist works the same way, following the playlist order.
Keyboard shortcuts
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Space / K | Play / pause |
| Left / Right | Back / forward 10 seconds |
| Up / Down | Volume up / down |
| M | Mute |
| F | Fullscreen |
| Esc | Exit fullscreen |
Tip
Scrolling the mouse wheel over the player also adjusts the volume.
Resume
Your position is saved automatically while you watch. Unfinished titles appear in Continue Watching on the home page and resume exactly where you left off; if you stopped right at the end, the title counts as watched and starts from the beginning next time. See Viewing History.
Reporting a problem
If the file itself is bad — wrong content, wrong language, poor video or audio, or a broken file — click the flag icon and submit Report & Request New Download. The file is flagged and a replacement is requested automatically.
Stream Info
Administrators additionally see a Stream Info button with technical details: source file, codecs, resolution, and why (or whether) the stream is being transcoded.
Watching somewhere else
- Devices, Casting & Offline — cast to Chromecast, AirPlay, or DLNA devices, remote-control your other signed-in devices, and download titles for offline playback
- Watch Parties — watch together in sync with friends