Gerbera - A free media server. Stream your media to devices on your home network.
Gerbera - A free media server. Stream your media to devices on your home network: Home Page
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Gerbera is a free, open-source UPnP media server that streams your digital media to TVs, PlayStations, smartphones, and other compatible devices on your home network.
🚀 Overview
Gerbera is a full-featured, open-source UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) media server designed to organize and stream your personal media collection—including audio, video, and images—across your home network to any UPnP/DLNA-compatible device.
It solves the problem of accessing a centralized media library from multiple devices like smart TVs, gaming consoles, phones, and tablets without proprietary software or cloud dependencies, offering a self-hosted alternative to commercial media servers.
Built for home users, media enthusiasts, and self-hosters who want customizable control over their media streaming. Gerbera evolved from the MediaTomb project to provide modern features like advanced metadata handling and transcoding while remaining lightweight and cross-platform.
✨ Key Features
- Web-based user interface for browsing, adding, editing, and managing media files with a tree view.
- Automatic metadata extraction from audio (MP3, FLAC, AAC, etc.) and image files, plus on-the-fly thumbnail generation for videos.
- Flexible transcoding via FFmpeg integration and custom scripts for compatibility with various devices.
- Directory watching with inotify or timed rescans to automatically update the library.
- Customizable server layout based on metadata, Last.fm scrobbling, and support for external URLs.
- Optional: MySQL/PostgreSQL support, JavaScript extensions via Duktape.
🛠 Tech Stack
- Core: C++
- Web UI: JavaScript, HTML, CSS
- Build System: CMake
- Database: SQLite (default), optional MySQL, PostgreSQL
- Key Libraries: libupnp, FFmpeg, TagLib, pugixml, jsoncpp, fmtlib, spdlog, ICU
- Packaging: Docker images available
- Platforms: Linux, BSD, macOS (x86, ARM, MIPS)
👥 Who Is This For?
This project is useful for:
- Media enthusiasts who want to stream personal collections to smart TVs, consoles, and mobiles.
- Self-hosters looking for a lightweight, open-source UPnP/DLNA server.
- Developers building custom plugins or scripts for media processing.
📸 Screenshots / Demo
- Live demo: N/A (self-hosted application)
- GitHub: https://github.com/gerbera/gerbera
🔥 Project Status
- 🟢 Actively building
Last updated: 2026-03-22
❓ FAQ
Is this project free?
Yes — Open Source (GPLv2). (Completely free to use, modify, and distribute.)
Is the source code available?
Yes — https://github.com/gerbera/gerbera
Can I contribute?
Yes — Check CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines. Open issues for bugs/features, submit PRs for improvements, or provide feedback on the GitHub repository.
📬 Contact & Links
- Website: https://gerbera.io
- GitHub: https://github.com/gerbera/gerbera
- Documentation: https://docs.gerbera.io
- Twitter/X: N/A
- Email: N/A (use GitHub issues)
Built with ❤️ and kept warm on WarmIndex.
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