Comparison of Media Servers

The following is a list comparing UMS to other popular media servers.

Universal Media Server PS3 Media Server Serviio KooRaRoo Plex
Web interface
A web interface so it supports even devices without DLNA support
Yes No Partial¹ Yes Yes
Automatic bitrate adjustment
Automatically changes video bitrate based on your network speed
Yes No Yes No ?
Automatic maximum quality
100% video and audio quality is maintained when possible by muxing - not transcoding - compatible files.
Yes No Yes Yes ?
Instant browsing
View your files without having to wait for the folders to be scanned, which can take minutes or hours with large libraries.
Yes Yes No No No
Subtitles on all devices
When your device does not support the subtitle format in the video, we add it to the video stream to allow you to view them anyway.
Yes Yes Yes No No
DTS support
Pass along full quality DTS instead of downmixing it to another format.
Yes Yes Yes No No
Live subtitles
If you don't have the subtitles for your file, UMS will download and add them for you via options on your device.
Yes No No No Yes
H.264 transcoding
H.264 transcoding achieves the same quality as the traditional codec MPEG-2 with much lower filesize, making it a good option for wireless networks.
Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Free
UMS is and will always be free.
Yes Yes Partial² No Partial²
True Motion (frame interpolation)
This takes regular framerates, usually 24fps or 25fps, and adds frames in between to make the motion smoother and more realistic. This is done using InterFrame, which is an AviSynth plugin that uses SVP libraries.
Yes No No No No
Overscan compensation
If your TV has overscan - which means it cuts off the edges of videos - we can compensate so you see the whole video. Many people watch with overscan and never realize what they are missing.
Yes Partial³ No No No
Automatic plugin download/install
Download and install plugins automatically.
Yes No No No Yes
Unlimited folders on PS3 & Xbox
PS3 and Xbox 360 can only display a limited number of folders, but we work around that.
Yes No No No Yes
AviSynth support
AviSynth is a powerful and flexible video and audio serving program.
Yes Partial⁴ No No No
iTunes support
Browse your iTunes library by playlist, artist, album and genre.
Yes Yes ? ? Yes
Renderer search support
We support renderers with search capability.
Yes No ? ? ?
Maximum network bandwidth setting
This allows you to set the speed of your network to ensure smooth playing.
Yes Partial⁵ No No No
DVD support
We support playing DVDs whether they are in your DVD drive or on your hard drive.
Yes Yes No Yes No
Archive support
Support for browsing archives like ZIP, RAR, GZ, etc.
Yes Partial No ? ?
3D SBS video support
Most if not all renderers do not support receiving full 3D SBS video over a network, but we work around that.
Yes Partial No ? Yes
High-quality video thumbnails
Display the maximum quality and resolution thumbnails that your device can take.
Yes Yes Yes No Yes
  • ¹ Available as a paid plugin
  • ² Free and paid editions exist
  • ³ No subtitle position correction
  • ⁴ No multithreading support
  • ⁵ Not as accurate as the UMS one