Dim vs Jellyfin: Which Media Server Should You Self-Host?
Quick Verdict
Jellyfin is the better choice for almost everyone. It has a mature feature set, active development, native apps for every platform, hardware transcoding, and a large community. Dim is an interesting Rust-based alternative for users who want something minimal, but it’s early-stage software with limited features and a small development team.
Overview
Dim is a lightweight media manager and streaming server written in Rust. It focuses on movies and TV shows with a clean web UI, automatic metadata fetching from TMDB, and a minimalist approach. Being Rust-based, it’s resource-efficient and fast. However, it’s a relatively young project with a smaller feature set compared to established media servers.
Jellyfin is the leading free and open-source media server, handling video, music, books, and photos. It has native apps across all platforms (web, Android, iOS, Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV), supports hardware-accelerated transcoding, and has a thriving plugin ecosystem. It’s the fully-featured community fork of Emby.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Dim | Jellyfin |
|---|---|---|
| Language | Rust | C# (.NET) |
| Media types | Movies, TV shows | Movies, TV, music, books, photos |
| Web UI | Modern, minimal | Full-featured |
| Mobile apps | Web only | Native Android + iOS |
| TV apps | None | Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV |
| Hardware transcoding | Limited | Full (Intel QSV, NVIDIA, AMD, VAAPI) |
| Software transcoding | Yes (FFmpeg) | Yes (FFmpeg) |
| Multi-user | Yes | Yes |
| Metadata | TMDB | TMDB, TVDB, OMDb, MusicBrainz |
| Subtitle support | Yes | Yes (with OpenSubtitles integration) |
| Live TV / DVR | No | Yes |
| Collections | Basic | Advanced (automatic + manual) |
| Watch history | Yes | Yes (with resume) |
| Plugin system | No | Yes (extensive) |
| DLNA | No | Yes |
| External database | SQLite (embedded) | SQLite (embedded) |
| Docker containers | 1 | 1 |
| RAM usage (idle) | ~50-100 MB | ~250-400 MB |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
Installation Complexity
Dim has a straightforward Docker setup — one container, mount your media directory. First-time setup is done through the web UI. Configuration is minimal, which is both a strength (simple) and a weakness (fewer options).
Jellyfin is also a single-container deployment but has more initial configuration. The setup wizard walks you through user creation, library paths, metadata agent selection, and remote access settings. Hardware transcoding requires additional device mappings. The trade-off is more setup time for significantly more capability.
Performance and Resource Usage
| Metric | Dim | Jellyfin |
|---|---|---|
| RAM (idle) | ~50-100 MB | ~250-400 MB |
| RAM (1 stream) | ~100-200 MB | ~400-600 MB |
| CPU (direct play) | Negligible | Negligible |
| CPU (software transcode) | High | High |
| Disk (application) | ~30 MB | ~500 MB |
| Startup time | 1-2 seconds | 5-10 seconds |
Dim’s Rust runtime gives it a meaningful advantage in resource efficiency. On a Raspberry Pi 4 or low-powered NAS, the difference between 50 MB and 300 MB idle is significant. However, transcoding is the real resource consumer, and both use FFmpeg — so CPU load during transcoding is comparable.
Jellyfin’s hardware transcoding support is the decisive performance advantage. With Intel Quick Sync or NVIDIA NVENC, a Jellyfin transcode session uses a fraction of the CPU compared to software transcoding.
Community and Support
Dim has a small but dedicated community (~4K GitHub stars). Development is primarily by a single maintainer. Issues may take longer to resolve, and documentation is limited. Being a younger project, expect rough edges and missing features.
Jellyfin has a massive community (~40K+ GitHub stars), a dedicated forum, Matrix/Discord channels, and hundreds of contributors. Documentation is extensive. Most problems have been encountered and solved before. The plugin ecosystem adds functionality without core changes.
Use Cases
Choose Dim If…
- You want the lightest possible media server for movies and TV
- You’re running on extremely constrained hardware
- You prefer a minimalist UI without extra features
- You want to experiment with Rust-based self-hosted tools
- Your users only need web browser access (no TV/mobile apps)
Choose Jellyfin If…
- You want a fully-featured media server (video, music, books)
- You need native apps on phones, tablets, smart TVs, and streaming devices
- Hardware transcoding is important (multiple concurrent streams)
- You want plugin support (intro skipper, subtitles, scrobbling)
- You need live TV and DVR functionality
- You want a reliable, battle-tested solution with community support
Final Verdict
Jellyfin is the right choice for the vast majority of users. It’s free, open-source, has every feature you’d expect from a media server, and has the community support to back it up. The only scenario where Dim makes sense is if you’re on extremely limited hardware and only need basic movie/TV streaming through a web browser.
Dim is a promising project worth watching, but it’s not a Jellyfin replacement today. If Dim’s minimalism appeals to you, consider using Jellyfin and simply ignoring the features you don’t need — Jellyfin doesn’t force complexity on you.
FAQ
Is Dim production-ready?
It works for basic use cases, but expect missing features and occasional bugs. It’s suitable for personal use if your needs are simple (movies + TV shows, web browser access, no transcoding).
Can Dim stream to smart TVs?
Not natively. Dim is web-only — no Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV, or Android TV apps. You’d need to cast from a browser. Jellyfin has dedicated apps for all major TV platforms.
Does Dim support music?
No. Dim focuses on video content only. For music, use Navidrome or Jellyfin’s built-in music support.
Is Dim being actively developed?
Yes, but at a slower pace than Jellyfin. Check the GitHub repository for recent commit activity before committing to it for long-term use.
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