Emby clients pausing/buffering too often - Clients need bigger buffers

[strichmo 23]

2 hours ago, Luke said:

Like I said on android, apple and windows yes we can, and we already have the middleware to do that. You can't build your own middleware though for browser based playback. Every library that you see out there is ultimately just based on the html video element.

I actually don't know what platform it is the household that had the poor connection was for me - It wasn't a good TV but afaik it was an Android TV. If so, it would have been extremely useful to be able to play with the buffer length which you say is actually possible to expose. In my case, I have high confidence it would have done a lot to work around the poor internet quality.

[ebr 16426]

6 hours ago, strichmo said:

I actually don't know what platform it is the household that had the poor connection was for me - It wasn't a good TV but afaik it was an Android TV. If so, it would have been extremely useful to be able to play with the buffer length which you say is actually possible to expose. In my case, I have high confidence it would have done a lot to work around the poor internet quality.

Hi.  As I said previously, we did try this a while back.  What happened was it didn't really help most playback but a lot of people had system crashes because of increasing their buffer size.

[scott46953 33]

I can't say I have noticed older Roku TVs that people think are smart, they have very slow chips, example I had to lower the quality down to 10 or less so that the channels would play. When it was set to a higher setting example 30 or Auto, it tried to send 20 MB to the TV and it just showed a blank black screen and sometimes with the circle going around the middle.. after lowering it it played without any issue. I suppose with some Android TVs that have older slow chips this could also be the same possibility. I ran across some really really slow TVs before that took several minutes just to play and then sit there and stuttered.  On those particular TVs, I just don't see any need to use the smarts of those devices. Every single one that was ran into that had those issues the person ended up getting a cheap Roku stick and the problem was solved. I only say Roku stick because they're cheap and a lot of people are cheap. I highly recommend at least a newer version 4K fire stick with voice remote. But if somebody wants the best box for the job I always recommend Nvidia streaming box. The Nvidia has solved a lot of buffer issues with several people. It is super fast, it has a lot of graphic cores and has some really good upscaling ability. My favorite is the AI upscaling. It can take a 480 or a 720 picture and upscale it. Everybody that has gotten the Nvidia box has been very happy with it no complaints. In fact they just updated it a few weeks ago.

[ebr 16426]

14 hours ago, scott46953 said:

I highly recommend at least a newer version 4K fire stick

But I would avoid the really new, cheap ones running the new OS at this time.

[scott46953 33]

22 minutes ago, ebr said:

But I would avoid the really new, cheap ones running the new OS at this time.

Yeah I forgot I read about that, they are blocking a lot of apps that are supporting illegal activities.  However I don't see them blocking emby.. I would have to read the information over again, I was so discouraged in kind of pissy of Amazon doing such a thing,, but maybe that's the step that Nvidia needs to take the lead on their streaming box. If the new Amazon stick is Amazon based it's just a matter of time before somebody finds a workaround, if it's not android-based and it has its own operating system, then emby would have to be compiled for that, it would go into a submission waiting line to be approved before it gets released on the download channel. However that's for another topic. If we don't need anything further on this topic and maybe it's time to close this one.

Edited December 16, 2025 by scott46953

[dslabosz 0]

I would like to chime in. I've been using emby with about ten different users for over 2 years now. I agree with OP stating that Emby does not handle buffering well at all. I have fiber on the server side.

Basically if the end user has sufficient download bandwidth, emby plays fine.

If the end user has slow/intermittent bandwidth, emby pauses constantly.

While on vacation in France (halfway around the world) i had to constantly pause/unpause my stream. 

I know the dev team isn't likely to do anything based on previous comments, but its making me reconsider switching apps. 

Cheers

[ebr 16426]

21 hours ago, dslabosz said:

I would like to chime in. I've been using emby with about ten different users for over 2 years now. I agree with OP stating that Emby does not handle buffering well at all. I have fiber on the server side.

Basically if the end user has sufficient download bandwidth, emby plays fine.

If the end user has slow/intermittent bandwidth, emby pauses constantly.

While on vacation in France (halfway around the world) i had to constantly pause/unpause my stream. 

I know the dev team isn't likely to do anything based on previous comments, but its making me reconsider switching apps. 

Cheers

Hi.  The proper solution to that situation, is to lower the bitrate setting in the app.  Did you try that?

[yocker 1564]

21 hours ago, dslabosz said:

I would like to chime in. I've been using emby with about ten different users for over 2 years now. I agree with OP stating that Emby does not handle buffering well at all. I have fiber on the server side.

Basically if the end user has sufficient download bandwidth, emby plays fine.

If the end user has slow/intermittent bandwidth, emby pauses constantly.

While on vacation in France (halfway around the world) i had to constantly pause/unpause my stream. 

I know the dev team isn't likely to do anything based on previous comments, but its making me reconsider switching apps. 

Cheers

Buffering won't help with that. It will just stall at different times and for longer.

There is simply no way to get perfect playback without the right connection.

 

[strichmo 23]

6 minutes ago, yocker said:

Buffering won't help with that. It will just stall at different times and for longer.

There is simply no way to get perfect playback without the right connection.

 

This isn't a black and white situation. You're technically right at the extremes, but at the core of this while thread is this: Embys buffer is smaller than it should be to cover a wider range of connection instability. A larger buffer will help smooth over transient connection instability, which is very common when travelling.

[yocker 1564]

6 minutes ago, strichmo said:

This isn't a black and white situation. You're technically right at the extremes, but at the core of this while thread is this: Embys buffer is smaller than it should be to cover a wider range of connection instability. A larger buffer will help smooth over transient connection instability, which is very common when travelling.

Yes, that would help a little i agree. 

It would cause problems when seeking though if not made to buffer while playing instead of before.

 

[Q-Droid 1023]

Perhaps the devs could help put this buffer discussion to rest if they would post the buffer sizes available to the supported Emby apps and platforms. Whether sized in bytes or duration for a given bitrate it could paint a clearer picture for all interested.

Now, if this information is not available to the devs that in itself would solidify their position that it's out of their hands.

 

[ebr 16426]

5 minutes ago, Q-Droid said:

Now, if this information is not available to the devs that in itself would solidify their position that it's out of their hands

We typically use the player's internal mechanism for determining optimal buffer size on each device but, also, as I have said previously:

On 12/13/2025 at 10:15 AM, ebr said:

Hi.  As I said previously, we did try this a while back.  What happened was it didn't really help most playback but a lot of people had system crashes because of increasing their buffer size.

 

[Q-Droid 1023]

20 minutes ago, ebr said:

We typically use the player's internal mechanism for determining optimal buffer size on each device but, also, as I have said previously:

Hi.  As I said previously, we did try this a while back.  What happened was it didn't really help most playback but a lot of people had system crashes because of increasing their buffer size.

I get that. But what's available as a buffer is unknown to most. Since changing the buffer size is a non-starter at least knowing the size could let users understand what the limitations are. And if they insist that larger buffer is the solution they can look for devices that can satisfy this.

I'm in the "not a buffer size problem" camp. 

 

[ebr 16426]

3 hours ago, Q-Droid said:

I'm in the "not a buffer size problem" camp.

And I think that is correct 99% of the time.  Therefore, displaying the buffer size isn't really going help anyone out, right?

In modern streaming using protocols such as HLS (what we use) it isn't about buffers, its about bitrate, and getting that right for the connection.

[Q-Droid 1023]

14 minutes ago, ebr said:

And I think that is correct 99% of the time.  Therefore, displaying the buffer size isn't really going help anyone out, right?

In modern streaming using protocols such as HLS (what we use) it isn't about buffers, its about bitrate, and getting that right for the connection.

I'm not proposing that you change the apps to display buffer size. Just list them in this thread or somewhere on the site (KB?) if that info is available. That's all.

Lack of information is why so many debates in these forums just go on and on. 

 

[ebr 16426]

For ExoPlayer (which is what we use on Android devices) it works like this:

The min and max buffer are both set at 50 seconds.  If that's not enough buffer, then the bitrate needs to be reduced.

[Luke 42479]

2 hours ago, Q-Droid said:

I'm not proposing that you change the apps to display buffer size. Just list them in this thread or somewhere on the site (KB?) if that info is available. That's all.

Lack of information is why so many debates in these forums just go on and on. 

 

The embedded video player for most platforms doesn’t provide this information. On apps where we embed our own player, we may be able to get it.

[TMCsw 267]

4 hours ago, ebr said:

The min and max buffer are both set at 50 seconds.  If that's not enough buffer, then the bitrate needs to be reduced.

Thanks, i didn't think it was this long, but it does explain how I can restart Emby while "direct plays don't get interrupted!"

It seems that it would be useless to make the buffer bigger. as everyone is limited to there connection speed.

[dslabosz 0]

On 5/9/2026 at 6:24 AM, ebr said:

Hi.  The proper solution to that situation, is to lower the bitrate setting in the app.  Did you try that?

I run a direct play server. That would force transcoding and is not a solution to my issue. 

[Neminem 1713]

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